Fire Helmet Research
Summary
Phenix technology is a business that prides itself in making safe and durable fire helmets. Starting in 1972 by Ronny Coleman and Ray Russell and the way to make a better helmets for firefighters. The company has grown tremendously with not only supplying helmets in the united states but also so many other latin american countries such as Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. The company is seeking to export to another latin american country. Costa Rica is the next country that Phenix technology is trying to export to help the firefighters have better and safer equipment. There are many benefits when it comes to exporting to Costa Rica and one of the main ones is that “on August 5, 2004, the United States signed the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with five Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and the Dominican Republic. Under the Agreement, the Parties significantly liberalizes trade in goods and services.” With this free trade agreement it would be very beneficial for any business in those countries to do business with each other. The report talks about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats when it comes to Phoenix technology doing business in Costa Rica.
Introduction
Industry
Development of the fire protection undertaking is closely related the economic construction pace. Nowadays, the economy develops rapidly. So does the fire protection undertaking. The capabilities of fire control and disaster prevention and relief have been promoted greatly to build a solid and strong defense for security of the national property and people. We must say that the fire protection cause is a flag of social development. Fire protection advertising, fire protection products, social services and so on are all in continuous development. The fire protection undertaking has ushered into an era of multiple development. Its development is characterized by different stages. It has undergone the process from being weak, small and singular to being strong, big and complex, and keeps evolving to catch up with the social trend and meet the social needs. With increase of the social economic strength and promotion of the national fire protection awareness, the fire protection undertaking is creating the new history with its strong impetus.
Fire-fighting is one of the important markets of developed countries, but still at its start in some other countries. With the improvement of residents living standards and the enhancement of fire-fighting sense, the fire-fighting market is among those most promising markets.
Company
About the company- Phenix Technology is a business that focuses on making high quality fire helmets. So many firemen around the world use them and that is a good reason on why they want to keep expanding to different parts of the world.
Phenix Technology was founded in 1972 by veteran firefighters Ronnie Coleman, a former Chief of the San Clemente Fire Dept., and Ray Russell, a former Assistant Chief of the California State Fire Training Division. Phenix Technology was started with the goal of making safe helmets that had good balance, longevity, were light weight, comfortable, ergonomic, and could be used for all emergencies across various types of fire and emergency services.
Phenix Technology’s fire helmets are used by thousands of firefighters in the United States and worldwide.
Today Phenix Technology operates with a mission of producing quality products while staying committed to total customer satisfaction. All levels of the organization are involved in the process of meeting or exceeding customer requirements.Staying true to their history, the company continues to work towards continual improvements in helmet design while staying attentive to tradition and workmanship. In addition to its offerings in the fire fighting helmet arena, the company has also been expanding its product line to include various helmet accessories.With continuous innovation, they now can manufacture dozens of types of firefighting helmets, and all products under their brand are ISO certified and quality-guaranteed.All product of Phenix Technology are meet OSHA or NFPA 1971 standards.
(http://www.emergencyresponderproducts.com/phfihe.html)
Methods
Supporting evidence - Trade, market research, industry research
Import of fire protection products by Latin American countries has been rising sharply in recent years and has attracted attention from leading fire protection equipment manufacturers globally. The market represented by Argentina, Brazil and so on accounts for nearly 80% of the whole Latin American market. In the past few years, Latin America has seen a rapid sales growth of fire protection product to a rather high level. In particular, the import volume of fire extinguishers and fire alarms has increased substantially in such countries as Brazil and Argentina. Import of fire protection products by Brazil has demonstrated a fast rising trend in recent years, and the import volume of some products has even increased by 50% annually. Argentina has demonstrated the same trend. Import by Chile has increased by 15%, and there would be a considerable demand in the long future.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, a republican country in Latin America, takes an area of 51,100 square kilometers with its capital located at San Jose. Even though Costa Rica is an agrarian nation, the living standard there is relatively high. It is the first country in the world that doesn’t set its armies. Located at the boundary of Central and South America, Costa Rica possesses a diversity of culture. Costa Rica has a population of just over 5 million and its economic volume is small. In the past ten years, the average annual growth rate of foreign direct investment has reached 13%. At the moment, US is its biggest foreign investor, accounting for 60% of the foreign investment.Since this paper focuses on the study of marketing, the index of economic freedom of Costa Rica takes the lead in Latin American countries, leaving other Central American countries behind. Tax structure of Costa Rica is relatively simple and it is mainly composed by national tax and local taxes. Major national tax includes: income tax, value added tax, customs duties and consumption tax. In 2014, when reviewing Costa
Rica’s investment environment, the US department of economy, energy and business affairs gives a special reminder. Once considering invest on public-funded projects that protected by constitutions or laws, one should be particularly cautious. The investment franchise mechanism which protected by the country is quite complex. Allowing private participation in stated-owned enterprises usually needs to face challenges from constitutions and courts. Moreover, permits or requirements signed by independent governments may contradict with other independent organizations, which therefore bring significant project delays. In “Doing Business 2013” report released by the World Bank, 11 index perspectives of 185 economies in the world are compared and analyzed and the degree of operating and running business in different countries are reviewed.Costa Rica ranks higher compared with Latin American and Caribbean Area in the following 4 indexes: obtaining electric power, registering property, getting loans and cross-border trade. But it lags behind in other key indexes such as setting up businesses, obtaining the construction permit, protecting investors, paying taxes, fulfilling contracts and processing liquidations. Especially for protecting investors, Costa Rica ranks 169, almost at the end among all these countries and enters the queue of the worst investor protecting countries in the world. The investment environment has been complained by many foreign companies while many Western companies, such as Canadian Goldcorp, US Marlon Oil and Gas Company, Brazil Highway are hindered during investment process and have submit requests of attribution to the World Bank and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Up till now, the recorded disputes of Costa Rica in ICSID are 21, demanding $ 1.4 billion worth of penalties in total. Projects are interrupted although government has given permits and the application and handling process are legitimate. Huge project delays as well as irreparable losses are caused as a result.
