The King of Cork: Corticeira Amorim While the champagne and wine cork stopper production is the basis of the cork industry, cork serves a diverse array of purposes including, but not limited to: footwear, insulation, and floor and wall paneling. The cork industry has a bright future and Corticeira Amorim is ensuring the industries potential be realized by conducting smart acquisitions, continuous research and development, as well as environmentally friendly practices.THE ENVIRONMENT: NATURAL & ECONOMICCork is derived from a cork tree, which is native to Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Not only is this raw material limited in its supply, but it is not protected from the effects of the natural world as well. While this does not appear to be a major concern, it is not a risk that goes without recognition and in the case that this does become a major issue, competitors could potentially gain headway. Also, taking into account our natural environment, the extensive use of cork will no doubt motivate defense of the cork tree forests' development-favorable for the natural resources of Earth.In terms of the economic environment, it was shown in the case study how an unfavorable decline of earnings in the cork industry could be attributed to the slowdown of sales in the automobile industry. Just as it is typical of any recession, the recession in the early 1990s hit the auto industry fairly hard and the fate of the industry was at the mercy of the Fed and their decisions made in terms of the monetary policy. NEW MARKETSWhen in search for new markets, you are looking to diversify your product as well as the market. In this development process, I think it is important to first be well known for quality assurance, especially in the more developed countries where technical capability and quality are increasingly important competitive advantages. INTERNATIONAL STRATEGYCorticeira Amorim has extended its markets to include nearly 30 countries. T...
