SWOT Analysis of Chinese Frozen Vegetable Sector & Pest Analysis of Japanese Market

Introduction

SWOT is a strategictool that is used to evaluate strengths(S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O) and threats (T). When used it helps one or a business work within its objectives. The Chinese frozen vegetable sector has made tremendous changes from which the SWOT analysis can be derived from(Gao, Chang, and Li,2012). With SWOT all external factors and internal factors that favor or are unfavorable for objectives to be achieved can easily be identified. Strengths refer to those competitive advantages that affect a business, weaknesses on the other hand refers to those limitations that hinder development or rather progress. Opportunities refer to those conditions with which we can be able to achieve our goals. Threats are those conditions limit the achievement of goals.

The Chinese frozen vegetable sector imports the same food products to japan. In 2002, the Japanese realized that spinach imported from china had some pesticide. This meant that the Japanese government had to put a halt to all food imports from china to japan. In these case, the most important thing is to ensure the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the Chinese frozen vegetable sector has had in a while now(Gu 2009). Identification of the reasons behind the rejection of these imports has to be looked into here.

Strengths

The Chinese market had already demand for the frozen vegetables since the country was spending a lot in importation of this food stuffs. In early 1980s china had a policy that required that ownership of farmland was communal. The right to use farmland was distributed to individual farmers. By mid 1990s china had achieved sufficient food supply from the small scale faming that had arose. These small units had led to increased willingness to produce. This made china to develop the urge to do well globally on the frozen vegetable sector despite of its high population. The most obvious strength in their market was now the internal urge to grow globally in this sector. With its increased productivity, china became the highest agro food importer. There emerged a rush for foreign investments in the sector. The Chinese government policies also gave a hand in the development of the same sector. A good example is when they introduced subsidies. Having enough land for cultivation, china has increased its food production greatly. The most popular type of vegetable they cultivate are leaf vegetables(REN, LI, ZHANG, CHEN and WANG, 2013)

Tomatoes, cucumber and gherkins are also other examples of vegetables china cultivating. By the year 2010, cultivation area had increased greatly in china. Most of this cultivation areas are located along the coastal regions where the soils are fertile. This greatly has promoted the growing of this vegetables.

Weaknesses

After detecting some chemicals in the frozen Chinese, japan banned the importation of all foodstuffs from china. This meant that china had to diversify their market for the same products. This came after a policy was put in place. The policy required that if the fresh vegetables are found to contain a certain chemical that is not in the list that they gave, then there is a limit to what extent the chemical should be in. this provides the ultimate reason why we had Chinese vegetable exportation being rejected in japan in the year 2002.

Opportunity

Only a few firms that had good Japanese connections or those who had Japanese investments survived. The frozen vegetables were sold but were insufficient still. This became an opportunity for china to diversify their exportation of vegetables. They started opening up market for frozen vegetables especially to developed countries where the restrictions are less strict. The opportunity that rose is the fact that demand for frozen food has gone high. Chinese being ahead in terms of food production took the opportunity and invested more on frozen food which they majorly exported to japan.

Threats

The most common threat that they are facing as sector is the facilities that are required for the food to be stored without going bad at all. They require heavy capital investments which the small scale farmers can’t be able to afford. Extension services also could form a major threat. And with the rising investments in the sector, then the prices are going down.

Pest analysis of Japanese market

Political

Japan is a big country that has good political relations with the other countries. It’s a strong country and a member of the G8. Meaning its markets are well established among the member states. It has some market disputes with china that arose in 2002. It’s ruled by an emperor who has minimal powers bu8t has constitutional supremacy. It has a strong relationship with both small countries and big countries. Japan has strong business corporate and trading relationship with other countries.

Economical

Japan has been economically productive. Despite the fact that it has been importing the frozen vegetables from china, japan has a strong economy(The Japanese Economy.2002) and japan comes 3^rd in the world after USA and china(Funakoshi and Motohashi, 2009). There are few people who live below the poverty line. In terms of GDP japan has a per capita income of $39,573. In terms of quality of the productsjapan has the best quality ever and no country can match even half the standard that japan produces. It’s a country with higher level of human development, educated workforce, low corruption, low homicide and high levels of urbanization.

Social factors

Japanese families live together even when their children gets married. It’s a patriarchal family system(‘The War Economy and the Postwar Reform’, 1937-1951.2002). Families are monogamous meaning no marrying more than wife. However they don’t have a common religion. Freedom of worship is practiced. They practice Christianity, Islam and Sikhism. Most people are learned and there is 99% literacy level. This makes it even easier for one to get along in business. The Japanese market consumers have perfect knowledge about the products in the market. The government pays 70% of their hospital bills and individuals pay only 30% of the total treatment. Japan is their official language.

Technological organization

Japan as a developed country has advanced technologically and has automated most of their offices, restaurants, hospitals, airports and even factories. It has done remarkably well when it comes to technology. It’s very advanced and most people there have access to broadband services. It’s also well known for its robotic technology and robots are found in various industries. These helps the market to grow since they can offer their services well even using robots.

References

Funakoshi, M. and Motohashi, K. (2009). A Quantitative Analysis of Market Competition and Productivity. Japanese Economy, 36(1), pp.27-47.

Gao, L., Chang, Y., Li, B. and Li, F. (2012). The Analysis of Chinese Photovoltaic Industry with SWOT Model and AHP Method. AMR, 608-609, pp.137-142.

Gu, S. (2009). The Emergence and Development of the Vegetable Sector in China. Industry & Innovation, 16(4-5), pp.499-524.

REN, T., LI, J., ZHANG, H., CHEN, Q. and WANG, J. (2013). Analysis of daily dynamics of soil respiration rate in greenhouse vegetable fields. Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture, 21(10), pp.1217-1224.

The Japanese Economy. (2002). Japanese Economy, 30(4), pp.30-46.

The War Economy and the Postwar Reform, 1937-1951. (2002). Japanese Economy, 30(4), pp.117-135.