SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
geopolitical disruptions, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo
2. Improving business portfolio management of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Electronic Instr. & Controls sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo
Strengths of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo are -
High brand equity
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is one of the most innovative firm in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
Digital Transformation in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is present in almost all the verticals within the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. This has provided Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Ability to lead change in Electronic Instr. & Controls
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is one of the leading players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo are -
Skills based hiring in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry using digital technology.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Electronic Instr. & Controls 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 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is just above the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo are -
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. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to increase its market reach. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. Now Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can utilize new technology in the field of Electronic Instr. & Controls industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
Threats Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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.
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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo.
Environmental challenges
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo prominent markets.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo is facing in Electronic Instr. & Controls sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Electronic Instr. & Controls industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Electronic Instr. & Controls 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.
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. Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo in Electronic Instr. & Controls industry. The Electronic Instr. & Controls industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Increasing wage structure of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo
– 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Electronic Instr. & Controls industry are lowering. It can presents Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Electronic Instr. & Controls sector.
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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo in the Electronic Instr. & Controls sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo 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 Teikoku Tsushin Kogyo needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
