NewsletterMacedonia Competes

The Positioning Issue

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As the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and businesses seek growth through diversifica-tion and export expansion, they need strategies that position the country and companies to better compete globally. The Competitiveness Project works with firms to invest in strategies that take them from where they are to where they want to be.

n September 2010, a purchas-ing manager from a major original equipment manufacturing (OEM)

company visited automotive compo-nent manufacturers in Macedonia, a trip coordinated by the Automotive Cluster of Macedonia (ACM) and the Competitiveness Project. Afterward, the purchasing manager gave this mixed review:

“I met some good companies, but we couldn’t work with many of them, due to the state of their technologies,” he said. “We could work with one or two who have invested in the right equip-ment, but others wouldn’t fit well into our supply network.”

Sadly, such comments are not uncom-mon in Macedonia. Many Macedonian companies have failed to carry out business strategies and make invest-ments that would better position themselves—either in markets where they currently operate, or in new markets where they could excel, add

value, enhance profitability or reduce risk through diversity. Companies that do not invest in their future will struggle to compete in coming years. Unless more companies in Macedonia step up to the challenge, their busi-nesses, the livelihood of their workers and the health of the national econo-my will be at risk.

Fortunately, the purchasing manager found companies who buck this trend. Recently, TE-TE Plast (see article on page 7) received a request for quota-tions (RFQ) to produce parts for the global automotive company. After re-cent investments in state-of-the-art equipment, its production capacities are on par with others in Europe, and the company is positioned to com-pete with other component manufac-turers throughout the region.

Develop, adapt, upgrade or failGlobal markets are in a constant state of flux, following consumer trends and preferences, government regulations,

and varying economic conditions. The structure of today’s global supply chains have changed dramatically since the bottom of the economic crisis and the economic peak that preceded it.

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IN THIS ISSUE

Message from USAID Mission Director page 2

fx3x - Dynamic management to respond to market changes page 4

Demastil - Investments in Marketing and Licensing to Expand Markets page 5

Evergreen Energy – From sub-contractor to managing own brand and subcontract network page 6

TE-TE Plast – Market positioning through investments in marketing, technologies, systems and people page 7 & 8

Five ways to avoid damaging your market positioning page 7

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Message from Michael Fritz

panies that remain complacent or nostalgic for better days will lose out against competitors that strive to be as dynamic as the markets they serve.

Finding the ideal market posi-tion for growth and valueMacedonia is home to companies like TE-TE Plast and others in this news-letter which serve as examples for others. Their management mindset includes a vision of where to take the company, and the willingness to make the investment in time, money and people to make it happen. They understand where business growth could come from, and what they need to do to capture it. And they possess an in-depth under-standing of the needs of target cus-tomers (existing and potential), and how the company will build the capa-bilities to meet those needs.

Strategies of successful managers gen-erally answer the following questions:

What is the source of potential growth? Successful managers develop focused growth strategies. Do they wish to grow through expanding ca-

For example, while a significant share of manufacturing is still sent to Asia, China is no longer the “default” lo-cation for manufacturing. Many com-panies wish to bring at least some of their production close to home (a practice called nearshoring) to achieve more reliable quality, faster lead times and easier supervision of their supply chain.

Companies are also looking to pass on more responsibility (or risk) onto their suppliers in terms of R&D, de-sign, quality control and financing of inputs. Innovation in products or pre-sentation is critical to differentiating oneself in a market with depressed demand. While price has always been important, there is ever greater pres-sure for value (i.e. same or better quality or service for the same or lower price).

What does this all mean to Macedo-nian companies? The dynamism of the global economy is nothing new, but the recent economic crisis and an uneven economic recovery created a timid level of demand that companies everywhere are competing for. Com-

pacity (sell more units) or find ways to add value (earn more from each unit)? Do they aim to compete on price or another success factor (e.g. service, design, quality)? Should they attempt to become more competitive within an existing market segment, or take steps to move into another seg-ment that might offer more market stability or higher profitability? Could a new service or product line help di-versify exports?

