SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
2. Improving business portfolio management of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Coal sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
Strengths of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated in Coal industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Coal industry
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated staying ahead in the Coal industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Training and development
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has one of the best training and development program in Energy 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Coal industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Organizational Resilience of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated in the Energy sector have low bargaining power. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Coal 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.
High brand equity
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is present in almost all the verticals within the Coal industry. This has provided Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Learning organization
- Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Coal industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is planning to shift buying processes online.
Need for greater diversity
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is one of the leading players in the Coal industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Coal industry in last five years.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Coal industry, but Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to focus more on services in the Coal industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Coal industry, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Coal industry over the last five years. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to provide better information regarding Coal products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Coal 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has some of the most successful models in the Coal industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Coal industry.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Coal industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Coal 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to increase its market reach. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Coal industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Coal 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Coal sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Coal industry. This can help Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated to build a more holistic ecosystem for Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated products in the Coal industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Coal industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Coal 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. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Coal industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated.
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. Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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
– Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Coal 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated in the Coal sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated is facing in Coal sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated
– 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Coal industry and other sectors.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Coal industry are lowering. It can presents Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Coal sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated 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 Taiheiyo Kouhatsuorporated needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.