Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR (KWHIY) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Recreational Products
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing transportation and logistics costs, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Recreational Products sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
Strengths of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR in Recreational Products industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Recreational Products
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Recreational Products industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Recreational Products 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Recreational Products industry
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Recreational Products industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR in the Consumer Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Recreational Products industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Analytics focus
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Products industry. The technology infrastructure of United States 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.
High brand equity
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Recreational Products industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is one of the most innovative firm in Recreational Products sector.
Weaknesses of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR are -
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Recreational Products 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Recreational Products industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is planning to shift buying processes online.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Recreational Products industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Lack of clear differentiation of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Recreational Products industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is one of the leading players in the Recreational Products industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Recreational Products industry in last five years.
Employees’ less understanding of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Recreational Products industry, but Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to focus more on services in the Recreational Products industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Recreational Products industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Recreational Products industry.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR, in the dynamic environment of Recreational Products industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Recreational Products industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Recreational Products 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Recreational Products industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can utilize new technology in the field of Recreational Products 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Products industry.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Recreational Products sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Recreational Products sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR are -
Environmental challenges
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Recreational Products industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR is facing in Recreational Products sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Products sector.
Increasing wage structure of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR
– 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR.
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. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Recreational Products industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR in Recreational Products industry. The Recreational Products 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Products industry.
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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Recreational Products industry are lowering. It can presents Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Recreational Products sector.
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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR 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 Kawasaki Heavy Industries ADR needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.