SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, 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, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha
2. Improving business portfolio management of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Misc. Capital Goods sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha
Strengths of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha are -
Digital Transformation in Misc. Capital Goods industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Capital Goods
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha in the Capital Goods sector have low bargaining power. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha has one of the best training and development program in Capital Goods 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.
Analytics focus
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This has provided Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Learning organization
- Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Capital Goods industry
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Weaknesses of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha are -
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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha is one of the leading players in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Capital Goods industry in last five years.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Capital Goods industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry using digital technology.
Employees’ less understanding of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Capital Goods industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Capital Goods industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha in the Misc. Capital Goods industry. Now Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Capital Goods industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha to increase its market reach. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Capital Goods industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Capital Goods industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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.
Threats Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha are -
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. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Capital Goods industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry are lowering. It can presents Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Capital Goods sector.
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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha.
Increasing wage structure of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha
– 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha.
Environmental challenges
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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. Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha prominent markets.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Misc. Capital Goods industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha in Misc. Capital Goods industry. The Misc. Capital Goods 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Capital Goods sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha 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 Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.