Exports
1.Costa Rica was the United States' 37th largest goods export market in 2016.
2.U.S. goods exports to Costa Rica in 2016 were $5.9 billion, down 3.0% ($182 million) from 2015 but up 42.7% from 2006. U.S. exports to Costa Rica are up 3.8% from 2008 (pre-FTA).
3.The top export categories (2-digit HS) in 2016 were: mineral fuels ($1.2 billion), electrical machinery ($905 million), machinery ($598 million), plastics ($464 million), and optical and medical instruments ($446 million).
4.U.S. total exports of agricultural products to Costa Rica totaled $711 million in 2016. Leading domestic export categories include: soybeans ($122 million), corn ($114 million), wheat ($36 million), rice ($35 million), and prepared food ($35 million).
5.U.S. exports of services to Costa Rica were an estimated $1.8 billion in 2015 (latest data available), 1.2% ($21 million) more than 2014. Leading services exports from the U.S. to Costa Rica were in the transport, travel, and intellectual property (computer software) sectors.
SWOT
Strength：
1. Since its foundation in 1972, the company has developed for 45 years. With continuous innovation, they now can manufacture dozens of types of firefighting helmets, and all products under their brand are ISO certified and quality-guaranteed.All product of Phenix Technology are meet OSHA or NFPA 1971 standards.
3.Phenix Technology has supported the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and established a sound enterprise image.
4. They have already export to other countries and they are planning on expanding to other Latin American countries so it will help them alot.
5. They do have some
Weakness：
1. They have a very small workforce with only 18 employees. If they are trying to expand to more countries then they will have to increase the amount of employes they have. when we talked to Phenix technology they could not tell us the type of management structure they had to see if the amount of employees they have is okay for expanding.
Opportunity：
1.The market of fire helmets is a large and potential market for Phenix.
2.Because of greenhouse effect, The frequency of fire rose in some countries such Latin America and Asian these year, so it will rise the demand of clothing and helmets of fire protection.
3.The United States is in an absolute dominant position, no matter in terms of economic strength, degree of industrialization and level of development.
4.The tariffs for the products within the borders of the United States exported to some Latin American countries are declining. For example, Mexico and Canada, the two members of the North American Free Trade Area, and other Latin American countries, the reduction of the trade cost helps enhance their strategic advantage because trade cost is important than the cost of production.
5. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection being one of the largest full service departments in the world is an excellent market to capitalize on being close geographically.
Threats:
1.The relative importance of traffic costs as the determinant of trade has increased. Except Mexico, the average freight costs importing to the Latin American countries is above normal.
2.In the most countries, The manufacture of fire helmets is monopoly by government, so it means that the competitor of Phenix is government.
3. With large markets of Fire Departments in the California area, Phenix Tech. is not the only manufacturer of helmets and has competitors.
4.Price fluctuations of raw materials will make a certain influences on stability of business performances. Continuous price rises of raw materials will also lead to increases of occupied current capital and intensify pressure for the company on capital turnover, while continuous price falls of raw materials will make it harder for the company to manage inventory and might thereby result in risks of losses caused by inventory depreciation.
5. With selling only one product they have to make the product the best and make it different or better than the competitors.
Recommendation and strategy
Consumer behavior
Media tools
What we need now?
Method (1pages)
-Where get those data?
-how did u get this conclusion?
Supporting evidence - Trade, market research, industry research (Costa Rica) -3.5pages
Can get the data from these website
-export.gov
-world bank
-trade.gov
3.Recommendation and strategy- 2 pages
-Consumer behavior( government, personal)
-Media tools
Company:phenix technology inc.
Product: Fire helmets
