Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd (6432) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Constr. & Agric. Machinery
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Takeuchi Mfg 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.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd
Strengths of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd staying ahead in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
Ability to lead change in Constr. & Agric. Machinery
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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.
Digital Transformation in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Learning organization
- Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Analytics focus
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. The technology infrastructure of Japan is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Weaknesses of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd are -
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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has some of the most successful models in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd to provide better information regarding Constr. & Agric. Machinery products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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.
Skills based hiring in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd to focus more on services in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd are -
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. Now Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg 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.
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 Takeuchi Mfg 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.
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. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Takeuchi Mfg 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. Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This can help Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd to build a more holistic ecosystem for Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd products in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd to increase its market reach. Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd 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.
Threats Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Takeuchi Mfg 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Takeuchi Mfg 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry and other sectors.
Environmental challenges
– Takeuchi Mfg 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. Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Takeuchi Mfg 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 Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry.
Increasing wage structure of Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry are lowering. It can presents Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector.
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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Constr. & Agric. Machinery 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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd is facing in Constr. & Agric. Machinery sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg 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 Takeuchi Mfg Co Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.