Who is the preferred customer or end market? Rather than responding to every opportunity (which is nei-ther feasible nor profitable) growth-oriented companies position them-selves to be more selective about the customers they serve. They identify customer types with particular price, volume, quality and design points that match the longer term strategy and positioning of the company. Within this context, they make a clear choice whether to target customers that buy more (e.g. focus on price and produc-tivity) or companies that pay more (e.g. focus on quality and design).

What do target customers or markets require? Forward-looking managers understand what drives purchasing decisions within their tar-get market segment. Is it price and volume, speed/proximity to market, quality, product design, or an ability to offer a range of services that add value to buyers and their wider sup-ply chain? This understanding, which can only be achieved through pro-active market engagement, is pivotal to evaluating opportunities and the cost-benefit analysis to determine whether it is worth investing to meet these criteria.

What is the gap between current capacity and market require-ments? - Dynamic managers con-stantly compare what their company can offer in products or services against the respective requirements of a market. Geographic positioning can offer an advantage or disadvan-tage as a basis for a company’s market offering. In most, however, it involves

ear Colleagues, It is a pleasure to introduce the Positioning Issue of Macedonia

COMPETES, the newsletter of the USAID Macedonia Competitiveness Project (MCP). This edition focuses on efforts by Macedonian companies to reposition themselves to target different business and market objec-tives, often using a variety of MCP services. These companies understand that investments in technology, capacity improvements, new product or service offerings, human capital and innovation are pivotal to their ability to compete, grow and be profitable within a challenging global market. The progress these companies have made demonstrates how Macedonia can COMPETE!

Through projects like MCP, USAID strives to deliver services that support leading visionary Macedonian companies like those highlighted in this edi-tion. These companies have chosen their paths and made the investments needed to pursue their goals. It’s exciting to see market interactions drive transformation, and watch companies grow into stronger, more competitive global players.

USAID Macedonia Mission Director

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The Positioning Issue, February 2011

a specific technological capacity, a skill set within a workforce, an adjustment in product offerings, or the ability to offer a certain scale or level of ser-vice. Understanding areas where a company may position to excel, or fill critical gaps, is a crucial component of any market positioning strategy.

Roadmap to Improving Market PositioningArmed with an understanding of “where they are and where they want to go,” growth-oriented managers carry out market positioning strate-gies that tackle gaps or disadvantages, or move them closer to the require-ments of target customers, all the while in direct engagement with the market. Often, this involves building upon a company’s core competency to make a more attractive offer to po-tential customers. In most cases, such a market positioning strategy does not involve one solution, but rather a combination of investments in time, money and people. These include:

Market Engagement - Engaging the market is an absolute necessity for any company wishing to enhance its market positioning. It is foolhardy and very risky to assume customers will come to you. This requires in-vestments in marketing, trade shows, networking and business-to-business opportunities. This market engage-ment is not only important to build relationships with companies and get new orders, but also as a feedback mechanism to constantly inform or validate a company’s business strat-egy (e.g. market conditions, trends, requirements to target opportuni-ties and/or compete globally within a product/service segment).

Improving business and manage-ment practices - Too often, a com-pany with real promise is held back by weaknesses in management or pro-duction practices, which in turn in-hibit its ability to achieve higher pro-ductivity (i.e. lower costs) or provide better services (i.e. add value). Suc-cessful managers are always looking for such management deficiencies as

solving them is be a low-cost means to improve competitiveness or target new customers.

Investment in capacity, technology and services - Visionary managers recognize it is difficult to reposition or target new markets without mak-ing investments in new technologies, improvements quality or productiv-

ity, or retooling established capacity for a new product type. Growth may require investments in upgraded or expanded facilities, or in intangible assets, such as a new service (e.g. de-sign) or research and development to add value.

Building human capital - In most industries, competitiveness and prof-itability is determined large part by the quality of the workforce. New machines and production cannot be leveraged without adequate skills. Competitive companies make ongo-ing investments in human capital, not only in training, but also human re-source management and compensa-tion schemes that reflect the added value that come with upgraded skills.

Innovation - Widely recognized as an enabler for improving competi-tiveness through better products, business processes and efficiencies. Companies that adopt global inno-vations position themselves to stand toe–to-toe with competitors else-where, while internal innovations in production or product development offer opportunities for value addition and increases in profitability.

