DesignOne Japan (6048) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Computer Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for DesignOne Japan (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , DesignOne Japan is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that DesignOne Japan can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the DesignOne Japan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of DesignOne Japan
2. Improving business portfolio management of DesignOne Japan
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Computer Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of DesignOne Japan
Strengths of DesignOne Japan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of DesignOne Japan are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– DesignOne Japan is one of the leading players in the Computer Services 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.
Innovation driven organization
– DesignOne Japan is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Services sector.
High brand equity
– DesignOne Japan has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled DesignOne Japan to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– DesignOne Japan has one of the best training and development program in Technology 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the DesignOne Japan 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of DesignOne Japan in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– DesignOne Japan is present in almost all the verticals within the Computer Services industry. This has provided DesignOne Japan 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that DesignOne Japan 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.
Digital Transformation in Computer Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For DesignOne Japan digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. DesignOne Japan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– DesignOne Japan has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Computer Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of DesignOne Japan have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– DesignOne Japan has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. DesignOne Japan 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of DesignOne Japan in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. DesignOne Japan has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps DesignOne Japan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses of DesignOne Japan | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of DesignOne Japan are -
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 DesignOne Japan supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, DesignOne Japan is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left DesignOne Japan vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of DesignOne Japan, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Computer Services 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, DesignOne Japan has high operating costs in the Computer Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract DesignOne Japan lucrative customers.
High dependence on DesignOne Japan ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of DesignOne Japan still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Computer Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though DesignOne Japan has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that DesignOne Japan needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Computer Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at DesignOne Japan can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as DesignOne Japan is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though DesignOne Japan has some of the most successful models in the Computer Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. DesignOne Japan should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of DesignOne Japan is just above the Computer Services industry average. It needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, DesignOne Japan has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Computer Services industry over the last five years. DesignOne Japan 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of DesignOne Japan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Services industry, but DesignOne Japan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help DesignOne Japan to focus more on services in the Computer Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, DesignOne Japan is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help DesignOne Japan to provide better information regarding Computer Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Computer Services industry, DesignOne Japan 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.
DesignOne Japan Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of DesignOne Japan are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Computer Services industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. DesignOne Japan can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– DesignOne Japan can develop new processes and procedures in Computer 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, DesignOne Japan 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.
Loyalty marketing
– DesignOne Japan 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Computer Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for DesignOne Japan in the Computer Services industry. Now DesignOne Japan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– DesignOne Japan 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 DesignOne Japan to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– DesignOne Japan has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Computer Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled DesignOne Japan to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help DesignOne Japan to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of DesignOne Japan has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Computer Services industry. This can help DesignOne Japan to build a more holistic ecosystem for DesignOne Japan products in the Computer Services industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for DesignOne Japan 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.
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. DesignOne Japan can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at DesignOne Japan 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 Computer Services industry.
Threats DesignOne Japan External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of DesignOne Japan are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan prominent markets.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for DesignOne Japan in Computer Services industry. The Computer 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on DesignOne Japan 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 Computer Services industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– DesignOne Japan 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 Computer Services industry.
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 DesignOne Japan 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents DesignOne Japan with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer Services sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, DesignOne Japan may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Computer Services sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that DesignOne Japan is facing in Computer Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– DesignOne Japan 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 Computer Services 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. DesignOne Japan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Computer Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 DesignOne Japan in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– DesignOne Japan 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. DesignOne Japan can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Services industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of DesignOne Japan Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan 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 DesignOne Japan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.