Nurturing
Your Niche In New
Markets
Rogelio Douglas - February
2009
Understandably
it?s very difficult for
executives to build a growth
strategy in the mist of the
current flood of bad economic
news. Yet
surviving this global economic
downturn will call for
corporate leaders to find,
nurture and harvest new
markets, aside from executing
the more common cost-reduction
activities. After
all, there are sectors of the
US economy, just as in other
countries, which despite the
general bad news are expected
to grow all be it at a slower
pace.
This environment
underscores the criticality of
the market analysis to
effectively pin-point
profitable international
business
opportunities.
Late
2007 the Brazilian government,
in an attempt to deal with the
escalating rate of vehicle
theft, passed a law requiring
all new vehicles beginning in
August 2009 to be sold with
factory-installed tracking
devices.
While
it may have taken a few months
for the business opportunities
to crystallize manufacturers
and service providers in what?s
called the M2M
(machine-to-machine) space are
today executing accelerated
sales development strategies in
a potentially major
market.
In
2007 there were an estimated 3+
million new vehicles sold in
Brazil yet there were over
380,000 stolen
cars;
with only an estimated
50% recovery rate, the
unrecoverable was valued at
over R$700M.
In the
cargo heavy-duty trucks and
trailers sector there were
11,700 cases of stolen
high-value cargo, estimated at
over R$753M in the same
year.
This
situation has created numerous
opportunities for companies in
this space looking to grow
their sales.
Armed
security service providers are
looking for the most advanced
high-tech gear to complement
their fleet of guards.
Vehicle manufacturers and
their suppliers are focused on
reducing the theft appeal of
their products.
The insurance companies
are offering up to 35% discount
on insurance rates to passenger
vehicle owners who activate and
contract the
automatic-vehicle-locator (AVL)
service; some insurance
companies are even building-out
their own in-house call center
tracking service provider
business.
Manufacturers of AVL
devices, chip manufacturers,
independent tracking service
providers, application software
developers, local resellers,
and even the local cell phone
companies, are all vying to
service a market of
approximately 18.5M vehicles
with a projected growth to top
25M by 2011.
Should a conservative 10%
of these drivers activate and
contract the basic tracking
service at a nominal $10.00
monthly charge we would be
looking at an annual $300M+
service market, in addition to
the after-market device
purchase, installation and
services
sectors.
While
there are some sectors of the
Brazilian economy which may be
in decline there are a few
which could be very interesting
opportunities for the SMB
manufacturers and service
providers with the
international sales development
expertise to research, draft
and execute an effective sales
strategy.
No doubt
the same applies to other key
markets such as Mexico,
Colombia, Chile, among others
in the Americas and across
other continents.
Even in a slowed economy
sales growth is feasible, it
remains the best way out of
what otherwise could be hard
times.
Author: Rogelio
R. Douglas, Founder & CEO,
GBD
Consulting
Source:
http://www.gbdusa.net
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