Konica currently known as Konica Minolta Corporation manufactures films, film cameras, digital cameras , camera accessories, photo processing equipment, photocopiers and printers. The company was merged with the Japanese conglomerate Minolta Corporation and the company diversified into areas like medical equipment, printing, measuring solutions and industrial solutions.
The conglomerate has a revenue of around 962.6 billion yen and around 44,000 employees. The company has operations in USA, Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan with the maximum revenue from Europe which contributes to around 31 percent of the total revenue.
The company follows the commercial code of Japan and in accordance with has the “ company with committees” form of corporate governance.The company has manufacturing facilities in around 50 countries across the world.
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Strengths in The SWOT analysis of Konica
Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of Konica:
- Timely Diversification: Konica was failing miserably in its photography business and it was right at this time that they decided to diversify into other lucrative areas like medical devices and printing. This proved to be timely decision and one of the reasons for business success.
- Tie up with Monotech Systems in India: Konica Minolta tied up with Monotech Systems in India who was one their biggest channel partners. India which is a zooming market for industrial printers can be targeted by the company and the tie-up can be used for expansion.
- Updated technologies: The company uses its technology and updates itself in accordance with the norms and mandates of compliance in medical devices and thus gains a competitive edge over its rivals. The focus is also to improve clinical efficiencies and flow.
- Customer understanding: The company has been involved inconsistent research into customer needs and is updated on the same. The company has also been involved in collaborative innovation deals with their stakeholders and clients which has helped them churn out brilliant products.
Weaknesses in The SWOT analysis of Konica
Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of Konica:
- Poor brand acceptance: The brand image of Konica has been failing in the market and the company has been losing the trust of their customer owing to low brand recall and recognition.
- Inability to cater to specialist market: The company has been unable to look at the specialist market and they are not able to produce cameras for professional photographers. The market for SLR and DSLR cameras is lucrative today and this is something that will work against Konica in the long run.
- Low focus on camera business: The company has been currently looking at the printing and medical devices business more than the camera and photography business. This is working against the company which was popular for its camera films.
- Stoppage of filmmaking: The company faced huge losses and stooped making films which was one of its booming business during the early days. This will hit the photography business of the company which has been registering consistent losses in spite of restructuring and policy changes.
- Poor morale: The employee morale has diminished due to poor salaries, excessive centralization, lack of freedom and autonomy and persistent job cuts due to consistent losses incurred by the company.
Opportunities in The SWOT analysis of Konica
Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:
- Increased scope for healthcare: Though the photography business is dying the company has diversified into the healthcare equipment which in turn has led to higher profits. The healthcare business will boom because of the increase in the number of super specialty hospitals and the related facilities.
- Increased importance of social media: The demand for specialist cameras will grow in the next decade more than basic photographic cameras since the number of people posting pictures in Facebook or Twitter. The company can look at SLR and DSLR cameras to grow and expand its photography business.
Threats in The SWOT analysis of Konica
Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:
- Competition: The main competitors of Konica are Ricoh, Olympus, Sony, Kodak, Canon, Nikon and GE.
- Threat of substitution: As the number of smartphones increase in the market, the demand for the digital cameras will start decreasing. This is because the high definition cameras with the option for even selfies in the phones can be used anytime and anywhere to click pictures. This threat of substitution can be dangerous in the long run.
