Twinbird (6897) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Twinbird (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Twinbird is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Twinbird

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Twinbird can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Twinbird, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Twinbird 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 Twinbird can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Twinbird
2. Improving business portfolio management of Twinbird
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Appliance & Tool sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Twinbird

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Strengths of Twinbird | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Twinbird are -

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Twinbird 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Twinbird is present in almost all the verticals within the Appliance & Tool industry. This has provided Twinbird 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

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

High brand equity

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

Digital Transformation in Appliance & Tool industry

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

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Highly skilled collaborators

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

Ability to lead change in Appliance & Tool

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

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

Innovation driven organization

– Twinbird is one of the most innovative firm in Appliance & Tool sector.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Twinbird is one of the leading players in the Appliance & Tool 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Appliance & Tool industry

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

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Weaknesses of Twinbird | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Twinbird are -

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative at Twinbird, in the dynamic environment of Appliance & Tool industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Twinbird has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Skills based hiring in Appliance & Tool industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Twinbird 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Appliance & Tool industry, Twinbird 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.

High dependence on Twinbird ‘s star products

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

Low market penetration in new markets

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

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Twinbird 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Twinbird is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Appliance & Tool industry, but Twinbird needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Twinbird to focus more on services in the Appliance & Tool 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, Twinbird is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Twinbird to provide better information regarding Appliance & Tool products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Twinbird has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Appliance & Tool industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Twinbird is just above the Appliance & Tool 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.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Twinbird has high operating costs in the Appliance & Tool industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Twinbird lucrative customers.

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Twinbird Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Twinbird are -

Manufacturing automation

– Twinbird can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Appliance & Tool 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Appliance & Tool industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Twinbird in the Appliance & Tool industry. Now Twinbird can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Finding new ways to collaborate

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

Loyalty marketing

– Twinbird 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

– Twinbird can develop new processes and procedures in Appliance & Tool 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Twinbird 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 Appliance & Tool industry.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Twinbird 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Increase in government spending

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

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Twinbird in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Appliance & Tool industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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. Twinbird can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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Threats Twinbird External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Twinbird are -

Environmental challenges

– Twinbird 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. Twinbird can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Appliance & Tool industry.

Learning curve for new practices

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

Increasing wage structure of Twinbird

– 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 Twinbird.

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 Twinbird business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Twinbird in Appliance & Tool industry. The Appliance & Tool 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.

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. Twinbird 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Twinbird is facing in Appliance & Tool sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Twinbird has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Appliance & Tool industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Twinbird needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Appliance & Tool 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.

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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Twinbird 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 Appliance & Tool industry.

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. Twinbird needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Appliance & Tool industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Twinbird 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 Appliance & Tool industry and other sectors.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Twinbird Template, Example

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

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