MCP: Offering Tools for RepositioningThe USAID Competitiveness Project offers services designed specifically to support dynamic export-oriented firms in Macedonia with the vision and desire to invest in their future goals, creating a link between the market and the steps needed to repo-sition. This includes a rigorous market linkage program to drive market en-gagement, support for companies ob-taining certifications to meet market requirements, a financial platform for investments in facilities, technology and working capital, and a workforce development program with a menu of options for companies to improve the competitiveness of their workers. Companies that have used these tools to reposition themselves are not only succeeding in their markets, but offer model business strategies for others to follow.

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x3x is well known in Macedo-nia as a leading visual effects and animation studio. In recent years,

the company has gained international acclaim after working on a number of Hollywood blockbusters, playing increasingly important roles in film-making processes and working with George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) visual effects and anima-tion studio.

The company’s first big break in Hol-lywood was doing visual effects for “The Aviator.” It has since developed a full feature animation film, received an Oscar for visual effects for “The Golden Compass” and worked on multiple scenes for “Terminator 4—Salvation.” fx3x is now working on a number of movies to be released shortly.

How did this company, which opened in 1997 to serve local markets, reach the point of working with the world’s leading movie studios? Much had to do with a management mindset fo-cused on adapting to, and anticipating changes in the market to ensure its place on the cutting edge of technol-ogy and the capabilities of its artists.

Restructuring for growth.As it grew from offering basic visual effects and animation services for the local market (e.g. advertisements) to more sophisticated services for Hol-lywood features, its management rec-ognized the need to change its oper-ating structure. “The competition for work in Hollywood is formidable,” says Kristijan Danilovski, owner of fx3x. “Sustaining one’s competitive-ness requires ongoing improvements in the way you operate.”

Since its inception, the company has gone through two restructurings. In 2003-2004, an industry consultant hired with USAID support developed a business plan to focus on the Hol-lywood visual weffects market, rath-er than serving multiple markets at once. It closed an office in Belgrade and invested in new technology and facilities in Skopje, supported in part by a USAID Global Development Al-

fx3x - Dynamic management to respond to market changes

liance (GDA) grant. This restructuring helped fx3x focus on the capabilities needed to land “The Aviator,” “The Golden Compass” and attract the at-tention of ILM.The company restructured again in 2008, when it became clear that fx3x “had reached a plateau, and needed a platform better suited for growth,” says Danilovski. This time, “industry from the U.S. played a critical role advising the management how to structure production, improve the workflow, assure quality and protect the intellectual property rights of cli-ents.” ILM also helped “build the skills of mid-level managers so communica-tions could be horizontal while main-taining a vertical chain of command.” ILM also helped fx3x install state-of-the-art technology to move into more sophisticated services.

“The restructuring process made sure that good client communications, re-liability and production quality are a given, allowing fx3x to stand by our word and image,” says Danilovski. “It required a lot of time to reach where we are today, but if we are to stay competitive in the market, the pro-cess will have to continue.”

Commitment to TrainingA robust internal training program also plays an important role in fx3x’s competitive strategy. “All free time is used for training,” says Danilovski. “Employees either train to get more efficient at regular tasks, or to build new skill sets. Training is important to for cost and quality competitive-ness, while building the capability to sell much higher-valued, more sophis-ticated services.”

fx3x has implemented intensive train-ing in order to expand. In 2009 and 2010, fx3x used MCP’s revolving training fund to train 45 animation and visual effects artists, 40 of whom were eventually offered full-time em-ployment. Training was customized to individual skills, focusing on those needed for new software and tech-nologies used in fx3x’s more demand-ing projects. Without this training, investments anwd recent technol-ogy transfer would have limited value. Danilovski notes that “While technol-ogy is the backbone of the business, our artists need to combine creativity and technical competency to maxi-mize its value.”

Danilovski says that the company will continue to orient itself for growth. fx3x aims to continue its strong rev-enue growth and grow to as many as 350 employees over five years, be-come of the top 10-15 players in the industry, operate as a Tier 1 vendor (i.e. contracted directly with a stu-dio, rather as a subcontractor), and contribute to longer film sequences. They also plan to be one of the first in their field to move into 3D stereo sequences. To achieve this, fx3x will continue to anticipate trends and build capacity to respond early on so they always stay ahead.

