SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fushiki Kairiku Unso (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fushiki Kairiku Unso is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices,
there is backlash against globalization, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fushiki Kairiku Unso can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fushiki Kairiku Unso, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Misc. Transportation sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
Strengths of Fushiki Kairiku Unso | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Fushiki Kairiku Unso are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation 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
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Transportation sector.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Fushiki Kairiku Unso comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Misc. Transportation 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is present in almost all the verticals within the Misc. Transportation industry. This has provided Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Fushiki Kairiku Unso in the Transportation sector have low bargaining power. Fushiki Kairiku Unso has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Fushiki Kairiku Unso to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Misc. Transportation industry
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Fushiki Kairiku Unso to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Fushiki Kairiku Unso to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Misc. Transportation
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Misc. Transportation industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Fushiki Kairiku Unso in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Misc. Transportation industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Fushiki Kairiku Unso have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Fushiki Kairiku Unso emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Misc. Transportation industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Fushiki Kairiku Unso digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Fushiki Kairiku Unso are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fushiki Kairiku Unso has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Misc. Transportation industry over the last five years. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Fushiki Kairiku Unso, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Misc. Transportation 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Fushiki Kairiku Unso is one of the leading players in the Misc. Transportation industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Misc. Transportation industry in last five years.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Fushiki Kairiku Unso strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Fushiki Kairiku Unso is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Fushiki Kairiku Unso to provide better information regarding Misc. Transportation products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Fushiki Kairiku Unso has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Misc. Transportation industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Fushiki Kairiku Unso has some of the most successful models in the Misc. Transportation industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Fushiki Kairiku Unso should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Fushiki Kairiku Unso is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Misc. Transportation industry, but Fushiki Kairiku Unso needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Fushiki Kairiku Unso to focus more on services in the Misc. Transportation industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Fushiki Kairiku Unso, in the dynamic environment of Misc. Transportation industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Fushiki Kairiku Unso has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Fushiki Kairiku Unso Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Fushiki Kairiku Unso are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Misc. Transportation industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Fushiki Kairiku Unso can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Misc. Transportation industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Fushiki Kairiku Unso to increase its market reach. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Misc. Transportation 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Fushiki Kairiku Unso can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Fushiki Kairiku Unso operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Misc. Transportation sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Fushiki Kairiku Unso is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Fushiki Kairiku Unso can utilize new technology in the field of Misc. Transportation industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Misc. Transportation industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Fushiki Kairiku Unso in the Misc. Transportation industry. Now Fushiki Kairiku Unso can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Fushiki Kairiku Unso can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Threats Fushiki Kairiku Unso External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Fushiki Kairiku Unso are -
Regulatory challenges
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry regulations.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Fushiki Kairiku Unso may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Misc. Transportation sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Misc. Transportation industry are lowering. It can presents Fushiki Kairiku Unso with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Misc. Transportation sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Fushiki Kairiku Unso in Misc. Transportation industry. The Misc. Transportation 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.
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.
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. Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Environmental challenges
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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. Fushiki Kairiku Unso can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Misc. Transportation industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso prominent markets.
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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso in the Misc. Transportation sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Misc. Transportation industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fushiki Kairiku Unso can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fushiki Kairiku Unso Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.