NS United Kaiun Kaisha (9110) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Water Transportation
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for NS United Kaiun Kaisha (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , NS United Kaiun Kaisha is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of NS United Kaiun Kaisha
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that NS United Kaiun Kaisha can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the NS United Kaiun Kaisha, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of NS United Kaiun Kaisha
2. Improving business portfolio management of NS United Kaiun Kaisha
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Water Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of NS United Kaiun Kaisha
Strengths of NS United Kaiun Kaisha | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of NS United Kaiun Kaisha are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Water Transportation industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of NS United Kaiun Kaisha have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha is present in almost all the verticals within the Water Transportation industry. This has provided NS United Kaiun Kaisha a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 Water Transportation 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of NS United Kaiun Kaisha in Water Transportation 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 Water Transportation industry
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at NS United Kaiun Kaisha emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.
Ability to lead change in Water Transportation
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha is one of the leading players in the Water Transportation industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Water Transportation industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled NS United Kaiun Kaisha in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – NS United Kaiun Kaisha staying ahead in the Water Transportation industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha is one of the most innovative firm in Water Transportation sector.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that NS United Kaiun Kaisha has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of NS United Kaiun Kaisha comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Water Transportation 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.
Weaknesses of NS United Kaiun Kaisha | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of NS United Kaiun Kaisha are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, NS United Kaiun Kaisha has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Water Transportation industry over the last five years. NS United Kaiun Kaisha even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at NS United Kaiun Kaisha, in the dynamic environment of Water Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. NS United Kaiun Kaisha has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 Water Transportation industry using digital technology.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, NS United Kaiun Kaisha is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left NS United Kaiun Kaisha vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, NS United Kaiun Kaisha is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help NS United Kaiun Kaisha to provide better information regarding Water Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring in Water Transportation industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though NS United Kaiun Kaisha has some of the most successful models in the Water Transportation industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. NS United Kaiun Kaisha should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of NS United Kaiun Kaisha is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Water Transportation industry, but NS United Kaiun Kaisha needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help NS United Kaiun Kaisha to focus more on services in the Water Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that NS United Kaiun Kaisha needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Water Transportation industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at NS United Kaiun Kaisha can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as NS United Kaiun Kaisha is planning to shift buying processes online.
NS United Kaiun Kaisha Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of NS United Kaiun Kaisha are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Water Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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. NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Water Transportation sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled NS United Kaiun Kaisha to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help NS United Kaiun Kaisha to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of NS United Kaiun Kaisha has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Water Transportation industry. This can help NS United Kaiun Kaisha to build a more holistic ecosystem for NS United Kaiun Kaisha products in the Water Transportation industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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, NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 Water Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. NS United Kaiun Kaisha can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Loyalty marketing
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha can develop new processes and procedures in Water Transportation 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Water Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for NS United Kaiun Kaisha in the Water Transportation industry. Now NS United Kaiun Kaisha can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. NS United Kaiun Kaisha can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats NS United Kaiun Kaisha External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of NS United Kaiun Kaisha are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha prominent markets.
Environmental challenges
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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. NS United Kaiun Kaisha can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Water Transportation industry.
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.
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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Water Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents NS United Kaiun Kaisha with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Water Transportation sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 Water Transportation industry and other sectors.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Water Transportation industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, NS United Kaiun Kaisha needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Water Transportation 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 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. NS United Kaiun Kaisha needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Water Transportation industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 Water Transportation industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that NS United Kaiun Kaisha is facing in Water Transportation sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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.
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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for NS United Kaiun Kaisha in Water Transportation industry. The Water Transportation 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of NS United Kaiun Kaisha Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha 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 NS United Kaiun Kaisha needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
