SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kadokawa Dwango Corp (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kadokawa Dwango Corp is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kadokawa Dwango Corp
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kadokawa Dwango Corp can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kadokawa Dwango Corp, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kadokawa Dwango Corp
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kadokawa Dwango Corp
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Motion Pictures sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kadokawa Dwango Corp
Strengths of Kadokawa Dwango Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kadokawa Dwango Corp are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kadokawa Dwango Corp in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Kadokawa Dwango Corp has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kadokawa Dwango Corp to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Motion Pictures
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp is one of the leading players in the Motion Pictures industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Motion Pictures industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kadokawa Dwango Corp in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Kadokawa Dwango Corp comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Motion Pictures 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.
High brand equity
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kadokawa Dwango Corp to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Kadokawa Dwango Corp staying ahead in the Motion Pictures industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Strong track record of project management in the Motion Pictures industry
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kadokawa Dwango Corp 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 Motion Pictures industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kadokawa Dwango Corp digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kadokawa Dwango 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp is one of the leading players in the Motion Pictures 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
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp is one of the most innovative firm in Motion Pictures sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Motion Pictures industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kadokawa Dwango Corp have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kadokawa Dwango Corp in Motion Pictures industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses of Kadokawa Dwango Corp | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kadokawa Dwango Corp are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Motion Pictures industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kadokawa Dwango Corp can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kadokawa Dwango Corp is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Kadokawa Dwango Corp is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kadokawa Dwango Corp vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Motion Pictures industry, Kadokawa Dwango Corp 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kadokawa Dwango Corp has some of the most successful models in the Motion Pictures industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Kadokawa Dwango Corp should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Motion Pictures industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Kadokawa Dwango Corp 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 Motion Pictures industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kadokawa Dwango Corp products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on Kadokawa Dwango Corp ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Kadokawa Dwango Corp still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Motion Pictures industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Kadokawa Dwango Corp has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of Kadokawa Dwango Corp strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Kadokawa Dwango Corp don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kadokawa Dwango Corp is one of the leading players in the Motion Pictures industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Motion Pictures industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kadokawa Dwango Corp is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Motion Pictures industry, but Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kadokawa Dwango Corp to focus more on services in the Motion Pictures industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Kadokawa Dwango Corp is just above the Motion Pictures 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.
Kadokawa Dwango Corp Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Kadokawa Dwango Corp are -
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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kadokawa Dwango Corp can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kadokawa Dwango Corp has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Motion Pictures industry. This can help Kadokawa Dwango Corp to build a more holistic ecosystem for Kadokawa Dwango Corp products in the Motion Pictures industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kadokawa Dwango 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kadokawa Dwango Corp is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kadokawa Dwango Corp can utilize new technology in the field of Motion Pictures industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kadokawa Dwango Corp can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kadokawa Dwango Corp operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Motion Pictures sector.
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. Kadokawa Dwango Corp can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Motion Pictures industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kadokawa Dwango 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. Kadokawa Dwango 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Motion Pictures 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp can develop new processes and procedures in Motion Pictures 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Motion Pictures industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kadokawa Dwango Corp to increase its market reach. Kadokawa Dwango Corp 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.
Threats Kadokawa Dwango Corp External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Kadokawa Dwango Corp are -
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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp in the Motion Pictures sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kadokawa Dwango Corp is facing in Motion Pictures sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kadokawa Dwango 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kadokawa Dwango Corp in Motion Pictures industry. The Motion Pictures industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp.
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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp.
Environmental challenges
– Kadokawa Dwango 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. Kadokawa Dwango Corp can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Motion Pictures industry.
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. Kadokawa Dwango 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.
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. Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Motion Pictures industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Motion Pictures industry are lowering. It can presents Kadokawa Dwango Corp with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Motion Pictures sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kadokawa Dwango Corp has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Motion Pictures industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Motion Pictures 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.
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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kadokawa Dwango Corp Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango 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 Kadokawa Dwango Corp needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.