Kanamoto Co Ltd (9678) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kanamoto Co Ltd (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kanamoto Co Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kanamoto Co Ltd

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kanamoto Co Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kanamoto Co Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Kanamoto Co Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kanamoto Co Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kanamoto Co Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Rental & Leasing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kanamoto Co Ltd

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Strengths of Kanamoto Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Kanamoto Co Ltd are -

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Rental & Leasing industry

– Kanamoto Co Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kanamoto Co Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Rental & Leasing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kanamoto Co Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Kanamoto Co Ltd in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Kanamoto Co Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kanamoto Co Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Strong track record of project management in the Rental & Leasing industry

– Kanamoto Co Ltd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Training and development

– Kanamoto Co Ltd has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Kanamoto Co Ltd in Rental & Leasing industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Kanamoto Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Rental & Leasing industry in Japan. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in Japan. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Innovation driven organization

– Kanamoto Co Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Rental & Leasing sector.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Digital Transformation in Rental & Leasing industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kanamoto Co Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Kanamoto Co Ltd is present in almost all the verticals within the Rental & Leasing industry. This has provided Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Organizational Resilience of Kanamoto Co Ltd

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kanamoto Co Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

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Weaknesses of Kanamoto Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Kanamoto Co Ltd are -

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Rental & Leasing industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kanamoto Co Ltd can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kanamoto Co Ltd is planning to shift buying processes online.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Kanamoto Co Ltd is just above the Rental & Leasing industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Rental & Leasing industry, Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kanamoto Co Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Kanamoto Co Ltd to provide better information regarding Rental & Leasing products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Kanamoto Co Ltd has high operating costs in the Rental & Leasing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Kanamoto Co Ltd lucrative customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Kanamoto Co Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Rental & Leasing industry, but Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kanamoto Co Ltd to focus more on services in the Rental & Leasing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Japan, Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Kanamoto Co Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Rental & Leasing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kanamoto Co Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Lack of clear differentiation of Kanamoto Co Ltd products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Kanamoto Co Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Kanamoto Co Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kanamoto Co Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

High dependence on Kanamoto Co Ltd ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Kanamoto Co Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Rental & Leasing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Kanamoto Co Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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Kanamoto Co Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Kanamoto Co Ltd are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kanamoto Co Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kanamoto Co Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Rental & Leasing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kanamoto Co Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Loyalty marketing

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

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 Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kanamoto Co Ltd can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kanamoto Co Ltd operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Rental & Leasing sector.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kanamoto Co Ltd to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kanamoto Co Ltd in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Rental & Leasing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Rental & Leasing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kanamoto Co Ltd 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. Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kanamoto Co Ltd to increase its market reach. Kanamoto Co Ltd will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.

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. Kanamoto Co Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Kanamoto Co Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Kanamoto Co Ltd are -

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 Kanamoto Co Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Rental & Leasing industry.

Increasing wage structure of Kanamoto Co Ltd

– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Kanamoto Co Ltd.

Regulatory challenges

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Rental & Leasing industry regulations.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Rental & Leasing industry are lowering. It can presents Kanamoto Co Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Rental & Leasing sector.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd prominent markets.

Environmental challenges

– Kanamoto Co Ltd 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. Kanamoto Co Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Rental & Leasing industry.

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 Kanamoto Co Ltd in the Rental & Leasing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Kanamoto Co Ltd demand

– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Rental & Leasing industry and other sectors.

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.

Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc

– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Kanamoto Co Ltd will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kanamoto Co Ltd Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd 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 Kanamoto Co Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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