“Sustaining one’s competi-tiveness requires ongoing improvements in the way you operate…“….The restructuring process has made sure that good client communications, reliability and production quality are a given, allowing Fx3x to stand by their word and image…“…Training is important for cost and quality com-petitiveness, while building the capability to sell much higher valued, more sophis-ticated services.”

Kristijan Danilovski, owner of fx3x

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The Positioning Issue, February 2011

Demastil - Investments in Marketing and Licenses to Expand Markets and Customer Base

ased in Kriva Palanka, Demastil has been manufacturing plastic

toy balls for children, many with fun designs, for over 20 years. At first sight, one might expect these balls, made of rubber, leather and PVC plastic and produced in a variety of sizes and de-signs, to be made in China. Indeed, toys like balls could be considered a “commod-ity” with little opportunity for differentiation.

So then, how has Demastil not only survived for two decades, but actu-ally seen regular sales growth, even during the recent global recession?

A simple answer to this question is the forward-looking mindset of its management. Dejan and Zoran Si-monov, who took over their father’s business in 1997, follow a strategy that focuses on finding ways to con-sistently add value to their product offering and avoid the trappings of producing low-value products that could be made very cheaply in China.Initially, Demastil targeted the Mace-donian market. Over time, however, its management found that the mar-ket was too small to grow or even warrant continuing. “We faced a choice...” says Dejan, “either start exporting, or close the factory.”

From that point, Demastil initiated an upgrading process that continues today. In 2007, the company made a significant investment in its manu-facturing processes that improves the physical quality of balls and the quality and longevity of designs and prints that are painted on the balls. The new production process al-lowed them to offer balls that would not lose form or fade as quickly as competitor’s products, while at the same time achieving cost efficiencies.

Demastil recognized that efforts to upgrade production and quality needed to be accompanied by an ag-gressive export marketing strategy.

For the past decade, the company has attended multiple trade shows a year, primarily toy fairs in Hong Kong and Germany. While the trade fairs, which can cost the company more than $30,000 a year, are a consider-able expense, Dejan says that “with-out the fairs, we wouldn’t sell.”

Presently, 90% of their current busi-ness comes directly from trade show participation. In 2010 and 2011, De-mastil collaborated with MCP to enhance their show presence, shar-ing investments in upgraded exhibits and market research efforts, helping drive higher sales from the shows. Presently, Demastil exports to cus-tomers around the world who they met at the fairs.

The Simonov brothers see toy fairs not only as a chance to increase

sales, but also as an invest-ment in informing product development. In the toy industry, it is important to know what themes, design trends and types of balls are selling, and what may sell in the future. “We’ve used trade shows to help guide our product devel-opment on what we need to create for us to be competitive,” says Dejan.

While Desmatil has seen growing interest in the quality and design of its balls, interactions with current customers and new visitors revealed one more area where it could expand appeal for its products: licensing.

“Although people like our designs, there is a value in being able to create one’s own designs.” Many children [or the parents who buy their toys] are more interested in toys with fa-miliar images from cartoons, movies or other media. “So we at Demastil decided to respond to this trend and further expand our product line and customer base” by licensing images of characters such as Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, Super-man or Batman, Simonov said.

Demastil sees the production of li-censed balls as a necessary market-ing move, even if it does require sig-nificant investments in copyrights. In 2010, the company spent more than $90,000 on obtaining licenses for central Europe. However, the com-pany found regional licenses too re-strictive and have decided to negoti-ate global rights, even if there may be more competition and if the invest-ment in licenses are larger.

The move has paid off. After the vis-iting the 2010/2011 shows in Hong Kong and Germany, nearly 80 per-cent of sales come from balls with licensed images, with orders increas-ing 15-25 percent over previous years. After securing global rights to many of its licenses, Demastil ex-pects to see even stronger growth.

“Without trade fairs, we wouldn’t sell...“…We’ve used trade shows to help guide our product development on what we need to create for us to be competitive…“…Investing in licenses helps us expand our product line and customer base to grow.”

Dejan Simonov, co-owner of Demastil, Kriva Palananka

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Evergreen Energy – Offering Green Heating Options to Macedonian andInternational Markets

“We saw an opportunity to add value by offering our Italian clients a full package service and produce the en-tire stove units in Macedo-nia….”

