Business View Caribbean - January 2015 33
expansion in 2008.
The global recession that arrived in late 2008 and its
lingering aftereffects have continued to impact Carib-
bean Cement on the home front, but some of those
negatives have been offset by a more concerted effort
to expand the company’s market reach overseas. Its
employee count has remained fairly stable throughout
the economic tumult and 40 percent of its current pro-
duction is exported to destinations across the eastern
Caribbean and into South and Central America.
In fact, more than 90 percent of structures in Jamaica
today were built using Caribbean Cement.
There are four sales distribution centers in Jamaica, in
addition to one manufacturing facility. The company’s
main competition, according to its general manager,
Anthony Haynes, comes from products imported from
the United States and Dominican Republic, though it
remains the market’s top player.
“Cement is a classical commodity, and as such our
value proposition includes product attributes that are
designed for satisfying the needs of the customers,”
he said. “A distribution system is aimed at making
the product available at the times and places that the
customer desires, and promotion is aimed at com-
municating to the targeted customer segments useful
information about the product and the organization
that supports it. Against this backdrop, we provide our
products at a price that is seen to be fair and competi-
General Manager, centre, chats with long service employess at a function held in their honour
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