Blockchain technology is an emerging technology with potential applications in logistics, distributed ledgers, social media, financial services, and digital identification. The market for blockchain technology is estimated to reach 2.3 billion dollars by 2021, 10-times larger than the market was in 2016. In its SWOT analysis, IBM should classify the growth of blockchain market as a(n)

Opportunity

Explanation:

In the SWOT analysis, external events are classified as either Opportunities or Threats, while internal events are classified as either Strenghts or Weaknesses.

In this case, we find that Blockchain is a technology that is external to IBM, and that IBM has the technological capita, and know-how, to enter this market and develop its own version of Blockchain. For this reason, the growth of Blockchain technology represents an opportunity for IBM.

Janelle is likely a buyer because of the fact that she is going to purchase a department of an apparel manufacturing company by which she has the formal authority in selecting the supplier. It is because a buyer is likely to be someone who makes a purchase to a certain item or thing that the person wishes to buy.