Panasonic is one of the world’s largest multinational consumer electronics corporations. Having been founded almost a century ago (1918), Panasonic now ranks in as the 7th largest consumer electronics company in the world, by sales [1]. This short SWOT analysis should tell you everything you need to know about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of Panasonic.
Strengths
Here are some of the most important strengths that Panasonic boasts:
Solid market position and brand: Panasonic may not be Apple or Microsoft, but they still have a very fair share of the consumer electronics market. Panasonic is well known for their various cameras, and have a reputation for their fantastic Japanese innovation and quality.
High quality products: Panasonic’s goal isn’t to shift millions of cheap, low-quality products. Instead, Panasonic produces long-lasting electronics of high standards — certainly a big strength.
Large variety of products: Although it’s hard to pinpoint the exact number of products that Panasonic manufactures, it’s well over 10,000. A big selection of products puts them in a strong position for various different market environments and strategies.
Weaknesses
Like every big company, it’s hard to operate without a few flaws. These are some of their weaknesses:
Expensive products: Price and quality go hand-in-hand in a lot of companies, and Panasonic is no exception. Unfortunately, Panasonic’s high prices are easy to compete with (discussed further within ‘Threats’).
Inefficient management: Despite the fact that Panasonic was founded by Konosuke Matsushita, supposedly the ‘god of management’, this corporation is said to have internal management problems [2]. This could be as a result of their perhaps overly-diverse product line.
Opportunities
Technology companies are normally similar when it comes to their opportunities. Panasonic has a few different opportunities stemming out from their high quality, good brand and diversity:
Emerging markets: In addition to providing almost ‘luxury’ consumer electronics, Panasonic also produces household appliances which have a much more global demand. As a result, there is demand for Panasonic products even in poorer regions. In general, this multinational has plenty of opportunity to expand into markets in Latin America, India and perhaps one day Africa.
New products: Like most tech companies, if Panasonic can catch the next ‘big thing’ in electronics, there is a lot to be gained. Panasonic’s healthy wealth, large working force (over 250,000 workers) and innovation might help them to act on their next big opportunities [3].
Threats
Acting in such a competitive market, it’s clear the Panasonic is bound to have some threats. In their simplest form, these are:
Heavy competition: Sony, LG, Samsung, Philips and Toshiba all compete directly with many of the products that Panasonic produces. Each of them has their own strengths — lower prices, better quality, and even better customer support. If Panasonic can’t keep up with innovation, they will be pushed aside by other huge multinational tech companies.
Volatile market: The technology market changes every week, if not every day. Who knows if the majority of Panasonic’s products will even be relevant in 10 years time?
In conclusion, while Panasonic has a reputation for their innovation skills, premium quality and eclectic product line, they are competing in one of the world’s toughest markets. Panasonic definitely has some opportunity in supplying their household appliances to various emerging markets across the globe, but they still have to be careful that they don’t get washed away in the technology sector’s volatile markets.
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[2] http://www.benzinga.com/news/12/11/3057787/sharp-panasonic-continue-to-show-weakness
[3] http://www.statista.com/statistics/313008/number-of-employees-at-panasonic/