who is good at balanced scorecard

Shemeko Hopkins and Thomas Brantley

BUS/475

Dr. Richard Taylor

Table of Contents Introduction 3 SWOTT Table 4 Forces/Trends 5 Internal Strengths 5 Internal Weaknesses 5 External Opportunities 5 External Threats 5 External Trends 5 Adapting to Change 8 Supply Chain 6 Potential Issues/Opportunities 7 Conclusion 7 References 9

SWOTT Analysis

Before a company develops strategies, they must take time to assess the positive and negative factors which impact their future. The SWOTT analysis provides a method to consider the internal forces: strengths and weaknesses; and then the external forces: opportunities, threats, and trends. Internal and external audits identify the specific forces the business faces. The SWOTT table segments these forces into positive, negative, and trend buckets. The company may directly impact or influence some factors if the business adapts to change. Although many external forces are out of reach, the supply chain can be a source of significant opportunities and threats which are actionable. Once compiled, the SWOTT analysis provides a synthesized view of the organizational challenges. This framework guides decisions on which issues to mitigate and which opportunities to pursue for a competitive advantage (David & David, 2017). As an example of the process, Sony Corporation is a large organization facing many forces as shown here through a SWOTT analysis.

SWOTT Table

Forces/Trends

Internal Strengths

Sony wants to be the company that inspires and fulfills curiosity, according to their mission statement. The goal is to be able to create new and unique cultures and experiences. The company is the top company when it comes to electronics and producing products that have quality. One of the goals of Sony is to create new and unique cultures and experiences. Sony has been involved in both entertainment and electronics. Their strategic capabilities include a strong ability to add value to their products. Sony is trying to get a position in economies that are emerging. The BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), are regions in which the market is on the rise. The world’s population in these regions are over 40% of where emerging markets are being represented.

Internal Weaknesses

A strategic plan is a process in an organization that helps the owners to define and implement organization’s strategy and decisions on resources allocation to meet its objectives. SWOTT analysis act as a tool to identify internal strengths and weaknesses to opportunities and threats from outside (Hill, Jones, and Schilling, 2014). The analysis is then used as a strategic framework to develop the most appropriate strategic plan to balance resource allocation process in organizations’ various activities. Sony Company is among the most popular consumer electronics developers in the world today. The company deals with two types of products; direct consumer’s products and products for other businesses or companies. Sony Company offers services such as consumers and professional entertainment and electronics services. It also offers financial services. Sony Company has adopted SWOTT analytical tool to identify its internal strength and weaknesses regarding its environment’s opportunities, threats, and trends which have facilitated the Company’s strong establishment in its line of work in the world through focusing on areas that need to be prioritized. Identifying weaknesses in Sony Company has helped the company to establish areas that need more focus. Being clinical and keen on areas of weakness have helped the company to experience acute positive progress over the years. Some of the weaknesses the company should prioritize on when developing a strategic plan include;

a) Product Pricing;

Compared with other similar products from competitor companies like LG and Samsung, Sony products are the most expensive, and this has negatively affected the general overall turnover of their products all over the world (Hill et al. 2014). Most people around the world are not able to purchase Sony products because of their high pricing, and this has been viewed as a weakness in the Company. When developing a strategic plan for the company, Sony Company should prioritize their efforts in ensuring that their product’s prices are customer friendly. This will help to increase their sells.

b) Product Diversification;

Unlike other competitor companies like LG, Sony Company does not offer a wide range of products. This limits consumer’s products selection, a trend that has stagnated their global profit margins over the years which is a weakness. In developing their strategic plan, Sony Company should focus on introducing new products to increase their products varieties. The company should invest their resources in innovation and research projects on new products and services.

c) Low Product Promotions;

Sony products are not heavily advertised or promoted like it is the case for other competitor companies. This has reduced the levels of consumer awareness all over the globe which inversely affect negatively their total sells. This reduces their profits annually. When developing a strategic plan, the company should address on the promotional policies of the company. More resources should be allocated to advertisement programs.

d) Huge Commitments on Retirement Benefits;

Over the years, Sony Company has largely invested on pension liabilities of their workers which were estimated to be approximately $3.6 billion by the year 2013 (Yüksel, and Dagdeviren, 2016). The increasing post-retirement benefits reduce the overall financial resource invested in production-related projects since huge chunks of company money is contributed to the pension plan which is a weakness in company’s development efforts. The company should review the retirement benefits policy when coming up with a strategic plan.

e) Distant Proximity to its Customers;

Most production activities of Sony Company are done in Japan. Close to 60% of products manufactured in Japan have to be shipped to other regions around the world. This has weakened the Company-Consumer interaction which inversely affects their total sells. Interacting with consumers gives the company a chance to understand its customers need (Ireland, Camp, and Sexton, 2013). The company should focus on establishing an interaction avenue with their customers across the globe when developing their strategic plan.

External Opportunities

Sony company has always been in the business industry for a very long period accounting for over decades now, the growth and expansion of the business has come to take place because of lots of efforts, minds, dedications, risks, and manipulations of various situations put into one account to realize their dreams the far they have come. Along the way, they have encountered lots of challenges, but they always have in one way or the other being able to pass through. There are various factors in the existence of a business that one has to get into mind or put into consideration, among them being; the strengths of the business, the weaknesses of the business, the opportunities within the business, outside the business or in both areas at the same time, the threats that the business faces, and lastly, the trends that the business has to put up with in order to be productive and remain relevant in (Rothaermel, 2015).

