SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mitsui Fudosan Logistics (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mitsui Fudosan Logistics, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Real Estate Operations sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics
Strengths of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics are -
High brand equity
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Real Estate Operations industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mitsui Fudosan Logistics digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics in Real Estate Operations industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is one of the leading players in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Learning organization
- Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mitsui Fudosan Logistics emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Mitsui Fudosan Logistics staying ahead in the Real Estate Operations industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Mitsui Fudosan Logistics does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Real Estate Operations industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Real Estate Operations industry
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Real Estate Operations industry
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Weaknesses of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Real Estate Operations industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mitsui Fudosan Logistics vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Real Estate Operations industry, but Mitsui Fudosan Logistics needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to focus more on services in the Real Estate Operations industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics, in the dynamic environment of Real Estate Operations industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to provide better information regarding Real Estate Operations products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Real Estate Operations industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
High dependence on Mitsui Fudosan Logistics ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Real Estate Operations industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is just above the Real Estate Operations 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the Real Estate Operations industry using digital technology.
Mitsui Fudosan Logistics Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics are -
Loyalty marketing
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can utilize new technology in the field of Real Estate Operations industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
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. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to increase its market reach. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Real Estate Operations sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mitsui Fudosan Logistics to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Real Estate Operations 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mitsui Fudosan Logistics operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Real Estate Operations sector.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mitsui Fudosan Logistics in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Real Estate Operations industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Threats Mitsui Fudosan Logistics External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Real Estate Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Real Estate Operations 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics in the Real Estate Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Real Estate Operations industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Real Estate Operations industry and other sectors.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Real Estate Operations industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Mitsui Fudosan Logistics is facing in Real Estate Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Real Estate Operations industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Real Estate Operations sector.
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. Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mitsui Fudosan Logistics Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics 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 Mitsui Fudosan Logistics needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.