Case Study Description of The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A)
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.On August 5, 2010, 700,000 tons of some of the hardest rock in the world caved in Chile's century-old San JosA? mine. The collapse buried 33 miners at a depth almost twice the height of the Empire State Building-over 600 meters (2000 feet) below ground. Never had a recovery been attempted at such depths, let alone in the face of challenges like those posed by the San JosA? mine: unstable terrain, rock so hard it defied ordinary drill bits, severely limited time, and the potentially immobilizing fear that plagued the buried miners. Could the trapped miners and rescue workers mobilize before air and resources were depleted? The case describes the ensuing efforts that draw the resources of countless people and multiple organizations in Chile and around the world.
Authors :: Amy C. Edmondson, Faaiza Rashid, Herman Leonard
Swot Analysis of "The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A)" written by Amy C. Edmondson, Faaiza Rashid, Herman Leonard includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Miners Buried facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Miners Buried, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Miners Buried 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Miners Buried
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Miners Buried
Strengths The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Miners Buried in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Miners Buried has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the 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.
High brand equity
– Miners Buried has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Miners Buried to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Miners Buried is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Diverse revenue streams
– Miners Buried is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Miners Buried is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Miners Buried is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Miners Buried in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Miners Buried 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 Miners Buried is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Miners Buried has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Miners Buried to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Miners Buried to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Miners Buried 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Miners Buried in the sector have low bargaining power. The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Miners Buried to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Miners Buried products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Miners Buried needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Miners Buried 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. Miners Buried 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Miners Buried 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Miners Buried is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Miners Buried 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 Miners Buried 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Miners Buried is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Miners Buried needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Miners Buried to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Miners Buried 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Miners Buried 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Miners Buried 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 - The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) | 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Miners Buried to increase its market reach. Miners Buried 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.
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 Miners Buried 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.
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. Miners Buried can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Miners Buried 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Miners Buried has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Miners Buried to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) case study. Miners Buried can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Miners Buried 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Miners Buried 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Miners Buried to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Miners Buried 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Miners Buried 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, The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Miners Buried can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Miners Buried in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Miners Buried can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Miners Buried in the consumer business. Now Miners Buried can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) are -
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Miners Buried 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 prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) .
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 Miners Buried business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Miners Buried 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. Miners Buried can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
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 Miners Buried in the Technology & Operations 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 Miners Buried in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
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. Miners Buried needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Miners Buried with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Miners Buried 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Miners Buried 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 the industry and other sectors.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Miners Buried 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Miners Buried can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Miners Buried 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 Technology & Operations industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 The 2010 Chilean Mining Rescue (A) 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 Miners Buried needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.