“…we decided that we could capture more value inter-nally by developing our own supply chain for the produc-tion of the rough metal parts and carry out the higher val-ue operations in house”

Igor Vidovski, owner of Evergreen.

n May 2010, Ever-green Energy opened retail outlets to sell

the first wood pellet stoves made in Mace-donia. These stoves are an environmentally - friendly alternative to coal and oil heating, and the Evergreen Energy stove is an affordable option to imported models.

This story has humble beginnings. For years, Evergreen Energy has manufactured parts and components for the stove in-dustry. The Ohrid-based company started manufacturing rough metal casings for an Italian company who assembles and markets environmen-tally friendly pellet and wood stoves/boilers. Although Evergreen manag-ers considered producing parts for stoves a good business, “we saw an opportunity to add value by offer-ing our Italian clients a full package service and produce the entire stove units in Macedonia” says Igor Vidovs-ki, owner of Evergreen.

To achieve this objective, Evergreen needed to invest in the machines to produce the fine metal parts for the outside of the stoves. They worked with an MCP financial facilitator to develop a strategy with and invest-ment plan to upgrade technology and a develop internal systems to man-age more difficult production pro-cesses. As a result, the company was able lease new equipment and access a credit to purchase the raw mate-rial for producinmg a complete stove unit, quickly enabling the company to hire 29 new employees and expand export capacity by $500,000.

But Evergreen did not stop there. After developing the capability to de-velop 90 percent of the final stoves inside their own facilities, “we de-cided that we could capture more value internally by developing our own supply chain for the production of the rough metal parts and carry

out the higher value operations in house,” says Vidovski. Presently four Macedonian sub-contractors pro-duce the rough metal operations, and Evergreen focuses on the fine metal external parts and assembly. This role reversal not only increased profit-ability for the company, but also cre-ated backward linkages where more companies and workers are able to benefit from Evergreen Energy’s ex-panding business.

After gaining experience producing the entire stove for export, Ever-green Energy realized that there was an enormous opportunity to develop

and sell a product under their own brand, both for domestic and inter-national markets. With MCP assistance in mar-ket analyses, they devel-oped a network or dis-tributors and resellers in Macedonia and the region (Greece, Kosovo, Albania, Romania, Bul-garia, Croatia, Slovenia etc); worked to develop a reliable local supply of wood pellets to be sold alongside their stoves; and launched a sales strategy for marketing

their stoves under the “ECO SPAR” brand. As a result of these activities, they expect to sell 1,500 of their own stoves through the end of Win-ter 2011. Next they expect to open a showroom in Italy for exported stoves.

In the two years since MCP starting working with the company, Evergreen Energy has undergone a transforma-tion. With the new sales of their own product, and larger orders from their Italian clients, sales are expected to grow 100% percent between 2008 and 2011. Furthermore, with the opening of the showroom in Italy, Ev-ergreen will be able to diversify their export market so as not to rely on one external customer for export revenues.

In addition to achieving sales growth, the Evergreen story shows how a dynamic investment and product de-velopment strategy can lead to job creation. New business has not only increased employment within their own factory to 45 workers, but their outsourcing network support and pellet suppliers employ more than 25 additional workers. Once their brand gains traction, the company expects to employ up to 10 sales people. All the while helping improve the envi-ronment in Macedonia and elsewhere by providing a local, affordable, and environmentally cleaner heating al-ternative.

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The Positioning Issue, February 2011

TE-TE Plast— Pursuing automotive market through investments in marketing, technologies, systems and people

Five ways to avoid damaging your market positioning

Improving or maintaining your market positioning does not always require significant investments. Companies that wish to strengthen their competitiveness can avoid a number of simple mistakes that cause buyers to lose interest or can hurt the reputation of Macedonian companies—or even Macedonia itself as a sourcing location:

• Keep Up Communications—In a wired world, buyers expect timely responses regarding pricing, sampling, product specs, production, timing of delivery, and troubleshooting of issues. Buyers lose confidence in partners that are slow or unwilling to communicate and may even lose interest in sourcing from Macedonia. Respond to all emails and phone messages within 24 hours at the latest.

