SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Nakakita Seisakusho (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Nakakita Seisakusho is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Nakakita Seisakusho
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Nakakita Seisakusho can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nakakita Seisakusho, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Nakakita Seisakusho
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nakakita Seisakusho
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Misc. Fabricated Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Nakakita Seisakusho
Strengths of Nakakita Seisakusho | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nakakita Seisakusho are -
Innovation driven organization
– Nakakita Seisakusho is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Fabricated Products sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nakakita Seisakusho has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nakakita Seisakusho has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Nakakita Seisakusho staying ahead in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Nakakita Seisakusho comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nakakita Seisakusho in Misc. Fabricated Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Nakakita Seisakusho emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nakakita Seisakusho in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Nakakita Seisakusho has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nakakita Seisakusho to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Fabricated Products
– Nakakita Seisakusho is one of the leading players in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Nakakita Seisakusho in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nakakita Seisakusho is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This has provided Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nakakita Seisakusho is one of the leading players in the Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Training and development
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Weaknesses of Nakakita Seisakusho | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Nakakita Seisakusho are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Nakakita Seisakusho 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. Fabricated Products industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nakakita Seisakusho has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nakakita Seisakusho is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Nakakita Seisakusho to provide better information regarding Misc. Fabricated Products products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Nakakita Seisakusho is just above the Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Fabricated Products industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nakakita Seisakusho has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on Nakakita Seisakusho ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Nakakita Seisakusho still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Misc. Fabricated Products industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Nakakita Seisakusho has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Nakakita Seisakusho is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry, but Nakakita Seisakusho needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Nakakita Seisakusho to focus more on services in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Nakakita Seisakusho needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Nakakita Seisakusho can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nakakita Seisakusho is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nakakita Seisakusho has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry over the last five years. Nakakita Seisakusho even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Nakakita Seisakusho Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Nakakita Seisakusho are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nakakita Seisakusho 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
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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, Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Nakakita Seisakusho can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Nakakita Seisakusho in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. Now Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nakakita Seisakusho can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Fabricated Products industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Nakakita Seisakusho 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. Nakakita Seisakusho can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nakakita Seisakusho has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Misc. Fabricated Products sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Nakakita Seisakusho to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nakakita Seisakusho to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nakakita Seisakusho has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This can help Nakakita Seisakusho to build a more holistic ecosystem for Nakakita Seisakusho products in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Nakakita Seisakusho External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Nakakita Seisakusho are -
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 Nakakita Seisakusho in the Misc. Fabricated Products sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Nakakita Seisakusho business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Nakakita Seisakusho 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. Fabricated Products sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nakakita Seisakusho has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nakakita Seisakusho needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
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 Nakakita Seisakusho.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Fabricated Products industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Nakakita Seisakusho can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nakakita Seisakusho in Misc. Fabricated Products industry. The Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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. Fabricated Products industry.
Increasing wage structure of Nakakita Seisakusho
– 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 Nakakita Seisakusho.
Regulatory challenges
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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. Fabricated Products industry regulations.
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. Nakakita Seisakusho needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nakakita Seisakusho 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Nakakita Seisakusho Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho 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 Nakakita Seisakusho needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.