Business Development Report: SWOT Analysis of Yamada Denki Company

This report conducts a SWOT analysis of Yamada Denki, a major Japanese electronics retailer. The analysis examines the company's strengths, such as its high-quality products and market share, and weaknesses, including low profit margins on new products and the presence of counterfeit goods. Opportunities include expanding product lines and increasing workforce, while threats include competition from rivals and price wars. The report also reviews the Japanese electronics market, its size, market leaders, distribution, and concentration. It highlights the company's history, product lines, and market position. The SWOT analysis is used to evaluate Yamada Denki's position in the market and provides recommendations for reducing weaknesses and threats, including targeting the urban and suburban consumer market with new products.

Running head: SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT ANALYSIS
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Executive Summery
This paper provides a SWOT analysis of a cosmetic company named Yamada Denki. This is
a Japan e based company. The report gives an outline of Japanese electronics market and
market size and concentration. SWOT is the acronym of four wings- Strength, Weakness,
Opportunities and Threats. It directly related to the marketing strategy, a company takes
when it requires. This paper focuses on the analysis in the context of Yamada Denki. The
reason behind SWOT analysis is to evaluate the position of the organization in the market.
Analyzing the four wings of SWOT, it concluded with the necessary measures, which are to
be taken as to reduce the weakness and threats.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Concept of SWOT Analysis.......................................................................................3
Brief History of Yamada Denki.................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis of Yamada Denki............................................................................4
Market Size............................................................................................................6
Market Leaders.......................................................................................................7
Market Distribution................................................................................................7
Market Concentration.............................................................................................8
Industrial Growth...................................................................................................8
Findings......................................................................................................................9
Explanation of the SWOT Table................................................................................9
Recommendation......................................................................................................10
Target Market.......................................................................................................10
New Product Description.....................................................................................10
Customer Value Proposition................................................................................10
Justification of the New Product..........................................................................10
Conclusion....................................................................................................................11
References....................................................................................................................12

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Introduction
The report gives an outline about the market situation, market size and the target
consumers. The word SWOT primarily is the acronym of four words, Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threats. These four are considered as the parameter to evaluate the growth
of the organization. The purpose of this paper is the SWOT analysis of Yamada Denki Co.,
Ltd. This is one of the largest Japanese electronics retailers. The company was founded in
1973 and established in 1983.The company`s total business worth around $4.8 billion. The
significant product lines of Yamada Denki are electronic home appliances, mobile phones
and gaming gadgets, health and nursing appliances. In doing the analysis, a detailed
discussion on the four wings of SWOT, related to the brand, will be done (Paprzycki 2013).
This report sheds light exclusively on the integral planning of the company, which is required
to make a report card about which may indicate the current position of the subject company
in the market. Lastly, the report suggests possible opportunities the company should be taking
to uplift the company position and the possible measures to reduce the risk of getting
defeated by the competitors in the market.
Concept of SWOT Analysis
The concept behind SWOT is that, it is a straightforward model, which decides the
marketing strategy of a company. SWOT helps to decide which steps should be taken and
which not. The word mainly consists of acronyms of four wings – Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threats. SWOT analysis analyzes the internal as well as the external factors
to attain a certain objective (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills 2016).

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Brief History of Yamada Denki
Yamada Denki Co., Ltd. is a largest electronics retailer chain in Japan and exclusively
operates in Japan. The company was founded in 1973 it is entirely privately owned. The
name of the founder is Noboru Yamada. The head office is in Takasaki. The company owns
223 stores all over the Japan and total 21,138 are employed in this company. The monthly
sale of the company is $14.36 billion. The product lines of Yamada Denki Co., Ltd are
electronics home appliances, medical appliances, mobile phones and gaming gadgets and
equipments related to information technology. It is engaged through the businesses are as
follows, home and kitchen appliances, information technology related business such as
personal and official computers, printers, scanners, construction and real estate line,
electronic appliances repair and recycling business, finance and insurance business, electrical
energy business, salon and beauty appliances. The products include color TV, washing
machines, cooking related appliances, personal and official computers, telephones, fax
machines, mobile phones, gaming gadgets, beauty appliances, accessories, and clothing. The
company has merged with a electrical wiring company Nihon Densen. Yamada Denki holds
30% of the electronics retail share in the Japanese market. The company is in the market
since 1983 (Yamada-denki.jp 2017). The slogan of the brand is ‘For Your..just’.
SWOT Analysis of Yamada Denki
Yamada Denki has launched food processor under the own brand name. The USP
(unit selling point) of the product is portability and reasonability. The target group of
consumers is urban and sub urban (MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share 2017). The SWOT
analysis of the Yamada Denki is as follows,

