SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Maruchiyo Yamaokaya (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Maruchiyo Yamaokaya, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya
2. Improving business portfolio management of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Restaurants sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya
Strengths of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in Restaurants industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Restaurants 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is present in almost all the verticals within the Restaurants industry. This has provided Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Strong track record of project management in the Restaurants industry
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Digital Transformation in Restaurants industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Maruchiyo Yamaokaya digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is one of the most innovative firm in Restaurants sector.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Restaurants
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is one of the leading players in the Restaurants industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Restaurants industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has one of the best training and development program in Services 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.
Weaknesses of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Restaurants 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has some of the most successful models in the Restaurants industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Restaurants industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the Restaurants industry.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Restaurants industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Maruchiyo Yamaokaya needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Restaurants industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to provide better information regarding Restaurants products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has high operating costs in the Restaurants industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Maruchiyo Yamaokaya lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring in Restaurants industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
High dependence on Maruchiyo Yamaokaya ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Restaurants industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Maruchiyo Yamaokaya, in the dynamic environment of Restaurants industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Maruchiyo Yamaokaya Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya are -
Manufacturing automation
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Restaurants 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.
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. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Restaurants industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in the Restaurants industry. Now Maruchiyo Yamaokaya can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to increase its market reach. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Restaurants industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Restaurants sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Maruchiyo Yamaokaya to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Restaurants industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Restaurants industry.
Threats Maruchiyo Yamaokaya External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Restaurants industry and other sectors.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya prominent markets.
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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya.
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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in the Restaurants sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Restaurants industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Maruchiyo Yamaokaya needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Restaurants 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Maruchiyo Yamaokaya in Restaurants industry. The Restaurants 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.
Increasing wage structure of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya
– 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Restaurants industry regulations.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maruchiyo Yamaokaya Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya 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 Maruchiyo Yamaokaya needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
