Hi guys. Welcome back to Global Business Environment Course 2, we are in Module 3 and this is the fifth and final part of Module 3. We've been talking about how companies can adapt in foreign markets, and I want to complete this module with a final case study. I want to use another entrepreneurial born global firm. Started actually by some individuals that are former students of mine here at the University of New Mexico again. One of the reasons I'm using this case study, these case studies, is not only to demonstrate the, the concepts we're talking about but also to try to appeal to your interest in entrepreneurship and small business ownership, which was our topic in module 2. So I do have a, another motive. And I'm using people that I know, because I'm trying to demonstrate that it is not impossible to do this. I'm here at the site of a company called. PFNC which stands for in Spanish [FOREIGN] which means finally, our own home. And this was started back in 2005 or 6 by a couple of Anderson School of Management students at the University of New Mexico. These students had some background in the construction industry, and had been involved in the construction boom, the real estate boom here in the United States. That had led to a great deal of new home building, and then ultimately led to a market crash that. That had an affect around the world. And so they had a lot of knowledge and experience and as they were students in school they wanted to apply that knowledge and experience in new ways. And that for them came when they went on a trip when one of them, Brian, went on a trip to Mexico. To the border, community near the city of Albuquerque. The city of Juarez, Mexico, which has some fame around the world. It is a large city and it has a large number of assembly plants they call maquilladores in Spanish, for many multinational companies. And Brian discovered that individuals who worked at these assembly plants, very large plants, many of them immigrated from other poorer parts of Mexico and lived in very unfavorable conditions. They lived in shacks, we might call them. In in building structures that really weren't homes. That were made out of wood. Very poorly constructed. Might not have any electricity. And Brian was moved by this, and was wondering how he might be able to take his construction experience, and his entrepreneurship knowledge, in what he knew about foreign markets and adapt them to the Mexican market. And he discovered, that, in fact, in the American market, the United States market, there is a large number of shipping containers, that are surplus that are just sitting out in empty lots in, in places around the country because we buy more from China than we sell to them, and the items or products are shipped to us here in the United States. And he had the idea, which was not completely new, of taking shipping containers, like the one you see here on the screen, and making a living structure, a residence out of it. His goal was to create a social venture that would help people. He would create homes, stack them up in a living setting like this, and create ultra-affordable, housing opportunities for these individuals in Mexico. You can see here, it's a very small, about 30 square meters residence. Most individuals who don't live in the very poor circumstances you see here would love to live in a shipping container but, it, was an idea that actually was very attractive to many people in, Mexico, who lived in these types of settings. And so they sought funding, received it, and they made an agreement with several large Mechiladores who would help fund the construction of residences stacked up like this into neighborhoods. And by the way, the homes included all the furnishings and appliances that you see. The total cost was going to be between $10,000 and $15,000 per structure, including all of these the finish. But the, the companies, the Mechiladores, the assembly plants were going to help fund the construction of these neighborhoods and deduct the price on a weekly or monthly or bi-weekly basis out of the paycheck. You know, a, a payment by payment out of the paycheck of their employees. And, so it was going to be a type of benefit for their for their employees. As exciting as this is or might be the point of my bringing it up to you. Is to tell you, first of all, that there are companies that are adapting to needs all around the world, recognizing them, changing their company's focus perhaps from construction for a suburban market in the United States to constructing in a very low income area of Mexico. But it's also an example of, of individuals having the initiative to start something, to take a risk. And in this case I will let you know that, that my former students actually had to put this business on hold. It is not currently in operation because of the global financial crisis. The the decline in the real estate market some of their investors took back their money and so the the entrepreneurs Brian and McKenzie had to put this business on hold. You can see the site is still up and their dream is to bring this back and to be able to. To do this business full time and I'm confident in the future they will, but, I think the point you want to take from this is that every market has different needs and we can be creative as entrepreneurs, as multinational business in solving problems in a social way and also earning a profit and providing jobs to others. This would have been, been a great business opportunity, employment opportunity for those who are involved in construction in Mexico as well. So this is the end of module 3 in which we've been talking all about adapting to foreign markets and how entrepreneurs and companies do that. It's been a pleasure to work with you. We'll be back next time in module 4.
