San-in Godo Bank (8381) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Regional Banks
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for San-in Godo Bank (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , San-in Godo Bank is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that San-in Godo Bank can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the San-in Godo Bank, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which San-in Godo Bank operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of San-in Godo Bank can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of San-in Godo Bank
2. Improving business portfolio management of San-in Godo Bank
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Regional Banks sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of San-in Godo Bank
Strengths of San-in Godo Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of San-in Godo Bank are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the San-in Godo Bank are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management in the Regional Banks industry
– San-in Godo Bank is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of San-in Godo Bank in the Financial sector have low bargaining power. San-in Godo Bank has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps San-in Godo Bank to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– San-in Godo Bank has one of the best training and development program in Financial industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– San-in Godo Bank is one of the most innovative firm in Regional Banks sector.
Learning organization
- San-in Godo Bank is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at San-in Godo Bank is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at San-in Godo Bank emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Regional Banks industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For San-in Godo Bank digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. San-in Godo Bank has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that San-in Godo Bank has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– San-in Godo Bank has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – San-in Godo Bank staying ahead in the Regional Banks industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– San-in Godo Bank has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled San-in Godo Bank to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– San-in Godo Bank is present in almost all the verticals within the Regional Banks industry. This has provided San-in Godo Bank a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Regional Banks industry
– San-in Godo Bank has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled San-in Godo Bank to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Regional Banks industry. The sustainable margins have also helped San-in Godo Bank to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of San-in Godo Bank | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of San-in Godo Bank are -
High dependence on San-in Godo Bank ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of San-in Godo Bank still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Regional Banks industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though San-in Godo Bank has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of San-in Godo Bank is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Regional Banks industry, but San-in Godo Bank needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help San-in Godo Bank to focus more on services in the Regional Banks industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Regional Banks industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, San-in Godo Bank is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Regional Banks industry.
Need for greater diversity
– San-in Godo Bank has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Lack of clear differentiation of San-in Godo Bank products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, San-in Godo Bank needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Regional Banks industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at San-in Godo Bank has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, San-in Godo Bank is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help San-in Godo Bank to provide better information regarding Regional Banks products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, San-in Godo Bank has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Regional Banks industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of San-in Godo Bank, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Regional Banks industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, San-in Godo Bank needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that San-in Godo Bank needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Regional Banks industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at San-in Godo Bank can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as San-in Godo Bank is planning to shift buying processes online.
San-in Godo Bank Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of San-in Godo Bank are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of San-in Godo Bank has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Regional Banks industry. This can help San-in Godo Bank to build a more holistic ecosystem for San-in Godo Bank products in the Regional Banks industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– San-in Godo Bank has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Regional Banks sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled San-in Godo Bank to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help San-in Godo Bank to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, San-in Godo Bank is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. San-in Godo Bank can utilize new technology in the field of Regional Banks industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– San-in Godo Bank has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Regional Banks industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. San-in Godo Bank can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help San-in Godo Bank to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects San-in Godo Bank can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. San-in Godo Bank can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– San-in Godo Bank can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Regional Banks sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, San-in Godo Bank can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help San-in Godo Bank to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for San-in Godo Bank to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for San-in Godo Bank to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Regional Banks industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. San-in Godo Bank can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. San-in Godo Bank can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Leveraging digital technologies
– San-in Godo Bank can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Threats San-in Godo Bank External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of San-in Godo Bank are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. San-in Godo Bank needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Regional Banks industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– San-in Godo Bank can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the Regional Banks industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Regional Banks industry are lowering. It can presents San-in Godo Bank with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Regional Banks sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that San-in Godo Bank is facing in Regional Banks sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– San-in Godo Bank needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Regional Banks industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, San-in Godo Bank may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Regional Banks sector.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of San-in Godo Bank business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– San-in Godo Bank high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Environmental challenges
– San-in Godo Bank needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. San-in Godo Bank can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Regional Banks industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, San-in Godo Bank can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate San-in Godo Bank prominent markets.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of San-in Godo Bank.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for San-in Godo Bank in the Regional Banks sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of San-in Godo Bank Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at San-in Godo Bank needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of San-in Godo Bank is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of San-in Godo Bank is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of San-in Godo Bank to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that San-in Godo Bank needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.