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Komatsu

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Komatsu
1.0 Identification and Prioritization of Key Issues/Problems
Komatsu Ltd. is known as a Japan based multinational company established in 13 May 1921. The company was founded by Maitaro Takeuchi in Osaka, Japan. The main operation of this company is the manufacturing and selling of construction and mining equipments, utilities, forest equipments and industrial machinery. The company had experienced several changes and development due to different leaders. However, the company had faced some problems and the leaders came out with their own strategy to curb the problems. Although those problems can be contained for a moment, the problems still arises as the external issues which include the changes in industry environment and global economic conditions. Besides that, there are also internal issues which basically include the issues related to resources and capabilities becoming obstacles and obstruct the execution of the strategy. In the year 1947 to 1964, the business shifted its paradigm of business whereby the company expanded its business from mining equipments into agricultural machinery. A company-wide quality control programme was launched in the year 1961 to help raising the product 's quality. However, one problem faced was the emphasize on quality control was forced to a higher level when the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) decided to open the earth moving equip to foreign capital investment. This lead to Komatsu Ltd. had to compete with one of the top guns in heavy construction industry such as Caterpillar (CAT). However, in the year 1982 the recession which hit U.S market had lead to the decrease of demand in the construction market resulting in Komatsu to struggle to compete in the market and keeping up. The company came out with internalization method. Komatsu that time came out with a strategy whereby to centralized the production facilities, cutting cost and aggressively exporting sales. However, this strategy was less effective



References: Definition of 'SWOT Analysis ', 2013, Investopedia, accessed 11th May 2013, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp McNamara, 2012, Two Basic Types of Organizations:For-Profit and Nonprofit, FreeManagementLibrary, accessed 11th May 2013, http://managementhelp.org/organizations/types.htm Thompson, AA, Peteraf, MA, Gamble, JE & Strickland, AJ 2012, Crafting and Executive Strategy, The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases 18th edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York, USA. Vertical Integration, 2010, QuickMBA, accessed 10th May 2013, http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/vertical-integration/

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