SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for KeePer Technical Lab (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , KeePer Technical Lab is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of KeePer Technical Lab
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that KeePer Technical Lab can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the KeePer Technical Lab, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of KeePer Technical Lab
2. Improving business portfolio management of KeePer Technical Lab
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Chemical Manufacturing sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of KeePer Technical Lab
Strengths of KeePer Technical Lab | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of KeePer Technical Lab are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of KeePer Technical Lab comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Chemical Manufacturing 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that KeePer Technical Lab 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.
Training and development
– KeePer Technical Lab has one of the best training and development program in Basic Materials 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.
Digital Transformation in Chemical Manufacturing industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For KeePer Technical Lab digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. KeePer Technical Lab 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of KeePer Technical Lab in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. KeePer Technical Lab has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps KeePer Technical Lab to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– KeePer Technical Lab has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Chemical Manufacturing industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of KeePer Technical Lab have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– KeePer Technical Lab is present in almost all the verticals within the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This has provided KeePer Technical Lab 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– KeePer Technical Lab has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. KeePer Technical Lab 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.
Organizational Resilience of KeePer Technical Lab
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing KeePer Technical Lab does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– KeePer Technical Lab 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 Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Chemical Manufacturing industry
– KeePer Technical Lab is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– KeePer Technical Lab has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – KeePer Technical Lab staying ahead in the Chemical Manufacturing industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses of KeePer Technical Lab | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of KeePer Technical Lab are -
Lack of clear differentiation of KeePer Technical Lab products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, KeePer Technical Lab needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of KeePer Technical Lab is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, but KeePer Technical Lab needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help KeePer Technical Lab to focus more on services in the Chemical Manufacturing industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
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 KeePer Technical Lab supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, KeePer Technical Lab is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left KeePer Technical Lab vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring in Chemical Manufacturing industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at KeePer Technical Lab 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of KeePer Technical Lab, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Chemical Manufacturing 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 dependence on KeePer Technical Lab ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of KeePer Technical Lab still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Chemical Manufacturing industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though KeePer Technical Lab has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ less understanding of KeePer Technical Lab strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of KeePer Technical Lab 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
KeePer Technical Lab has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, KeePer Technical Lab needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at KeePer Technical Lab, in the dynamic environment of Chemical Manufacturing industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. KeePer Technical Lab has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, KeePer Technical Lab has high operating costs in the Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract KeePer Technical Lab lucrative customers.
KeePer Technical Lab Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of KeePer Technical Lab are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– KeePer Technical Lab 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.
Loyalty marketing
– KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab to increase its market reach. KeePer Technical Lab 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. KeePer Technical Lab 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. KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, KeePer Technical Lab is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. KeePer Technical Lab can utilize new technology in the field of Chemical Manufacturing industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of KeePer Technical Lab has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Chemical Manufacturing industry. This can help KeePer Technical Lab to build a more holistic ecosystem for KeePer Technical Lab products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for KeePer Technical Lab in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Chemical Manufacturing industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– KeePer Technical Lab can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Chemical Manufacturing 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 KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– KeePer Technical Lab can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Chemical Manufacturing 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, KeePer Technical Lab can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that KeePer Technical Lab operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects KeePer Technical Lab can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats KeePer Technical Lab External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of KeePer Technical Lab are -
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, KeePer Technical Lab may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Chemical Manufacturing industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. KeePer Technical Lab can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on KeePer Technical Lab 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Chemical Manufacturing industry are lowering. It can presents KeePer Technical Lab with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Chemical Manufacturing sector.
Environmental challenges
– KeePer Technical Lab 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. KeePer Technical Lab can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Chemical Manufacturing industry.
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 KeePer Technical Lab in the Chemical Manufacturing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab prominent markets.
Regulatory challenges
– KeePer Technical Lab 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 Chemical Manufacturing industry regulations.
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 KeePer Technical Lab.
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 KeePer Technical Lab business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab
– 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 KeePer Technical Lab.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of KeePer Technical Lab Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab 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 KeePer Technical Lab needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
