Kyodo Public Relations (2436) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kyodo Public Relations (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kyodo Public Relations is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kyodo Public Relations

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kyodo Public Relations can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kyodo Public Relations, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kyodo Public Relations 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Kyodo Public Relations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kyodo Public Relations
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kyodo Public Relations
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Business Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kyodo Public Relations

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Strengths of Kyodo Public Relations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Kyodo Public Relations are -

Digital Transformation in Business Services industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kyodo Public Relations digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Kyodo Public Relations is one of the most innovative firm in Business Services sector.

High brand equity

– Kyodo Public Relations has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kyodo Public Relations to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Analytics focus

– Kyodo Public Relations 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 Business Services 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.

Strong track record of project management in the Business Services industry

– Kyodo Public Relations is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Kyodo Public Relations comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Business Services 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.

Organizational Resilience of Kyodo Public Relations

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kyodo Public Relations does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Business Services industry

– Kyodo Public Relations has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kyodo Public Relations to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Business Services industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kyodo Public Relations to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Kyodo Public Relations has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Kyodo Public Relations staying ahead in the Business Services industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Kyodo Public Relations has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Business Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kyodo Public Relations have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Kyodo Public Relations in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Kyodo Public Relations has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kyodo Public Relations to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Learning organization

- Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Kyodo Public Relations emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

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Weaknesses of Kyodo Public Relations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Kyodo Public Relations are -

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Business Services industry, Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Kyodo Public Relations needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Business Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kyodo Public Relations can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kyodo Public Relations is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kyodo Public Relations has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Business Services industry over the last five years. Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Need for greater diversity

– Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Kyodo Public Relations still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Business Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Kyodo Public Relations has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Japan, Kyodo Public Relations needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring in Business Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Kyodo Public Relations 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 Business Services industry using digital technology.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Kyodo Public Relations has high operating costs in the Business Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Kyodo Public Relations lucrative customers.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Kyodo Public Relations has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Kyodo Public Relations has some of the most successful models in the Business Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Kyodo Public Relations should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

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Kyodo Public Relations Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Kyodo Public Relations are -

Manufacturing automation

– Kyodo Public Relations can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Business Services 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.

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 Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Kyodo Public Relations 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

– Kyodo Public Relations can develop new processes and procedures in Business Services 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kyodo Public Relations can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kyodo Public Relations operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Business Services sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Kyodo Public Relations has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Business Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Kyodo Public Relations to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kyodo Public Relations to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Business Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kyodo Public Relations can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kyodo Public Relations in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Business Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kyodo Public Relations is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kyodo Public Relations can utilize new technology in the field of Business Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kyodo Public Relations can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kyodo Public Relations 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Kyodo Public Relations 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 Business Services industry.

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Threats Kyodo Public Relations External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Kyodo Public Relations are -

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Business Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Kyodo Public Relations can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations prominent markets.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kyodo Public Relations in Business Services industry. The Business Services 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.

Environmental challenges

– Kyodo Public Relations 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. Kyodo Public Relations can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Business Services industry.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Kyodo Public Relations is facing in Business Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Regulatory challenges

– Kyodo Public Relations 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 Business Services industry regulations.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Kyodo Public Relations high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

Capital market disruption

– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Kyodo Public Relations.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Kyodo Public Relations 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 Business Services industry.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Kyodo Public Relations may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Business Services sector.

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. Kyodo Public Relations needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Business Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Increasing wage structure of Kyodo Public Relations

– 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 Kyodo Public Relations.

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 Kyodo Public Relations in the Business Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kyodo Public Relations Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations 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 Kyodo Public Relations needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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