Barbados Steel Works

Caribbeanmarkets started to develop their ownman- ufacturing bases,and evolving trade agreements in the CARICOM region began to stimulate the growth of a more globalized formof commerce,coupledwith the removal of localized,preferential trade accords.Those dynamicsmade it increasinglyapparent that Barbados SteelWorks was going to have to scale back its export manufacturing activities as it becamemore difficult to competewith local manufacturers in its target markets, as well as having to compete against larger andmore sophisticatedmanufacturers operating out of Europe and the Far East that benefitted fromeconomies of scale. So,Barbados SteelWorks shifted its focus.“We moved away fromprimarilymanufacturing and distrib- uting products directly to large scale distributors and more into trading activities,”Gafoor explains.“We tried to staywith our core of manufacturing,but realistical- ly,the commitment to address our customers’varied needsmeant that we have had to embrace the trading end of our market.So,the end customer becamemore of our day-to-dayuser as opposed to amiddleman.” However,that shift in the company’s businessmodel, while it did relieve it fromhaving to competewith lower-pricedmanufacturers,did not prevent it from having to competewith others in the trading sector. BARBADOS STEEL WORKS LIMITED “In the local market,the number of persons who are in the business of importing and selling construction materials is significant,”Gafoor opines.“It’s like that in all themarkets inwhichwe operate.It’s veryeasy to get into and acquirematerials which you can sell,even for amarginal profit.In addition,what we have found is that themarket inwhichwe operate hasmatured– it’s verymuch become like theNorthAmericanmarket, where people are accustomed to having a source of supply for their demands and requirements close to hand.So,maybe four or five years ago,when the num- ber of players in themarket was smaller,peoplewould frequently travel to find us and to shopwith us.That’s not happening anymore.We’ve got competitors across the landscape and customers can findwhat theyneed closer to home. “So,what we’ve decided to do is expand on our operations so that we,ourselves,can be present in various strategicplaces within themarket,more or less geographically,so that customers are able to come to us andwe can present ourself directly to our end user –typically,contractors who do constructionwork for smaller homes,or medium-sized projects like town- houses andmaybe condos-rather than trying to sell a product through an intermediary,like a distributor or a hardware store.