Masisa: Redefining Growth

2025. CLADEA BALAS Case Consortium at Harvard Business Impact.

Francisco Sánchez M., y Juan Pablo Torres C.

Abstract:

The case tells the story of Masisa, a Chilean business group that produced and sold wood boards, principally in Latin America. The company needed to improve its profitability and strengthen its financial position, and decided to implement a corporate restructuring program that involved reducing its industrial assets and moving to a commercially-focused business model. The company’s financial decline had been caused by economic recession and currency devaluation in its principal markets, as well as an investment plan between 2013 and 2015 that was designed to increase its wood board production capacity, but significantly increased debt during a time of reduced demand. On July 18th 2017, Masisa’s general manager, and decision maker in the case, Roberto Salas, was under pressure from the board to implement the restructuring plan. He was preparing for a media interview during which he would explain the benefits of the new business strategy, and justify the decision made by Grupo Nueva, Masisa’s controlling shareholder, to end the search for a strategic partner. Salas imagined that the interviewer would focus on whether the new comercial strategy would allow Masisa to achieve sustainable long-term growth, after divesting its principal industrial assets in Latin America. Sala’s had to decide whether to limit himself to sharing the board’s decisions, or recognize that the company’s deteriorating financial situation in recent years was due to wider structural issues. He also wondered whether to recognize that addressing these issues would take time, and the end result was not certain, something that would have significant repercussions for stakeholders.

Palabras claves: Corporate strategy, Financial analysis, Strategy

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