Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico
Chaos and disorder in the public housing system of San Juan, Puerto Rico (second largest in the US, prompt the newly-elected governor Pedro Rosello to consider an unprecedented new approach: using the island's national guard troops to patrol the projects. The Guard would replace police who had become so frightened or corrupted by the dominance of drug gangs in public housing that they seldom ventured into the apartment complexes at all. The National Guard, moreover, was a popular force on the island. At the same time, Rosello knew that there were risks associated with calling out the Guard. Many in its ranks were young and inexperienced. Sustaining the commitment over time would be difficult and expensive. The kind of tactics thought necessary to regain control of the projects might offend civil libertarians. The new governor, urged on by the superintendent of police, had to decide whether and how to deploy the Guard. HKS Case Number 1390.0
Swot Analysis of "Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico" written by Marty Linsky, Harvey Simon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Guard Rosello facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Policy, Project management, Public relations, Regulation, Security & privacy, Strategic planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, wage bills are increasing, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Guard Rosello, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Guard Rosello 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Guard Rosello
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Guard Rosello
Strengths Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Guard Rosello in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Guard Rosello has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Guard Rosello to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Guard Rosello 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 Guard Rosello in the sector have low bargaining power. Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Guard Rosello to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Guard Rosello 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Guard Rosello 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 suggested by Marty Linsky, Harvey Simon can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Training and development
– Guard Rosello has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Guard Rosello has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Guard Rosello 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 Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Guard Rosello digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Guard Rosello 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.
Organizational Resilience of Guard Rosello
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Guard Rosello does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Guard Rosello 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Guard Rosello 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 Guard Rosello in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Guard Rosello 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 Guard Rosello is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Guard Rosello is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Guard Rosello needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Guard Rosello to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Guard Rosello 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. Guard Rosello 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.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Guard Rosello supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Guard Rosello vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico, in the dynamic environment Guard Rosello has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Guard Rosello has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Guard Rosello 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Guard Rosello is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Guard Rosello has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico HBR case study mentions - Guard Rosello takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Guard Rosello, firm in the HBR case study Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Guard Rosello 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Guard Rosello 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.
Opportunities Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico | 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Guard Rosello is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Guard Rosello 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Guard Rosello 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Guard Rosello 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
– Guard Rosello can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Guard Rosello 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Guard Rosello can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Guard Rosello can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Guard Rosello 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. Guard Rosello 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.
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 Guard Rosello in the consumer business. Now Guard Rosello can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Guard Rosello in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Guard Rosello can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Guard Rosello operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Guard Rosello can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico are -
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 Guard Rosello.
Increasing wage structure of Guard Rosello
– 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 Guard Rosello.
Regulatory challenges
– Guard Rosello 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
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. Guard Rosello 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.
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.
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 Guard Rosello business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Guard Rosello can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico, Guard Rosello may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Guard Rosello 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.
Environmental challenges
– Guard Rosello 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. Guard Rosello can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Guard Rosello 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
– Guard Rosello 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Mano Dura: Mobilizing the National Guard to Battle Crime in Puerto Rico 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 Guard Rosello needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
