ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return (CTR) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
2. Improving business portfolio management of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
Strengths of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return in industry is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Strong track record of project management in the industry
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return in the sector have low bargaining power. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in industry
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the industry. The sustainable margins have also helped ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Training and development
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has one of the best training and development program in industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Organizational Resilience of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return are -
Need for greater diversity
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 at ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is just above the industry average. It 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the industry, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has high operating costs in the industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return lucrative customers.
High dependence on ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return, in the dynamic environment of industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
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. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 industry.
Leveraging digital technologies
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Manufacturing automation
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in sector. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return in the industry. Now ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in industry. This can help ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return to build a more holistic ecosystem for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return products in the industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Threats ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return are -
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. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Increasing wage structure of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return.
Consumer confidence and its impact on ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return is facing in sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return in industry. The 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to industry are lowering. It can presents ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return needs to understand the core reasons impacting the industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return 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 ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.