SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Sailor Pen (Japan)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Sailor Pen is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Sailor Pen can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sailor Pen, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Sailor Pen
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sailor Pen
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 Sailor Pen
Strengths of Sailor Pen | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sailor Pen are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sailor Pen 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.
Ability to lead change in Office Supplies
– Sailor Pen is one of the leading players in the Office Supplies industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Office Supplies industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Sailor Pen in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Sailor Pen emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management in the Office Supplies industry
– Sailor Pen is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sailor Pen 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Office Supplies industry
– Sailor Pen has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sailor Pen to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Office Supplies industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sailor Pen to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Sailor Pen 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.
Digital Transformation in Office Supplies industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sailor Pen digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sailor Pen 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Sailor Pen has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Office Supplies industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Sailor Pen have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Sailor Pen
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Sailor Pen does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Sailor Pen 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Sailor Pen is present in almost all the verticals within the Office Supplies industry. This has provided Sailor Pen 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.
Weaknesses of Sailor Pen | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sailor Pen are -
High bargaining power of channel partners in Office Supplies industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Sailor Pen 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Sailor Pen is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Sailor Pen is just above the Office Supplies 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 dependence on Sailor Pen ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Sailor Pen still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Office Supplies industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Sailor Pen has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Sailor Pen 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Sailor Pen has high operating costs in the Office Supplies industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Sailor Pen lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sailor Pen 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. Sailor Pen 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Sailor Pen has some of the most successful models in the Office Supplies industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Sailor Pen 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, Sailor Pen needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Sailor Pen Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Sailor Pen are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Sailor Pen can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Sailor Pen operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Office Supplies sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Sailor Pen 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 Office Supplies industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sailor Pen in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Office Supplies industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Sailor Pen 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sailor Pen has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Office Supplies sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Sailor Pen to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sailor Pen to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sailor Pen has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Office Supplies industry. This can help Sailor Pen to build a more holistic ecosystem for Sailor Pen products in the Office Supplies industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Sailor Pen in the Office Supplies industry. Now Sailor Pen 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. Sailor Pen can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Sailor Pen 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sailor Pen 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.
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 Sailor Pen 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.
Threats Sailor Pen External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Sailor Pen are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Office Supplies industry are lowering. It can presents Sailor Pen with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Office Supplies sector.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen prominent markets.
Increasing wage structure of Sailor Pen
– 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 Sailor Pen.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sailor Pen 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 Office Supplies industry and other sectors.
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. Sailor Pen 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.
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 Sailor Pen.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Sailor Pen 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.
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. Sailor Pen needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Office Supplies industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Sailor Pen business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sailor Pen 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Sailor Pen 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sailor Pen Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen 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 Sailor Pen needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
