Imura Envelope Co (3955) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Imura Envelope Co (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Imura Envelope Co is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Imura Envelope Co

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

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

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

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Strengths of Imura Envelope Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Imura Envelope Co are -

Ability to lead change in Office Supplies

– Imura Envelope Co is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Office Supplies industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Imura Envelope Co in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High brand equity

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

Strong track record of project management in the Office Supplies industry

– Imura Envelope 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Imura Envelope Co comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Office Supplies 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Office Supplies industry

– Imura Envelope Co has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Imura Envelope Co to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Office Supplies industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Imura Envelope Co to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Digital Transformation in Office Supplies industry

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Imura Envelope 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Imura Envelope Co has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Imura Envelope Co 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Imura Envelope Co is present in almost all the verticals within the Office Supplies industry. This has provided Imura Envelope 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Imura Envelope Co is one of the most innovative firm in Office Supplies sector.

Learning organization

- Imura Envelope 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 Imura Envelope Co is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Imura Envelope Co emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Imura Envelope Co in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Imura Envelope Co has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Imura Envelope Co to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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Weaknesses of Imura Envelope Co | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Imura Envelope Co are -

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Imura Envelope Co is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Imura Envelope Co to provide better information regarding Office Supplies products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Japan, Imura Envelope Co needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Imura Envelope Co, in the dynamic environment of Office Supplies industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Imura Envelope 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 Imura Envelope Co ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Imura Envelope Co still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Office Supplies industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Imura Envelope Co has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Skills based hiring in Office Supplies industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Imura Envelope Co 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Imura Envelope Co products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Imura Envelope Co needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Imura Envelope 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 Office Supplies industry using digital technology.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Imura Envelope Co is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Office Supplies industry, but Imura Envelope Co needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Imura Envelope Co to focus more on services in the Office Supplies industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Employees’ less understanding of Imura Envelope Co strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Imura Envelope Co 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

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

Need for greater diversity

– Imura Envelope Co 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.

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Imura Envelope Co Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Imura Envelope Co are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Imura Envelope Co 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Imura Envelope 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Imura Envelope Co 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Imura Envelope Co can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Office Supplies 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Imura Envelope Co can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Office Supplies 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Imura Envelope Co is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Imura Envelope Co can utilize new technology in the field of Office Supplies industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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, Imura Envelope Co can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Imura Envelope Co operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Office Supplies sector.

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Imura Envelope Co 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 Imura Envelope Co to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– consumer behavior has changed in the Office Supplies industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Imura Envelope 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. Imura Envelope 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

– Imura Envelope 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Imura Envelope Co has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Office Supplies industry. This can help Imura Envelope Co to build a more holistic ecosystem for Imura Envelope Co products in the Office Supplies industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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. Imura Envelope Co can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Imura Envelope Co External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Imura Envelope Co are -

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 Imura Envelope Co business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Imura Envelope Co 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 Office Supplies industry and other sectors.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Office Supplies industry are lowering. It can presents Imura Envelope Co with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Office Supplies sector.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Imura Envelope 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 Office Supplies 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 Imura Envelope Co in the Office Supplies 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.

Increasing wage structure of Imura Envelope Co

– 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 Imura Envelope Co.

Environmental challenges

– Imura Envelope Co 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. Imura Envelope Co can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Office Supplies industry.

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. Imura Envelope Co 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.

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 Imura Envelope Co.

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. Imura Envelope Co needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Office Supplies industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Imura Envelope 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 Office Supplies sector.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Imura Envelope Co has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Office Supplies industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Imura Envelope Co needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Office Supplies 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Imura Envelope Co Template, Example

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

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