Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
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Case Study Description of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall
Lance Armstrong, a world-famous cyclist, was charged with using performance-enhancing drugs (i.e. "doping"). Armstrong had vehemently denied similar charges a few years earlier; however, this time there was substantial proof available and Armstrong accepted the charges. Subsequent to this news, most of the brands that had endorsed Armstrong terminated their contracts with him. As a cancer survivor, Armstrong had started Livestrong Foundation, an organization to support cancer patients, caregivers and survivors. This foundation depended heavily on sponsorships received by Armstrong. To protect his foundation from the negative impact of the doping controversy, Armstrong immediately resigned from both his post as chairman of Livestrong and from its board of directors. Despite his efforts, Livestrong was losing its sponsorships and a solution was needed to reduce the negative publicity, stop the loss of funding and identify new sources of funding.
Swot Analysis of "Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall" written by Dheeraj Sharma, Varsha Verma includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Armstrong Livestrong facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Armstrong Livestrong, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Armstrong Livestrong operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Armstrong Livestrong
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Armstrong Livestrong
Strengths Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Armstrong Livestrong in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Armstrong Livestrong is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Armstrong Livestrong is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Armstrong Livestrong in the sector have low bargaining power. Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Armstrong Livestrong to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Armstrong Livestrong are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High brand equity
– Armstrong Livestrong has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Armstrong Livestrong to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Armstrong Livestrong digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Armstrong Livestrong has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Organizational Resilience of Armstrong Livestrong
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Armstrong Livestrong does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Armstrong Livestrong is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Armstrong Livestrong is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Analytics focus
– Armstrong Livestrong is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Dheeraj Sharma, Varsha Verma can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Armstrong Livestrong has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Armstrong Livestrong has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Armstrong Livestrong in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Armstrong Livestrong is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Weaknesses Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Armstrong Livestrong has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Need for greater diversity
– Armstrong Livestrong has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Armstrong Livestrong supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Armstrong Livestrong vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Armstrong Livestrong 's lucrative customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Dheeraj Sharma, Varsha Verma suggests that, Armstrong Livestrong is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Armstrong Livestrong is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall, is just above the industry average. Armstrong Livestrong needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Armstrong Livestrong has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Armstrong Livestrong has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Armstrong Livestrong needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Armstrong Livestrong in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Armstrong Livestrong has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Armstrong Livestrong to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Armstrong Livestrong has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Armstrong Livestrong to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall case study. Armstrong Livestrong can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Armstrong Livestrong can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Armstrong Livestrong to increase its market reach. Armstrong Livestrong will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Armstrong Livestrong to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Armstrong Livestrong to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Armstrong Livestrong can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Armstrong Livestrong operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Armstrong Livestrong to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Loyalty marketing
– Armstrong Livestrong has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Armstrong Livestrong can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Armstrong Livestrong can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Armstrong Livestrong can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Buying journey improvements
– Armstrong Livestrong can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Armstrong Livestrong can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Armstrong Livestrong can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall, Armstrong Livestrong may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Armstrong Livestrong can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Armstrong Livestrong is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Armstrong Livestrong with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Armstrong Livestrong needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Armstrong Livestrong needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Armstrong Livestrong can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Armstrong Livestrong business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Armstrong Livestrong high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Armstrong Livestrong has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Armstrong Livestrong needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Armstrong Livestrong in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Armstrong Livestrong in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Lance Armstrong and Livestrong Foundation: Rising Again After the Fall is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Armstrong Livestrong needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.