Long Blockchain (LBCC) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources

Introduction to SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Long Blockchain (United States)

Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Long Blockchain is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, 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%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Long Blockchain

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Long Blockchain can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Long Blockchain, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Long Blockchain 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Long Blockchain can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Long Blockchain
2. Improving business portfolio management of Long Blockchain
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Long Blockchain

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Strengths of Long Blockchain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Long Blockchain are -

Strong track record of project management in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– Long Blockchain is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Organizational Resilience of Long Blockchain

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing Long Blockchain does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy of Long Blockchain comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Learning organization

- Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Long Blockchain emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Long Blockchain in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Long Blockchain has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Long Blockchain to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Long Blockchain has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in – Long Blockchain staying ahead in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Long Blockchain is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Long Blockchain has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Long Blockchain 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.

Digital Transformation in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Long Blockchain digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Long Blockchain 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Long Blockchain is present in almost all the verticals within the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This has provided Long Blockchain 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.

Innovation driven organization

– Long Blockchain is one of the most innovative firm in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Long Blockchain has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Long Blockchain have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

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Weaknesses of Long Blockchain | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Long Blockchain are -

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Long Blockchain 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry using digital technology.

No frontier risks strategy

– From the 10K / annual statement of Long Blockchain, it seems that company is thinking out the frontier risks that can impact Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Long Blockchain is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry in last five years.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, Long Blockchain 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Long Blockchain has some of the most successful models in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. Long Blockchain should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Need for greater diversity

– Long Blockchain 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 to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Long Blockchain is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Long Blockchain to provide better information regarding Beverages (Nonalcoholic) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, Long Blockchain has high operating costs in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Long Blockchain lucrative customers.

Aligning sales with marketing

– From the outside it seems that Long Blockchain needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Long Blockchain can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Long Blockchain is planning to shift buying processes online.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Long Blockchain has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.

High dependence on Long Blockchain ‘s star products

– The top 2 products and services of Long Blockchain still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Long Blockchain has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

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Long Blockchain Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The opportunities of Long Blockchain are -

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Long Blockchain in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Long Blockchain has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. This can help Long Blockchain to build a more holistic ecosystem for Long Blockchain products in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry by providing – data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Long Blockchain 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Long Blockchain 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

Loyalty marketing

– Long Blockchain 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Long Blockchain is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Long Blockchain can utilize new technology in the field of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Long Blockchain 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.

Reconfiguring business model

– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Long Blockchain to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Long Blockchain has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled Long Blockchain to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Long Blockchain to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Long Blockchain 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Long Blockchain to increase its market reach. Long Blockchain 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.

Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry

– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Long Blockchain in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. Now Long Blockchain can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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Threats Long Blockchain External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats of Long Blockchain are -

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain prominent markets.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Long Blockchain 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry and other sectors.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Long Blockchain has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Long Blockchain needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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

– Long Blockchain 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 Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

Environmental challenges

– Long Blockchain 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. Long Blockchain can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry.

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 Long Blockchain.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Long Blockchain may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Long Blockchain 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.

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 Long Blockchain business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Long Blockchain in Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry. The Beverages (Nonalcoholic) 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Beverages (Nonalcoholic) industry are lowering. It can presents Long Blockchain with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Beverages (Nonalcoholic) sector.

Increasing wage structure of Long Blockchain

– 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 Long Blockchain.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Long Blockchain Template, Example

Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain 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 Long Blockchain needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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