¶ … business idea I am proposing is commercializing Mexican hand-made objects on the U.S. market. In order to evaluate the viability of such a business venture, there are several components we need to take into consideration. In my opinion, the most important of these are TO WHOM (the targeted market and the exact segment of consumers we will be addressing), FROM WHOM (who will be producing the objects, given the fact that the company will act as a commercial intermediary), HOW (the entire commercializing process described) and WHY (why this is a perfectly justifiable business opportunity).
A well-based definition of the targeted consumer segment will be the first step we need to work out. The basic nature of the products we tend to commercialize means that we are addressing consumers who are interesting in art and art objects. This may have an intellectual motivation or simply a social one, related to the desire to show off to friends and relatives. In both cases, however, we are assuming that we are addressing people aged 30 to 55 years old. This means that the typical customer we are addressing has already finished college and has had time to fully develop his taste in art and art objects.
Second of all, the customer we are addressing has average to high income level, ranging from $55,000 to over $100,000 a year. This would be the customer group who has the financial...
In this sense, we need to briefly describe the external change that has made this opportunity a viable one. This is definitely a social change and refers to the specific social and economic conditions available nowadays in Mexico.
First of all, Mexico is part of the NAFTA, a free trade organization that includes Canada and the United States. As such, any good imported to the U.S. from Mexico will have no import taxes and will permit a better profit margin on sales.
Second of all, the specific economic conditions in Mexico permit a successful and profitable venture by using the cheap labor force available there. We need to point out towards the fact that, according to official data and statistics, 40% of the Mexican population lives below the poverty line (CIA World Factbook, 2003). With a workforce estimated at around 33 million people, we can envisage to work directly with local producers, who will be able to operate at more than reasonable prices and will benefit from the local cheap labor.
The business idea has a very…
