Fujicopian (7957) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Fujicopian (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Fujicopian is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Fujicopian

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Fujicopian can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Fujicopian, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Fujicopian 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 Fujicopian can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Fujicopian
2. Improving business portfolio management of Fujicopian
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 Fujicopian

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

The strengths of Fujicopian are -

Training and development

– Fujicopian has one of the best training and development program in Consumer/Non-Cyclical 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.

Organizational Resilience of Fujicopian

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Fujicopian does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Innovation driven organization

– Fujicopian is one of the most innovative firm in Office Supplies sector.

Digital Transformation in Office Supplies industry

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

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Fujicopian 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Fujicopian 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Office Supplies industry

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

Ability to recruit top talent

– Fujicopian is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies 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.

Analytics focus

– Fujicopian 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 Office Supplies 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.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Fujicopian has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Fujicopian staying ahead in the Office Supplies industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

High brand equity

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

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

The weaknesses of Fujicopian are -

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Fujicopian, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Office Supplies 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Office Supplies industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Fujicopian 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 Office Supplies industry.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Fujicopian 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.

Skills based hiring in Office Supplies industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Fujicopian 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.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Fujicopian 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 Fujicopian can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Fujicopian is planning to shift buying processes online.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Fujicopian is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Office Supplies industry in last five years.

Need for greater diversity

– Fujicopian 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Fujicopian strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Fujicopian 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Fujicopian 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

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

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Fujicopian has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Office Supplies industry over the last five years. Fujicopian 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.

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

The opportunities of Fujicopian are -

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Increase in government spending

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

Leveraging digital technologies

– Fujicopian 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

– Fujicopian 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Fujicopian 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.

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. Fujicopian 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. Fujicopian 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 Fujicopian to increase its market reach. Fujicopian 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Fujicopian 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

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 Fujicopian 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Fujicopian 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 Fujicopian to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Developing new processes and practices

– Fujicopian can develop new processes and procedures in Office Supplies 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Office Supplies industry

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

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

The threats of Fujicopian are -

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 Fujicopian.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Fujicopian 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.

Shortening product life cycle

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

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Fujicopian 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.

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.

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

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Fujicopian 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.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Office Supplies industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Fujicopian can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Regulatory challenges

– Fujicopian 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 Office Supplies industry regulations.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Fujicopian has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Office Supplies industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Fujicopian 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.

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 Fujicopian in the Office Supplies sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing wage structure of Fujicopian

– 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 Fujicopian.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Fujicopian Template, Example

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

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