Willplus Holdings Co (3538) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Retail (Specialty)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Willplus Holdings Co (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Willplus Holdings Co is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Willplus Holdings Co
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Willplus Holdings Co can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Willplus Holdings Co, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Willplus Holdings Co
2. Improving business portfolio management of Willplus Holdings Co
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Retail (Specialty) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Willplus Holdings Co
Strengths of Willplus Holdings Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Willplus Holdings Co are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Willplus Holdings Co in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Willplus Holdings Co has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Willplus Holdings Co to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Willplus Holdings Co is present in almost all the verticals within the Retail (Specialty) industry. This has provided Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Training and development
– Willplus Holdings Co has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Willplus Holdings Co is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Retail (Specialty) industry
– Willplus Holdings Co is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Willplus Holdings Co in Retail (Specialty) industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Willplus Holdings Co has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Willplus Holdings Co to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) 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.
Learning organization
- Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Willplus Holdings Co emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Willplus Holdings Co
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Willplus Holdings Co does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of Willplus Holdings Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Willplus Holdings Co are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Willplus Holdings Co is one of the leading players in the Retail (Specialty) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Retail (Specialty) industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Willplus Holdings Co has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Retail (Specialty) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Willplus Holdings Co has some of the most successful models in the Retail (Specialty) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Willplus Holdings Co should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on Willplus Holdings Co ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Willplus Holdings Co still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Retail (Specialty) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Willplus Holdings Co has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Willplus Holdings Co, in the dynamic environment of Retail (Specialty) industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Willplus Holdings Co has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Willplus Holdings Co supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Willplus Holdings Co is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Willplus Holdings Co vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Willplus Holdings Co products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Willplus Holdings Co needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Retail (Specialty) industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Willplus Holdings Co has high operating costs in the Retail (Specialty) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Willplus Holdings Co lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) industry using digital technology.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Willplus Holdings Co is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Willplus Holdings Co to provide better information regarding Retail (Specialty) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Willplus Holdings Co Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Willplus Holdings Co are -
Manufacturing automation
– Willplus Holdings Co can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Retail (Specialty) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Willplus Holdings Co can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Willplus Holdings Co operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Retail (Specialty) sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Willplus Holdings Co has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Retail (Specialty) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Willplus Holdings Co to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Willplus Holdings Co to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Willplus Holdings Co in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Retail (Specialty) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Willplus Holdings Co is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Willplus Holdings Co can utilize new technology in the field of Retail (Specialty) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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. Willplus Holdings Co can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Retail (Specialty) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Willplus Holdings Co 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. Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Retail (Specialty) industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Willplus Holdings Co can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Buying journey improvements
– Willplus Holdings Co can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Willplus Holdings Co has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Retail (Specialty) industry. This can help Willplus Holdings Co to build a more holistic ecosystem for Willplus Holdings Co products in the Retail (Specialty) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Willplus Holdings Co External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Willplus Holdings Co are -
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 Willplus Holdings Co.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Retail (Specialty) industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Willplus Holdings Co can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Willplus Holdings Co needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Retail (Specialty) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Willplus Holdings Co is facing in Retail (Specialty) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Willplus Holdings Co may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Retail (Specialty) sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co prominent markets.
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 Willplus Holdings Co business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Willplus Holdings Co 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) industry regulations.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Willplus Holdings Co 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 Retail (Specialty) industry.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Willplus Holdings Co in the Retail (Specialty) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Willplus Holdings Co has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Retail (Specialty) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Willplus Holdings Co needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Retail (Specialty) 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Willplus Holdings Co Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co 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 Willplus Holdings Co needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.