SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nihon Tokushu Toryo (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nihon Tokushu Toryo is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nihon Tokushu Toryo can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nihon Tokushu Toryo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Auto & Truck Parts sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
Strengths of Nihon Tokushu Toryo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nihon Tokushu Toryo are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nihon Tokushu Toryo in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Nihon Tokushu Toryo has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nihon Tokushu Toryo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Auto & Truck Parts
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo is one of the leading players in the Auto & Truck Parts industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Auto & Truck Parts industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Nihon Tokushu Toryo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nihon Tokushu Toryo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo is one of the most innovative firm in Auto & Truck Parts sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Nihon Tokushu Toryo comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Auto & Truck Parts 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Nihon Tokushu Toryo staying ahead in the Auto & Truck Parts industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Nihon Tokushu Toryo does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo is one of the leading players in the Auto & Truck Parts 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Auto & Truck Parts industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Nihon Tokushu Toryo have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has one of the best training and development program in Consumer Cyclical 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Weaknesses of Nihon Tokushu Toryo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nihon Tokushu Toryo are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Nihon Tokushu Toryo has high operating costs in the Auto & Truck Parts industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Nihon Tokushu Toryo lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nihon Tokushu Toryo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Auto & Truck Parts industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Auto & Truck Parts industry.
Skills based hiring in Auto & Truck Parts industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Auto & Truck Parts industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Nihon Tokushu Toryo can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nihon Tokushu Toryo is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Nihon Tokushu Toryo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Nihon Tokushu Toryo is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nihon Tokushu Toryo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ less understanding of Nihon Tokushu Toryo strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Nihon Tokushu Toryo, in the dynamic environment of Auto & Truck Parts industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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, Nihon Tokushu Toryo is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nihon Tokushu Toryo to provide better information regarding Auto & Truck Parts products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Nihon Tokushu Toryo, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Auto & Truck Parts industry. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nihon Tokushu Toryo is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Auto & Truck Parts industry, but Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nihon Tokushu Toryo to focus more on services in the Auto & Truck Parts industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Nihon Tokushu Toryo Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nihon Tokushu Toryo are -
Manufacturing automation
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Auto & Truck Parts 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Auto & Truck Parts industry.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nihon Tokushu Toryo can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo can develop new processes and procedures in Auto & Truck Parts 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, Nihon Tokushu Toryo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Nihon Tokushu Toryo can utilize new technology in the field of Auto & Truck Parts industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Auto & Truck Parts industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nihon Tokushu Toryo to increase its market reach. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Auto & Truck Parts 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Auto & Truck Parts sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Nihon Tokushu Toryo to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nihon Tokushu Toryo to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Threats Nihon Tokushu Toryo External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nihon Tokushu Toryo are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Nihon Tokushu Toryo may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Auto & Truck Parts sector.
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. Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Auto & Truck Parts industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo in the Auto & Truck Parts sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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. Nihon Tokushu Toryo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Auto & Truck Parts industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Auto & Truck Parts industry and other sectors.
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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nihon Tokushu Toryo in Auto & Truck Parts industry. The Auto & Truck Parts industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Nihon Tokushu Toryo
– 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nihon Tokushu Toryo is facing in Auto & Truck Parts sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nihon Tokushu Toryo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Auto & Truck Parts industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Auto & Truck Parts 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Auto & Truck Parts industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nihon Tokushu Toryo can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nihon Tokushu Toryo Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo 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 Nihon Tokushu Toryo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
