CEMEX: GLOBAL GROWTH THROUGH SUPERIOR INFORMATION
CAPBILITIES
1. CEMEX is a cement company. What are the sources of competitive advantage in the cement industry? What is CEMEX's position in the global cement industry?
First, the cement business is cyclical. The uncertainty of the number of demand and sales restricts a cement company to gain profits stably. Thus, the expansion of the scale of the company is very critical to enhance the competitiveness, especially the international expansion to different countries and continents. Decentralized production and sales in a wide range of countries can offset the risk of shocks in some markets. On the cost side, as a capital intensive and cash generative industry, cement …show more content…
They developed Construmix, which was a synthesized online market and construction community for users in Latin American.
Second, in December 2000, Cemtec merged with four leading companies to form a new company--Neoris. The new company offered all kinds of services to CEMEX and many other well-known large companies.
Third, Latinexus was put into use as an online marketplace in January 2 001. The B2B web procurement site helped buyers to reduce procurement costs. In February 2001, Construplaza was launched as a second vertical portal.
Overall, these e-ventures brought a great number of benefits: First, they enhanced the operational efficiency to save up to $150 million per year to increase competitiveness. Second, they shortened the time needed to develop a newly merged compan y. Third, customer loyalty increased for more simplified business transactions and personalized service. Fourth, these programs changed the companies' attitude towards accepting new information.
4. In 2002, the global IT industry is slowing down. What should Cemex do about its investments in CxNetworks? Is there a way for Cemex to leverage its capabilities in
CxNetworks in the future?
With the development of information technology, an increasing number of IT -related companies entered the market. Thus, like most IT companies, CxNetworks' expansion met a bottleneck. However, I think that CxNetworks still has the