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 – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, 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 -
Innovation driven organization
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is one of the most innovative firm in Misc. Transportation sector.
Organizational Resilience of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Fushiki Kairiku Unso does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso has one of the best training and development program in Transportation 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.
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.
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.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Fushiki Kairiku Unso in Misc. Transportation industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management in the Misc. Transportation industry
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
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.
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.
Analytics focus
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation 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.
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 -
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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Japan, Fushiki Kairiku Unso needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Fushiki Kairiku Unso has high operating costs in the Misc. Transportation industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Fushiki Kairiku Unso lucrative customers.
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.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Misc. Transportation industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry.
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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Fushiki Kairiku Unso products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Fushiki Kairiku Unso needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Misc. Transportation industry, Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
Skills based hiring in Misc. Transportation industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso can develop new processes and procedures in Misc. Transportation 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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Misc. Transportation 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Fushiki Kairiku Unso in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Misc. Transportation industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Fushiki Kairiku Unso has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Misc. Transportation industry. This can help Fushiki Kairiku Unso to build a more holistic ecosystem for Fushiki Kairiku Unso products in the Misc. Transportation industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Fushiki Kairiku Unso can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
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 -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Fushiki Kairiku Unso is facing in Misc. Transportation 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 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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 Misc. Transportation industry and other sectors.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Fushiki Kairiku Unso
– 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 Fushiki Kairiku Unso.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Fushiki Kairiku Unso 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.
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.
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.
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.