Tokyo Individualized Edu (4745) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Tokyo Individualized Edu (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Tokyo Individualized Edu is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Tokyo Individualized Edu

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Tokyo Individualized Edu can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Tokyo Individualized Edu, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Tokyo Individualized Edu can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Tokyo Individualized Edu
2. Improving business portfolio management of Tokyo Individualized Edu
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Schools sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Tokyo Individualized Edu

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Strengths of Tokyo Individualized Edu | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Tokyo Individualized Edu are -

Diverse revenue streams

– Tokyo Individualized Edu is present in almost all the verticals within the Schools industry. This has provided Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Ability to lead change in Schools

– Tokyo Individualized Edu is one of the leading players in the Schools industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Schools industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Tokyo Individualized Edu in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Organizational Resilience of Tokyo Individualized Edu

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Tokyo Individualized Edu does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Analytics focus

– Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Schools 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Tokyo Individualized Edu comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Schools 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Tokyo Individualized Edu 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

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Schools industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Tokyo Individualized Edu have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Tokyo Individualized Edu in Schools industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Tokyo Individualized Edu staying ahead in the Schools industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

High brand equity

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Tokyo Individualized Edu to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

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Weaknesses of Tokyo Individualized Edu | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Tokyo Individualized Edu are -

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Tokyo Individualized Edu has high operating costs in the Schools industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Tokyo Individualized Edu lucrative customers.

Employees’ less understanding of Tokyo Individualized Edu strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Tokyo Individualized Edu has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Schools industry over the last five years. Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Schools industry, Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Tokyo Individualized Edu is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Schools industry, but Tokyo Individualized Edu needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Tokyo Individualized Edu to focus more on services in the Schools industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Tokyo Individualized Edu is just above the Schools 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Japan, Tokyo Individualized Edu needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Tokyo Individualized Edu is one of the leading players in the Schools industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Schools industry in last five years.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Tokyo Individualized Edu, in the dynamic environment of Schools industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Tokyo Individualized Edu has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Tokyo Individualized Edu needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Schools industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Tokyo Individualized Edu can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Tokyo Individualized Edu is planning to shift buying processes online.

Skills based hiring in Schools industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

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Tokyo Individualized Edu Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Tokyo Individualized Edu are -

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Tokyo Individualized Edu is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Tokyo Individualized Edu can utilize new technology in the field of Schools industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Tokyo Individualized Edu to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Tokyo Individualized Edu to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Schools industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Tokyo Individualized Edu can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Schools industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Tokyo Individualized Edu 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. Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Schools industry.

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. Tokyo Individualized Edu can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Tokyo Individualized Edu can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Schools 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Tokyo Individualized Edu can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Schools 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Tokyo Individualized Edu has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Schools industry. This can help Tokyo Individualized Edu to build a more holistic ecosystem for Tokyo Individualized Edu products in the Schools industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Developing new processes and practices

– Tokyo Individualized Edu can develop new processes and procedures in Schools 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

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 Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Schools sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Tokyo Individualized Edu to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Tokyo Individualized Edu to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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Threats Tokyo Individualized Edu External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Tokyo Individualized Edu are -

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Schools industry are lowering. It can presents Tokyo Individualized Edu with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Schools sector.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Tokyo Individualized Edu in Schools industry. The Schools 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.

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 Schools industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Tokyo Individualized Edu can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. Tokyo Individualized Edu 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

– Tokyo Individualized Edu 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.

Increasing wage structure of Tokyo Individualized Edu

– 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu.

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 Tokyo Individualized Edu in the Schools sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Tokyo Individualized Edu has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Schools industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Tokyo Individualized Edu needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Schools 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Schools industry and other sectors.

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.

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 Tokyo Individualized Edu business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Tokyo Individualized Edu Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu 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 Tokyo Individualized Edu needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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