Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd (1518) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Coal
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Coal sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd
Strengths of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd are -
Learning organization
- Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
High brand equity
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is one of the leading players in the Coal 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd in Coal industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd staying ahead in the Coal industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is one of the most innovative firm in Coal sector.
Strong track record of project management in the Coal industry
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Coal industry
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Coal industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Coal 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Coal industry, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
High dependence on Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Coal industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Coal industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Coal industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd, in the dynamic environment of Coal industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to provide better information regarding Coal products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry using digital technology.
Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can utilize new technology in the field of Coal industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Coal industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Coal 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd to increase its market reach. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Coal industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd in the Coal industry. Now Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Threats Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd are -
Environmental challenges
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Coal industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Coal industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Coal 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry.
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. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Coal industry are lowering. It can presents Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Coal sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd in Coal industry. The Coal 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.
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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Coal industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Coal industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry and other sectors.
Regulatory challenges
– Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Coal industry regulations.
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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd 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 Mitsui Matsushima Co Ltd needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.