Hikari Business Form (3948) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Hikari Business Form (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Hikari Business Form is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing energy prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hikari Business Form

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Hikari Business Form can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hikari Business Form, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hikari Business Form 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 Hikari Business Form can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Hikari Business Form
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hikari Business Form
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Japan
4. Making a Printing Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Hikari Business Form

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Strengths of Hikari Business Form | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Hikari Business Form are -

Learning organization

- Hikari Business Form 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 Hikari Business Form is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Hikari Business Form emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Organizational Resilience of Hikari Business Form

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

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Printing Services industry

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

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Hikari Business Form in Printing Services industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Hikari Business Form has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Printing Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Hikari Business Form have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Innovation driven organization

– Hikari Business Form is one of the most innovative firm in Printing Services sector.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Hikari Business Form has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hikari Business Form 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Hikari Business Form is present in almost all the verticals within the Printing Services industry. This has provided Hikari Business Form 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.

Digital Transformation in Printing Services industry

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

Training and development

– Hikari Business Form 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Hikari Business Form is one of the leading players in the Printing Services 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

– Hikari Business Form 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 Printing Services 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.

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Weaknesses of Hikari Business Form | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Hikari Business Form are -

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hikari Business Form has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Printing Services industry over the last five years. Hikari Business Form 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee of Hikari Business Form is just above the Printing Services 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 Hikari Business Form ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Hikari Business Form still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Printing Services industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Hikari Business Form has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Ability to respond to the competition

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

Skills based hiring in Printing Services industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hikari Business Form 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Hikari Business Form, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Printing Services 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.

Employees’ less understanding of Hikari Business Form strategy

– From the outside it seems that the employees of Hikari Business Form 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Printing Services industry, Hikari Business Form 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Hikari Business Form has some of the most successful models in the Printing Services industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Hikari Business Form should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High bargaining power of channel partners in Printing Services industry

– because of the regulatory requirements in Japan, Hikari Business Form 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 Printing Services industry.

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Hikari Business Form supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Hikari Business Form is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Hikari Business Form vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

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Hikari Business Form Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Hikari Business Form are -

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Hikari Business Form has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Printing Services industry. This can help Hikari Business Form to build a more holistic ecosystem for Hikari Business Form products in the Printing Services 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 Printing Services industry

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

Loyalty marketing

– Hikari Business Form 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Hikari Business Form 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.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hikari Business Form is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hikari Business Form can utilize new technology in the field of Printing Services industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Hikari Business Form 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 Printing Services industry.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hikari Business Form to increase its market reach. Hikari Business Form 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 Hikari Business Form 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Hikari Business Form has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Printing Services sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Hikari Business Form to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hikari Business Form to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hikari Business Form in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Printing Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Buying journey improvements

– Hikari Business Form can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Printing Services 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.

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Threats Hikari Business Form External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Hikari Business Form are -

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. Hikari Business Form needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Printing Services industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Hikari Business Form 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 Printing Services industry and other sectors.

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 Hikari Business Form.

Increasing wage structure of Hikari Business Form

– 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 Hikari Business Form.

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 Printing Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Hikari Business Form can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Hikari Business Form has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Printing Services industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Hikari Business Form needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Printing Services 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Printing Services industry are lowering. It can presents Hikari Business Form with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Printing Services sector.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Hikari Business Form is facing in Printing Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Hikari Business Form in the Printing Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hikari Business Form in Printing Services industry. The Printing Services 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.

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 Hikari Business Form business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hikari Business Form Template, Example

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

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