SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sekisui Jushi Corp (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sekisui Jushi Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sekisui Jushi Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sekisui Jushi Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sekisui Jushi Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sekisui Jushi Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sekisui Jushi Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Sekisui Jushi Corp
Strengths of Sekisui Jushi Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sekisui Jushi Corp are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Sekisui Jushi Corp staying ahead in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber
– Sekisui Jushi Corp is one of the leading players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sekisui Jushi Corp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sekisui Jushi Corp has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sekisui Jushi Corp is one of the leading players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber 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.
Training and development
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sekisui Jushi Corp is present in almost all the verticals within the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. This has provided Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sekisui Jushi Corp in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Sekisui Jushi Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sekisui Jushi Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sekisui Jushi Corp to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sekisui Jushi Corp to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Sekisui Jushi Corp is one of the most innovative firm in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector.
Digital Transformation in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sekisui Jushi Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 brand equity
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Sekisui Jushi Corp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Sekisui Jushi Corp
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sekisui Jushi Corp does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Sekisui Jushi Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sekisui Jushi Corp are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sekisui Jushi Corp has some of the most successful models in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sekisui Jushi Corp should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 Sekisui Jushi Corp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Sekisui Jushi Corp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sekisui Jushi Corp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Sekisui Jushi Corp is just above the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber 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.
High dependence on Sekisui Jushi Corp ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Sekisui Jushi Corp still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Sekisui Jushi Corp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sekisui Jushi Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Sekisui Jushi Corp, in the dynamic environment of Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sekisui Jushi Corp has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Sekisui Jushi Corp is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Sekisui Jushi Corp to provide better information regarding Fabricated Plastic & Rubber products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Sekisui Jushi Corp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, but Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Sekisui Jushi Corp to focus more on services in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Sekisui Jushi Corp has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Sekisui Jushi Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sekisui Jushi Corp are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sekisui Jushi Corp can develop new processes and procedures in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sekisui Jushi Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sekisui Jushi Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sekisui Jushi Corp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. This can help Sekisui Jushi Corp to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sekisui Jushi Corp products in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sekisui Jushi Corp 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. Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sekisui Jushi Corp can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sekisui Jushi Corp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sekisui Jushi Corp in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sekisui Jushi Corp can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sekisui Jushi Corp operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sekisui Jushi Corp can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Sekisui Jushi Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sekisui Jushi Corp are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sekisui Jushi Corp may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp prominent markets.
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. Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Environmental challenges
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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. Sekisui Jushi Corp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sekisui Jushi Corp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
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 Sekisui Jushi Corp.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Sekisui Jushi Corp is facing in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry regulations.
Increasing wage structure of Sekisui Jushi Corp
– 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sekisui Jushi Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp 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 Sekisui Jushi Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.