American Lithium Minerals (AMLM) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Non-Metallic Mining
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for American Lithium Minerals (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , American Lithium Minerals is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of American Lithium Minerals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that American Lithium Minerals can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the American Lithium Minerals, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of American Lithium Minerals
2. Improving business portfolio management of American Lithium Minerals
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Non-Metallic Mining sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of American Lithium Minerals
Strengths of American Lithium Minerals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of American Lithium Minerals are -
Learning organization
- American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at American Lithium Minerals emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– American Lithium Minerals 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 Non-Metallic Mining industry. The technology infrastructure of United States is also helping it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of American Lithium Minerals in the Basic Materials sector have low bargaining power. American Lithium Minerals has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps American Lithium Minerals to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– American Lithium Minerals is one of the most innovative firm in Non-Metallic Mining sector.
Highly skilled collaborators
– American Lithium Minerals has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Non-Metallic Mining industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of American Lithium Minerals have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– American Lithium Minerals is one of the leading players in the Non-Metallic Mining industry in United States. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in United States. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that American Lithium Minerals has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the American Lithium Minerals 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.
Organizational Resilience of American Lithium Minerals
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing American Lithium Minerals does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– American Lithium Minerals has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled American Lithium Minerals to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Non-Metallic Mining
– American Lithium Minerals is one of the leading players in the Non-Metallic Mining industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Non-Metallic Mining industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled American Lithium Minerals in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Non-Metallic Mining industry
– American Lithium Minerals has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled American Lithium Minerals to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Non-Metallic Mining industry. The sustainable margins have also helped American Lithium Minerals to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses of American Lithium Minerals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of American Lithium Minerals are -
Lack of clear differentiation of American Lithium Minerals products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, American Lithium Minerals needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, American Lithium Minerals has high operating costs in the Non-Metallic Mining industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract American Lithium Minerals lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of United States, American Lithium Minerals needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring in Non-Metallic Mining industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at American Lithium Minerals has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, American Lithium Minerals is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help American Lithium Minerals to provide better information regarding Non-Metallic Mining products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on American Lithium Minerals ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of American Lithium Minerals still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Non-Metallic Mining industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though American Lithium Minerals has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
American Lithium Minerals has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Non-Metallic Mining industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, American Lithium Minerals 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Non-Metallic Mining industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, American Lithium Minerals 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 Non-Metallic Mining industry.
No frontier risks strategy
– From the 10K / annual statement of American Lithium Minerals, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Non-Metallic Mining industry. 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of American Lithium Minerals is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Non-Metallic Mining industry, but American Lithium Minerals needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help American Lithium Minerals to focus more on services in the Non-Metallic Mining industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
American Lithium Minerals Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of American Lithium Minerals are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Non-Metallic Mining industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. American Lithium Minerals 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. American Lithium Minerals 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, American Lithium Minerals can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that American Lithium Minerals operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Non-Metallic Mining sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of American Lithium Minerals has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Non-Metallic Mining industry. This can help American Lithium Minerals to build a more holistic ecosystem for American Lithium Minerals products in the Non-Metallic Mining industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Non-Metallic Mining industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for American Lithium Minerals in the Non-Metallic Mining industry. Now American Lithium Minerals can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– American Lithium Minerals 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Non-Metallic Mining industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. American Lithium Minerals can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. American Lithium Minerals can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– American Lithium Minerals has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Non-Metallic Mining sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled American Lithium Minerals to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help American Lithium Minerals to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– American Lithium Minerals can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at American Lithium Minerals 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 Non-Metallic Mining industry.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, American Lithium Minerals is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. American Lithium Minerals can utilize new technology in the field of Non-Metallic Mining industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– American Lithium Minerals can develop new processes and procedures in Non-Metallic Mining industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats American Lithium Minerals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of American Lithium Minerals are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– American Lithium Minerals 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, American Lithium Minerals can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate American Lithium Minerals prominent markets.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– American Lithium Minerals 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 Non-Metallic Mining industry regulations.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– American Lithium Minerals has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Non-Metallic Mining industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, American Lithium Minerals needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Non-Metallic Mining 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– American Lithium Minerals 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 Non-Metallic Mining industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on American Lithium Minerals demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in Non-Metallic Mining industry and other sectors.
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 American Lithium Minerals business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, American Lithium Minerals may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Non-Metallic Mining sector.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. American Lithium Minerals will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. American Lithium Minerals needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Non-Metallic Mining industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Non-Metallic Mining industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. American Lithium Minerals can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for American Lithium Minerals in Non-Metallic Mining industry. The Non-Metallic Mining 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of American Lithium Minerals Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals 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 American Lithium Minerals needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.