SWOT analysis (SWOT分析) is a method that sorts the business environment into four items: the company's own strengths (強み) and weaknesses (弱み), and the opportunities (機会) and threats (脅威) around it.
Where the factor arises
Helps
Hurts
Inside the company (internal environment)
S Strengths
W Weaknesses
Outside the company (external environment)
O Opportunities
T Threats
Strengths and weaknesses are factors inside the company, while opportunities and threats arise outside it, and each pair is split by whether it works for or against the company. Laying all four out in one table lets you survey the company's position from both the inside and the outside.
AnalogyIt is like planning a trip: you list your own stamina and budget alongside outside conditions such as the weather and crowds, split each into good and bad, and only then pick where to go.
How to rememberS, W, O, T run "two inside, then two outside". The first pair, S and W, sit inside the company; the second pair, O and T, sit outside.
Exam points
ExamTo sort a factor, first decide whether it comes from inside or outside the company, then whether it helps or hurts. The same harmful factor is a weakness (弱み) if it lies inside and a threat (脅威) if it lies outside.
ExamThe results of SWOT analysis (SWOT分析) are combined across elements, such as using strengths (強み) to seize opportunities (機会) or to fend off threats, and serve as input for deciding the company's future direction and measures.
PPM (Product Portfolio Management, プロダクトポートフォリオマネジメント) is a method that places a company's businesses or products into four quadrants on two axes, market growth rate (市場成長率) and market share (市場占有率), to plan how management resources are allocated.
Market growth / market share
High share
Low share
High growth
Star (large sales, but still needs investment to defend)
Question mark (needs heavy investment to grow)
Low growth
Cash cow (its cash can fund other businesses)
Dog (review, including withdrawal)
The quadrant with both high growth and high share is the star (花形), high growth with low share is the question mark (問題児), low growth with high share is the cash cow (金のなる木), and low on both is the dog (負け犬). Once each business's position is clear, it becomes easier to decide where to push harder and where to pull out.
AnalogyIt is like a farmer lining up the crops and planning to spend the income from easy, steady sellers on seedlings and fertilizer for crops that look set to grow.
How to rememberRead market growth rate as "how promising the market is" and market share as "how strong the company is in that market", and the two axes become easy to grasp.
Exam points
ExamThe two axes of PPM are market growth rate (市場成長率) and market share (市場占有率, relative share). Even if a diagram swaps the vertical and horizontal axes, each quadrant keeps its meaning.
ExamThe cash cow (金のなる木) is the low-growth, high-share quadrant; it earns profit without large extra investment and becomes a source of funds for other businesses.
ExamThe question mark (問題児) is the quadrant where the market is growing but the share is still low, and turning it into a main source of profit requires actively putting money in.
The external environment (外部環境) covers factors outside the company that it cannot easily change directly, such as the market, competitors, the economy and regulations.
The external environment includes the moves of parties close to the business, such as customers and competitors, and society-wide shifts in population, the economy, law and technology; the latter is called the macro environment (マクロ環境). The company cannot stop outside changes on its own, so what it plans is how to respond to them.
AnalogyIt is like the weather: you cannot change it, but you can choose whether to take an umbrella or move your plans.
Exam points
ExamA macro environment (マクロ環境) analysis gathers society-wide information that no single company's actions can sway, such as the population's age structure or changes in laws and regulations.
ExamAn opportunity (機会) is a change coming from outside the company that works in its favor, such as a growing market or a change in regulations.
Mix-upThe same outside event is an opportunity if it works for the company and a threat (脅威) if it works against it. Which one it becomes depends on what the company's business is.
The internal environment (内部環境) covers factors the company owns and can change by its own decisions, such as management resources (経営資源) like people, equipment, money and information, along with technical skill and brand.
In SWOT analysis (SWOT分析), the parts of the internal environment that work for the company become strengths and those that work against it become weaknesses. Whether something is a strength or a weakness is judged by comparing it with competitors to see if the company is ahead or behind.
AnalogyIt is like the tools you own and the skills you have learned: how you maintain and practice them can make them better or worse.
Exam points
ExamExamining the company's own performance figures, such as the profit margin or cost of each product, is also part of analyzing the internal environment (内部環境).
VRIO analysis (VRIO分析) is a method that uses four questions to judge whether the management resources a company holds can be a source of competitive advantage (競争優位).
V Does it have economic value?
R Is it rare?
I Is it hard to imitate?
O Is there an organization to exploit it?
If an organization is in place to make use of a hard-to-imitate resource, the advantage lasts.
4 / 4
The four questions match the initials V (Value: economic value), R (Rarity), I (Imitability: how hard it is to copy) and O (Organization: an organization to exploit it). The more a resource is valuable, rare, hard to imitate and backed by an organization that puts it to use, the more lasting the competitive advantage it brings.
AnalogyThink of a master craftsman's skill at a long-established shop: if customers love it, no other shop has it, it is hard to learn, and the shop has a way to pass it on, it keeps drawing customers for years.
How to rememberV, R, I, O are gates in order. A resource that fails an earlier question does not move on to the later ones.
Exam points
ExamVRIO analysis (VRIO分析) evaluates the management resources (経営資源) inside the company, looking at them from four angles: economic value, rarity, inimitability (模倣困難性) and organization.
Mix-upVRIO analysis digs into the company's resources themselves. SWOT analysis (SWOT分析) also lays out the opportunities and threats outside the company, so it looks at the inside and the outside together.
3C analysis (3C分析) is a method that analyzes the business environment from three viewpoints: the customer (顧客), the competitor (競合) and the company itself (自社).
3C analysis
Customer: customers and market (external)
Competitor: rivals (external)
Company: your own company (internal)
Customers and competitors belong to the external environment outside the company, while the company itself is the internal environment. By looking at the company's position in light of what the market wants and how competitors are moving, the analysis seeks the key factors for succeeding in the market (KSF).
AnalogyIt is like a head-to-head game where you weigh what the audience wants to see, what your opponent is holding and what cards you have before planning your moves.
How to rememberAll three start with C in English. Remember them in the order Customer, Competitor, Company: the buyer, the rival, and yourself.
Exam points
ExamThe three Cs of 3C analysis (3C分析) are the customer (顧客) who buys in the market, the competitor (競合) fighting in the same market, and the company (自社) doing the analysis.
Mix-up3C analysis treats the competitor as a viewpoint of its own. In SWOT analysis, competitors' moves are folded into either opportunities or threats, depending on how they affect the company.