Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A)
Mexico went through a major political transition in 2000, when Vicente Fox was elected President. Change was in the air throughout the country, and especially in government entities. One such entity was NAFINSA, the national development bank that had a stellar history in the first half of the twentieth century building the Mexican stock exchange and financing public projects. Its more recent history was less impressive, with charges of political influence, inefficiency and major problems in leadership. Fox had special plans for NAFINSA, however, wanting it to be a preeminent player in stimulating small and medium-sized business. He hired Mario Laborin, previously responsible for successful management of a private sector bank in Mexico, to turn NAFINSA around and advance this new policy mandate. The case, in two parts, centers on the approach Laborin and his team took to address this challenge. It intends to provoke discussion about the role of strategic management in complex contexts, the way different technical interventions can be used to facilitate change, and the question about where money should come from to facilitate change processes. HKS Case Number 1918.0
Authors :: Matthew Andrews, Eugenio Amador Quijano
Swot Analysis of "Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A)" written by Matthew Andrews, Eugenio Amador Quijano includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Laborin Nafinsa facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Financial management, Human resource management, Leadership, Policy, Strategic planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Laborin Nafinsa, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Laborin Nafinsa 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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Laborin Nafinsa
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 Laborin Nafinsa
Strengths Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Laborin Nafinsa in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Laborin Nafinsa has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Laborin Nafinsa to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Laborin Nafinsa
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Laborin Nafinsa does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Laborin Nafinsa digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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.
Strong track record of project management
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Laborin Nafinsa in the sector have low bargaining power. Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Laborin Nafinsa to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Laborin Nafinsa in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Laborin Nafinsa is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Matthew Andrews, Eugenio Amador Quijano 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
– Laborin Nafinsa has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) 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.
Weaknesses Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A), it seems that the employees of Laborin Nafinsa don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Laborin Nafinsa, firm in the HBR case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Laborin Nafinsa 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Laborin Nafinsa is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A), in the dynamic environment Laborin Nafinsa has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Laborin Nafinsa has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 Laborin Nafinsa supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Laborin Nafinsa vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) HBR case study mentions - Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Laborin Nafinsa products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Laborin Nafinsa needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Laborin Nafinsa is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Laborin Nafinsa needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Laborin Nafinsa to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Opportunities Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Laborin Nafinsa to increase its market reach. Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Laborin Nafinsa is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) 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.
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. Laborin Nafinsa can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Laborin Nafinsa can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Laborin Nafinsa 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Laborin Nafinsa 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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Laborin Nafinsa to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Laborin Nafinsa 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, Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Laborin Nafinsa 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 Laborin Nafinsa to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Laborin Nafinsa has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Laborin Nafinsa to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) case study. Laborin Nafinsa can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Laborin Nafinsa 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. Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Threats Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Laborin Nafinsa with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Laborin Nafinsa in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing wage structure of Laborin Nafinsa
– 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 Laborin Nafinsa.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Laborin Nafinsa in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Laborin Nafinsa 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Laborin Nafinsa 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.
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 Laborin Nafinsa.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Laborin Nafinsa is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Laborin Nafinsa 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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A) .
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. Laborin Nafinsa 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (A), Laborin Nafinsa 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Laborin Nafinsa 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. Laborin Nafinsa can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Mario Laborin and the Turnaround of Mexico's Nacional Financiera (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 Laborin Nafinsa needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
