Kagetsuenkanko (9674) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kagetsuenkanko (Japan)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kagetsuenkanko is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kagetsuenkanko

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

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

The strengths of Kagetsuenkanko are -

Learning organization

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

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Kagetsuenkanko 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Kagetsuenkanko 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Kagetsuenkanko is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Activities sector.

Strong track record of project management in the Recreational Activities industry

– Kagetsuenkanko 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

– Kagetsuenkanko is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities 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.

High brand equity

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

Highly skilled collaborators

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

Successful track record of launching new products

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

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Kagetsuenkanko in Recreational Activities industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Analytics focus

– Kagetsuenkanko 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 Recreational Activities 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.

Ability to lead change in Recreational Activities

– Kagetsuenkanko is one of the leading players in the Recreational Activities industry in Japan. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Activities industry in Japan but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kagetsuenkanko in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

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

The weaknesses of Kagetsuenkanko are -

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Kagetsuenkanko is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Recreational Activities industry, but Kagetsuenkanko needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kagetsuenkanko to focus more on services in the Recreational Activities industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Skills based hiring in Recreational Activities industry

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kagetsuenkanko 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.

High dependence on Kagetsuenkanko ‘s star products

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

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kagetsuenkanko is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Kagetsuenkanko to provide better information regarding Recreational Activities products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Products dominated business model

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

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Kagetsuenkanko needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Activities industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kagetsuenkanko can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kagetsuenkanko is planning to shift buying processes online.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Japan, Kagetsuenkanko needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Recreational Activities industry, Kagetsuenkanko 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Kagetsuenkanko products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kagetsuenkanko needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Need for greater diversity

– Kagetsuenkanko 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Kagetsuenkanko, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Recreational Activities 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.

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

The opportunities of Kagetsuenkanko are -

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kagetsuenkanko 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kagetsuenkanko 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Activities industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kagetsuenkanko can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kagetsuenkanko 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 Kagetsuenkanko 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 Kagetsuenkanko 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 Kagetsuenkanko to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Buying journey improvements

– Kagetsuenkanko can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Activities 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

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

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

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

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. Kagetsuenkanko can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Lowering marketing communication costs

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

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Kagetsuenkanko 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 Recreational Activities industry.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Recreational Activities industry

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

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

The threats of Kagetsuenkanko are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Kagetsuenkanko has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Recreational Activities industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kagetsuenkanko needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Recreational Activities 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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Kagetsuenkanko 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.

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 Kagetsuenkanko.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kagetsuenkanko 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 Kagetsuenkanko prominent markets.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kagetsuenkanko in Recreational Activities industry. The Recreational Activities 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Kagetsuenkanko may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Recreational Activities sector.

Barriers of entry lowering

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

Regulatory challenges

– Kagetsuenkanko 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 Recreational Activities industry regulations.

Environmental challenges

– Kagetsuenkanko 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. Kagetsuenkanko can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Activities 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.

Shortening product life cycle

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

Consumer confidence and its impact on Kagetsuenkanko 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 Recreational Activities industry and other sectors.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Kagetsuenkanko 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 Recreational Activities industry.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kagetsuenkanko Template, Example

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

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