SKiyaki (3995) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Computer Services
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for SKiyaki (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , SKiyaki is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that SKiyaki can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the SKiyaki, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of SKiyaki
2. Improving business portfolio management of SKiyaki
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 SKiyaki
Strengths of SKiyaki | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of SKiyaki are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of SKiyaki in the Technology sector have low bargaining power. SKiyaki has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps SKiyaki to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management in the Computer Services industry
– SKiyaki is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of SKiyaki
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing SKiyaki does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– SKiyaki 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of SKiyaki in Computer Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– SKiyaki has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled SKiyaki to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at SKiyaki emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– SKiyaki has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. SKiyaki 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that SKiyaki 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.
Innovation driven organization
– SKiyaki is one of the most innovative firm in Computer Services sector.
Ability to recruit top talent
– SKiyaki 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.
Digital Transformation in Computer Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For SKiyaki digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. SKiyaki 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.
Weaknesses of SKiyaki | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of SKiyaki are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, SKiyaki 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, SKiyaki is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help SKiyaki to provide better information regarding Computer Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of SKiyaki products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, SKiyaki needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ less understanding of SKiyaki strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of SKiyaki don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of SKiyaki is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Computer Services industry, but SKiyaki needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help SKiyaki to focus more on services in the Computer Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on SKiyaki ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at SKiyaki, in the dynamic environment of Computer Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. SKiyaki has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
SKiyaki has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Computer Services industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though SKiyaki 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. SKiyaki should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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 SKiyaki supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, SKiyaki is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left SKiyaki vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
SKiyaki Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of SKiyaki are -
Buying journey improvements
– SKiyaki can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Computer Services 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at SKiyaki 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.
Loyalty marketing
– SKiyaki 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help SKiyaki to increase its market reach. SKiyaki 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– SKiyaki 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Computer Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. SKiyaki 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. SKiyaki can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– SKiyaki 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for SKiyaki in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Computer Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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 SKiyaki 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
– SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help SKiyaki to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for SKiyaki 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.
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 SKiyaki in the Computer Services industry. Now SKiyaki can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats SKiyaki External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of SKiyaki are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– SKiyaki has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Computer Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, SKiyaki needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Computer Services 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki is facing in Computer Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 SKiyaki.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Computer Services industry are lowering. It can presents SKiyaki with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Computer 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. SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki in the Computer Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of SKiyaki
– 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 SKiyaki.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Computer Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. SKiyaki can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– SKiyaki high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Environmental challenges
– SKiyaki 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. SKiyaki can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Computer Services industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki prominent markets.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of SKiyaki Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki 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 SKiyaki needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.