PRIMO-F Model

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What is the PRIMO-F Model? Meaning.

The PRIMO-F Model is a diagnostic tool to measure an organization’s effectiveness against a set of defined parameters.

Origin of PRIMO-F Model. History

PRIMO-F (© RapidBI & Morrison 1998) was developed by  Mike Morrison out of the earlier DUBS FiMO ReCOIL model of Allan Gibb and researchers of Durham University Business School. Both models were created to overcome limitations of the SWOT Model.

DUBS researchers demonstrated that:

Organizational Growth Effectiveness = Current Performance x Future Potential Performance

Current performance includes results in the fields of Finance, Marketing and Operations, known also as the acronym FiMO.

Future potential performance include results in the domains of Resources, Experience, Control, Innovation and Ideas, Leadership. Also referred to with the acronym RECoIL:

• Resources: Liquidity and availability of financial resources. Technological competencies and expertise level. State and obsolescence degree of Tangible Assets. Product range and Life Cycle.
• Experience: Business maturity. See BCG Matrix. Management experience in: borrowing, Product Development, competing in different markets, use of external resources and change agents, delocalization or Outsourcing, Managing Growth.
• Control: Information Management and Controlling Systems. Degree of professionalism and responsibilities of management. Planning and monitoring adequacy. Delegation Levels. Performance Assessment methods.
• Innovation and Ideas: Ideas generation within the staff: number and quality of ideas. Assessment of new ideas. Amount of developed or tested new ideas compared to disregarded ones. The creativity level of the ideas generated.
• Leadership: Participation of senior managers. Leaders’ personal objectives and ambition. Leaders’ vision, education level, and involvement in continuous training. Attitude to Staff Development. See also: Leadership Development. Management style. See: Results Oriented Management, Results-based Leadership, Management By Objectives, Goleman’s Leadership Styles, Charismatic Leadership, Situational Leadership. Attitude to change. Strategic understanding of Business Environment.

From the FiMO/RECoIL framework derived the PRIMO-F model, an acronym of People, Resources, Innovation, Marketing, Operations, Finance.

The parameter People is measured in terms of experience, leadership and control skills.

The PRIMO-F model holds that an organization with successful current performance and promising future performance will grow and perform. However, if present performance is poor, it does not mean that the situation cannot be different in the future. Similarly, if current performance is satisfactory, future success it is also not guaranteed.

Usage of PRIMO-F. Applications

The use of the PRIMO-F model includes a thorough analysis of the People, Resources, Innovation, Marketing, Operations and Finance areas to identify strengths and weaknesses among them. Strength needs to be sustained in the future while weaknesses require development of improvement actions or plans. It is advisable at this stage to establish a prioritization plan and set objectives and their Relative Measurement Systems.

PRIMO-F can be used in combination with a PEST Analysis when conducting a SWOT Analysis. While the PEST framework will help to investigate the external factors pertaining to the external environment (threats and opportunities), PRIMO-F can be used to analyze the internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) of an organization. The PRIMO-F model can be considered an advanced technique to narrow the focus of a strategic analysis only to internal factors.

The PRIMO-F framework enables to compare relevant data with internal or external Benchmarks.

Limitations of the PRIMO-F model. Disadvantages

1. PRIMO-F has no prioritization; each parameter is considered as a qualitative standard.
2. The application range of the tool is broad, therefore if a CEO excels in Finance or in Marketing he could be more concerned about this field than others.
3. It is sometimes difficult to completely separate the current from the future performance.

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