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
The expected revenue will be high as the product quality is high
because to maintain the good will of the brand Yamada produced
high quality product in reasonable price. To maintain the Corporate
Social Responsibility the company the new food processor is eco
friendly, the current consumption is very low. The customer
satisfaction is significant. Yamada Denki holds the maximum share
in the Japanese electronics market.
Weaknesses
The new product is running in the market with a very low profit.
Due to the presence of excessive fake products, the sale might get
affected.
Opportunities
The company can manufacture more home appliances with using
high technologies in low price. The company has the opportunity to
grow faster with employing more workers so that more products can
be manufactured. Yamada can increase its product line with new
inventions in the market.
Threats
The main threat poses in front of Yamada is another retail chain
Kojima. The competitors can invent more innovative products with
same price as in Japan invention is not an issue. The suppliers can
pose a threat in terms of distributing the product among the target
customers. Another threat is price wars with the competitors both
external and internal brands of Japan.
According to the SWOT table of Yamada Denki the strength is the most strongest
characteristics among all so Strength is ranked one the follows the opportunity. The third
rank is for the threats of the company because there are a number of competitors who can
manufacture similar products in low price. The last and the fourth will be the weakness as the
company is the largest retail chain with a number of product lines so the company is able to
overcome its weakness.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Market Size
The electronic market of Japan is considered the largest market of electronics in the
world. Few companies have been holding a strong position not only in the Japanese market
but also across the world, Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Fujitsu and Toshiba. The export industry
of Japan is unbeatable (Aghion, Hemous, and Kharroubi 2014). The city Tokyo is known as
the city of lights, the Akihabara district is widely known for the cheap gadgets. With the wide
accessibility of internet, many other foreign markets got their upper hand over Japanese
market but the situation changed when Yodobashi Camera launched cheap products in the
market. Launching cheap product during recession is the survival strategy of the Japanese
market. Japan itself produces television, mobiles, play stations, audio players because of this
the market price is low in Japan (Broadbridge 2013). The consumers can grab any electronic
product easily at a very low price. Many Japanese companies have contributed their
groundbreaking innovations with transistor radio, walkman, and laptops. While the Japanese
electronic market is the topic of debate, the market turned around with a major recovery. It is
assumed that the valuation of Japanese electronics market is 16% of world`s gold and 22% of
world`s silver.
The size of the Japanese electronics market is significant as Japan is the world`s third
largest GDP generator with representing 10% of the world`s economy. Japan is the lone
producer of 25% of the world`s electronic gadgets and appliances (Mayer, Melitz and
Ottaviano 2014). Japan also holds the 30% share of the world`s automobile market. The
annual revenue of major electronics companies is equals to the GDP of Netherlands. The
electronics game sector of the Japanese market is the world`s largest revenue generator.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Market Leaders
The Japanese electronic market has always been dominant over the electronics market
of United States (Chaney and Ossa 2013). Japan is still efficient to maintain that monopoly in
exporting electronics across the world. Japan has always been motivated by the labor costs in
terms of Foreign Direct Investments.
Yamada Denki is considered as the largest electronics retail chain in Japan. The
significance of the company is a large product lineup in reasonable prices. They give
discounts for old stocks and showcased items. Their one of the stores named ‘LABI1 Nihon
Sohonten Ikebukuro’ is considered popular for its design based on the concepts of
environment, health and entertainment (Yamada-denki.jp 2017). Apart from the large sales
floor, one would find an ample variety of items, which includes not only electronic
equipments, gadgets and appliances, but also stationeries, clothes and accessories, toys and
100,000 books. It also has a restaurant floor and a gaming court.
Market Distribution
At the onset of the of the 21st century the Japanese electronics market lost its
popularity in from of South Korean Electronics market and Taiwanese electronics market
(Brondoni 2014). The electronics goods in the Japanese market faced huge financial loss in
every category from television set to audio players, mobiles to play stations. This financial
loss also hit hard in Japan`s economy. It is reported that a company like Toshiba faced $17
million loss in 2009. The reasons behind the declination of the market are assumed that, high
cost, the declination of yes value in world market and product saturation in the market
(Chaney and Ossa 2013). This happens because too many companies are manufacturing same
products so there is a scarcity of variety among the products.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Yamada Denki has shared IR information, such as revenue data and press releases,
information on the progress of development of new items or the probable steps of any new
initiatives, on their website for the stakeholders and investors. Moreover, company is
attempting to strengthen the distribution policy of the company.
Market Concentration
In case of Japanese electronics market, the small firms also take responsibility of sales
and employment with the large firms. This step helps to make up the deficit of sales and
unemployment in the electronics industry (Kam Sing Wong and Tong 2012). This known as
market concentration and in Japan market concentration high as small firms hold 30% share
of the Japanese electronics market. The growth of the Japanese electronics industry is
significant as Japan is the member of the G-7 it is a powerhouse of electronics manufacturing.
Japan has the privilege of world`s second largest amount of Foreign Direct Investment, which
is approximately $400 billion.
Industrial Growth
Japan has always been maintaining a sustained growth in terms of per capita income
since 1970 after industrialization. Progressing along with an income growth curve through
extension of manufacturing is unique. The Western Europe, Canada, Australia and the United
States all achieved higher scale of income in terms of per capita (Brondoni 2014). They
shifted from agricultural production to manufacturing of technologies and high-end service
sector activity. The investment in domestic level in the industry and in the infrastructure was
the pivotal point behind growth in Japanese industry. The private and public sectors invested
mainly in infrastructure.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Findings
Explanation of the SWOT Table
The above table is representing the internal strengths and weaknesses of Yamada
Denki and the external opportunities and threats of the company. The food processor was
launched in January 2017 (Yamada-denki.jp 2017). Yamada Denki works for the IT and
Technology sector. The company is known for its expertise in electronics retailing sector.
The major strength is Yamada is its presence is so pervasive that can outshine the foreign
retailers. It has captured the third position in the retailing sector. The weakness of the
company is its absence in the global market and in internet. The presence of fake products
can decline the sale of the new product. The major opportunity is its will power to grow faster
across the country and being the single country oriented brand but it can give competition to
the rival companies (Yamada-denki.jp 2017). The company may face threat if it does not
employ enough employees. The under recruitment can impede the company from achieving
innovations (Brondoni 2014). The company should maintain a liaison with its suppliers and
distributers to make sure that the products are equally distributed to area of concerned. A
good market survey is needed in regular interval or else price war can appear a threat to the
company.
After the detailed SWOT analysis on the company Yamada Denki, it can be
concluded with that despite having extraordinary products as strength the brand has some
threats for being a single country oriented reasonable product. This paper evokes some
necessary steps to reduce the external flaws by conducting market research and consumer
analysis.

