Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling (2573) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Beverages (Nonalcoholic)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling
Strengths of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
Ability to lead change in Beverages (Nonalcoholic)
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is present in almost all the verticals within the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This has provided Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is one of the most innovative firm in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
Learning organization
- Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Digital Transformation in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
High brand equity
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, but Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to focus more on services in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling, in the dynamic environment of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry using digital technology.
Skills based hiring in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to provide better information regarding Beverages (Nonalcoholic) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can develop new processes and procedures in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to increase its market reach. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This can help Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling to build a more holistic ecosystem for Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling products in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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.
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.
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. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling.
Environmental challenges
– Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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. Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry are lowering. It can presents Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling 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 Hokkaido Coca Cola Bottling needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.