External Threats

Thomas’ input here

External Trends

Do we have an owner for this section?

Adapting to Change

It is important for companies to stay relevant, and to be connected with customers. In order to do this, the company should be more than willing to be able to adapt to change. There have been companies that have refused to adapt to change, simply because they were not willing and able to do so. In order to adapt to change successfully, a company must add feedback loops, welcome failure, be focused on the process, ingrain learning, downplay power, and promote accountability. Having feedback available from employees and investors will let the company know if they are headed in the correct direction, not only for the company, but also for the customers they are trying to attract. New ideas need to be accepted, there should be incentives for testing out new services or products (Boss,2015).

Sony has adapting to change throughout the years. You can see this from one of their first products, home audio, to one of their most popular game console, the PlayStation 4. Sony’s first home audio was developed back in 1950. This was also the first tape recorder in Japan named, “type G”. This particular item had a 19cm per second tape speed. Sony had an exclusive small-hub reel that allowed this product to have the option of accepting tapes with up to 10 inches in reel diameter. Over the years, Sony has created variations of this product. In 2011, Sony released, “TA-DA5700ES”. This particular model was the first of its kind. It included a 9.1ch playback-compatible 7-channel amplifier that was integrated and with a correction technology known as ‘Sound Optimizer’. The PlayStation was produced in 1995. The console was able to process games in high resolution, and the graphics were similar to that of an arcade video game. 2013 was when the PlayStation 4 was launched. This system offered a new wave of gameplay with PlayStation gamers, as players were able to play online with their friends, and with people all over the world. In 2016, it was reported that 35.9 million PlayStation 4’s was sold worldwide (Sony Corporation, 2017).

Supply Chain

Sony’s procurement philosophy includes sourcing components globally using numerous suppliers. The global sourcing aligns with Sony’s global manufacturing footprint. Sony interacts with suppliers with rapid information exchange through real-time e-commerce utilizing the internet. The suppliers are a link in the supply chain for each product which must be agile enough to flex with changing customer demand. Suppliers maintain close contact and monitor delivery dates, so they can react to quick adjustments as needed. Sony considers suppliers as equal partners and collaborates in a spirit of trust, yet they still hold them accountable to abide by established guidelines (Sony Corporation, 2017). Sony’s sizeable spend along with a global supply chain strategy provides the opportunity to leverage best cost country suppliers to reduce the cost of producing products. Another opportunity is to quickly take on additional business since the suppliers are set up to react when production increases. Suppliers also bring their innovation which Sony can incorporate into new designs.

According to Hoover’s First Research (2017), manufacturers in Sony’s industry face significant supply chain risk. For instance, foreign trade policies change with the evolving political philosophies. Political instability in suppliers’ countries pose another risk as well as the labor laws that govern production. These threats all add potential risk in the continuous supply of components and material to run production. Foreign currency policies and exchange rates can present either savings opportunity or an inflation threat depending on which way the currencies swing. Environmental and social violations by suppliers can negatively impact the Sony brand. To mitigate these threats as well as other threats, Sony requires suppliers to maintain high quality and stable supply as well as offer ongoing competitive pricing. Sony conducts regular audits to ensure suppliers have robust quality management systems, meet Sony’s green requirements, and follow high social standards, regulations, and laws. Suppliers’ financial states must be sound, and they must make efforts to reduce the overall cost of their products to Sony (Sony Corporation, 2017).

Potential Issues/Opportunities

Some of the opportunities that the company has got into its disposal are such as; production of the variety of products that cover a huge range of products that customers need/ require make the company be more self-sufficient and hence increasing its returns and profits. The ability of the company to develop/ come up with new products because of the availability of enough resources makes the company more unique and hence increasing its profits (Rothaermel, 2015). The opportunities such as the ability to produce better products from the ones they have are the enabling factors of the company to grow in a quick and prosperous manner, the ability to invent new and latest kinds of products makes the company attract more customers and hence leading to profits in the company, the ability to produce new and reliable goods quickly makes the company remain relevant and effective in the market world, hence making the company expand more positively.

Conclusion

References

Boss, J. (2015, December 03). 6 Secrets of Organizations that Successfully Adapt to Change.

Retrieved December 04, 2017

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2015/11/14/6-secrets-of-organizations-that-successfully-adapt-to-change/#6e2afcda2b0b

David, F. R. & David, F. R. (2017). Strategic Management: A competitive advantage approach, concepts and cases (16th ed.). Retrieved from VitalSource Bookshelf

Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning.

Hoover’s First Research. (2017). Audio & video equipment manufacturing. Retrieved from http://mergent.firstresearch-learn.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/industry.aspx?chapter=0&pid=338

Ireland, R. D., Hitt, M. A., Camp, S. M., & Sexton, D. L. (2013). Integrating entrepreneurship and strategic management actions to create firm wealth. The Academy of Management Executive, 15(1), 49-63.

Mangan, J., & Lalwani, C. (2016). Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

 Rothaermel, F. T. (2015). Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.

Sony Corporation. (2017). Sony corporate info: Procurement activities. Retrieved from https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/procurementinfo/activities/index.html

Sony Corporation. (2017). Sony Corporate Info: Product and Technology Milestones.

Retrieved from https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/sonyhistory.html

Yüksel, İ., & Dagdeviren, M. (2016). Using the analytic network process (ANP) in a SWOT analysis–A case study for a textile firm. Information Sciences, 177(16), 3364-3382.