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SWOT ANALYSIS
Recommendation
Target Market
The urban and sub urban areas are chosen as the target market for the chosen product.
The newly launch product of the company Yamada Denki is the food processor. This product
is used on a daily basis in every household. The target customers are mainly the women of
the households who look after the daily kitchen activities (Chaney and Ossa 2013). The
reason behind choosing the target market as the urban and sub urban areas that maximum
numbers of consumers can be attracted.
New Product Description
The newly launch product is food processor by the company named Yamada Denki.
Food processor is one of the kitchen appliances, which is used regularly in every household
(Kam Sing Wong and Tong 2012). Food processor is close to blender it is used for slicing
and mincing the food. Apart from the households it is widely used in the catering industry.
Customer Value Proposition
Food processor is something, which cut down the kitchen workload like every other
electronics kitchen appliances. This product reduced the manual energy expenses during
slicing or mincing food items. This product is widely used in the catering industry. The most
ideal customers of this product are the people who are associated with the culinary works
specially women in every households (Brondoni 2014). Yamada Denki is providing the good
quality food processor in low price so it is obvious that the product is value of money.
Justification of the New Product
The newly launched product fits in the Strength, Threat scale according to the
SWOT table as the product came to the market with a very low price, and the company
Yamada Denki is a renowned brand in the market since it is prevailing in the market from

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SWOT ANALYSIS
1983. Yamada Denki`s brand value gives the product a strength to the product (Phadermrod,
Crowder and Wills 2016). On the other hand, because of the competitors in the market, there
is a chance of competition with a similar kind of product with a low price from another good
brand.
Conclusion
The report is based on the marketing management of the new launched product
(Jacobsson 2012). Yamada Denki, being a single country oriented retailer chain can outshine
the foreign brand. The report gave a SWOT analysis of Yamada Denki the largest company
in Japan. The report also provides the detail concept of SWOT (Wedel and Kamakura 2012).
An idea of Japanese electronics market is provided along with the market size, market growth
and the market distribution. The market of Japan also faced a tough completion in front of
Korean and Taiwanese market but with the innovation the market restore its position in the
world market.