SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mitsuboshi Belting (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mitsuboshi Belting is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mitsuboshi Belting
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mitsuboshi Belting can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mitsuboshi Belting, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mitsuboshi Belting
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mitsuboshi Belting
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 Mitsuboshi Belting
Strengths of Mitsuboshi Belting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mitsuboshi Belting are -
Innovation driven organization
– Mitsuboshi Belting is one of the most innovative firm in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector.
Ability to lead change in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Mitsuboshi Belting has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Mitsuboshi Belting have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
– Mitsuboshi Belting is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mitsuboshi Belting has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Mitsuboshi Belting 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 recruit top talent
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Mitsuboshi Belting has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mitsuboshi Belting in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mitsuboshi Belting emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mitsuboshi Belting digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Training and development
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Weaknesses of Mitsuboshi Belting | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mitsuboshi Belting are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mitsuboshi Belting is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mitsuboshi Belting products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mitsuboshi Belting needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
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 Mitsuboshi Belting supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Mitsuboshi Belting is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mitsuboshi Belting vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting is one of the leading players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mitsuboshi Belting, in the dynamic environment of Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mitsuboshi Belting has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Mitsuboshi Belting needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry.
High dependence on Mitsuboshi Belting ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Mitsuboshi Belting is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, but Mitsuboshi Belting needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Mitsuboshi Belting to focus more on services in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Mitsuboshi Belting Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mitsuboshi Belting can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Mitsuboshi Belting can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mitsuboshi Belting can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Mitsuboshi Belting has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Mitsuboshi Belting to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Mitsuboshi Belting to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mitsuboshi Belting can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mitsuboshi Belting operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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, Mitsuboshi Belting is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
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. Mitsuboshi Belting 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. Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. This can help Mitsuboshi Belting to build a more holistic ecosystem for Mitsuboshi Belting products in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Threats Mitsuboshi Belting External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mitsuboshi Belting are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mitsuboshi Belting can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mitsuboshi Belting has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting.
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. Mitsuboshi Belting 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting in Fabricated Plastic & Rubber industry. The Fabricated Plastic & Rubber 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.
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 Mitsuboshi Belting business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mitsuboshi Belting 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.
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.
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 Mitsuboshi Belting in the Fabricated Plastic & Rubber sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mitsuboshi Belting Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting 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 Mitsuboshi Belting needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.