SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Marufuji Sheet Piling (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Marufuji Sheet Piling is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Marufuji Sheet Piling
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Marufuji Sheet Piling can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Marufuji Sheet Piling, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Marufuji Sheet Piling
2. Improving business portfolio management of Marufuji Sheet Piling
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 Marufuji Sheet Piling
Strengths of Marufuji Sheet Piling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Marufuji Sheet Piling are -
Digital Transformation in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Marufuji Sheet Piling digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
– Marufuji Sheet Piling has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Marufuji Sheet Piling to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Marufuji Sheet Piling to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Marufuji Sheet Piling is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Fabricated Products sector.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Marufuji Sheet Piling has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Marufuji Sheet Piling 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)
– Marufuji Sheet Piling has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
High brand equity
– Marufuji Sheet Piling has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Marufuji Sheet Piling to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Marufuji Sheet Piling in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. Marufuji Sheet Piling has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Marufuji Sheet Piling to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Fabricated Products
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Marufuji Sheet Piling in Misc. Fabricated Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Learning organization
- Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Marufuji Sheet Piling emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Weaknesses of Marufuji Sheet Piling | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Marufuji Sheet Piling are -
Need for greater diversity
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Marufuji Sheet Piling products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Marufuji Sheet Piling needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Marufuji Sheet Piling has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Marufuji Sheet Piling should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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. Fabricated Products industry.
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 Marufuji Sheet Piling supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Marufuji Sheet Piling is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Marufuji Sheet Piling vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Marufuji Sheet Piling needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Marufuji Sheet Piling, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Fabricated Products industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Marufuji Sheet Piling has high operating costs in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Marufuji Sheet Piling lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Marufuji Sheet Piling Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Marufuji Sheet Piling are -
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. Marufuji Sheet Piling 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. Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Misc. Fabricated Products industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Marufuji Sheet Piling is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Marufuji Sheet Piling can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Fabricated Products industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Marufuji Sheet Piling has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This can help Marufuji Sheet Piling to build a more holistic ecosystem for Marufuji Sheet Piling products in the Misc. Fabricated Products 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling 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. Fabricated Products industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 Marufuji Sheet Piling in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. Now Marufuji Sheet Piling can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Manufacturing automation
– Marufuji Sheet Piling can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Fabricated Products 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Marufuji Sheet Piling can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Marufuji Sheet Piling External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Marufuji Sheet Piling are -
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. Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Marufuji Sheet Piling is facing in Misc. Fabricated Products sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Marufuji Sheet Piling business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Marufuji Sheet Piling needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Misc. Fabricated Products industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Marufuji Sheet Piling can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Marufuji Sheet Piling
– 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Environmental challenges
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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. Marufuji Sheet Piling can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Fabricated Products industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Marufuji Sheet Piling 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Marufuji Sheet Piling Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling 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 Marufuji Sheet Piling needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