• Be Service-Minded—As buyers look to pass responsibility (or risk) down the chain, they look for suppliers with a mindset focused on service who proactively respond to the (often changing) needs of the customer. Buy-ers will avoid companies whose managers are disinclined to work with the buyer to find a solution, or worse, promise solutions and deliver none. Keep talking until you and the buyer agree on a solution—and then make it happen.

• Manage Quality Throughout—Aside from price, quality is a key success factor in remaining competitive, and an area where Macedonia could position itself compared to other locations. Good quality management affects potential and existing business, both in sampling—which can lead to orders—and in continuing business. Never relax on quality control, from your first contact with a buyer through multiple orders.

• ReduceCostandProductivityInefficiencies—Macedonia is a relatively low-cost location in Europe, but man-agement and production problems can negate any cost advantage. Even companies unable to afford upgrades in facilities or equipment can improve the efficiency of their systems or adopt work flow systems to make incremental or even large impacts on overall cost (and quality). Constantly evaluate your procedures for ways to streamline and simplify.

E-TE Plast started as a small company in the 1980s, with fewer than 10 employees, fo-

cused on the production of injected plastic pieces for the local market. Since then, the company has grown into a leading manufacturer of tools and moulds and serial production of plastic and metal parts for export customers in Germany and and wider Europe. Last year, its exports reached $2 milion, or 35% growth since 2009.

Since 2006, the company has imple-mented a business growth strategy focusing on the automotive compo-nents sector. “The automotive sector is an extremely dynamic industry,” says owner George Todorovski. “As automotive companies constantly in-troduce new models or features, they need ongoing development of parts.” This not only creates opportunities for series production, but also the design and construction of tools and moulds for serial production. Tool making is particularly attractive to

Todorovski as it is a high-value service based on engineering skill, innovation and technology. Some automotive clients have paid more than $25,000 for tools produced by TE-TE Plast, much of which included value-added engineering and assembly services. In some cases, TE-TE Plast constructs the tool for a specific part and then manufacturers the part, whereas in others, the tool is exported to an-other part manufacturer in Germany or another European location.

By offering engineering expertise, re-liability and quality, TE-TE Plast has found itself in a favorable position within the automotive industry, start-ing with smaller, simple parts, and moving into more complex parts with design and function value. This has been achieved by execution of a mul-tifaceted market positioning strategy, and a series of investments and initia-tives, some of them supported by the Competitiveness Project, including:

Continued on Page 8

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USAID Macedonia Competitiveness Project (MCP)Orce Nikolov 63, Skopje Macedonia

T +389 (0)2 3215 744F +389 (0)2 3215 492mk-info@carana.com

www.mcp.org.mk

This publication was produced by the USAID Competitiveness Project, with support from the United States Agency for International Development. The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of USAID and the

U.S. Government.

TE-TE Plast continued…..

Investments in technology: Since 2005, TE-TE Plast has made a push to build its technological capabilities, work-ing through MCP’s Financial Platform to finance over $2 million in state-of-the art tool making and injection moulding machinery that offer higher output and produce parts at higher

pressure. The company also invested in advanced CAD/CAM software to make sure the company can best use the sophisticated capacity of its equipment and add further value to customers. Todorovski says, “These purchases help TE-TE Plast compete at the same level as competitors any-where in Europe.”

Investments in management and qual-ity systems: Over the past three years, TE-TE Plast has built up manage-ment systems and processes needed for certification in ISO 1900 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (en-vironmental management) and has worked with MCP towards achieving certification in integrated manage-ment and the TS 16949 accreditation, which is specific to the automotive sector. While TE-TE Plast has invested in these certifications to meet cus-tomer requirements, Todorovski says that “by adopting these systems, we have become a more efficient and competitive company.”

Investments in marketing: TE-TE Plast’s management recognizes that they need to constantly interact with the market, both to find new customers and to keep up with the latest trends in product development, technology and production systems. TE-TE Plast’s marketing team participates in three to four trade fairs and two business-to-business events a year, often in col-laboration with MCP, GTZ and the Automotive Cluster of Macedonia. Although taking parts in these events is expensive, “if only one customer comes out of a trade fair, it will more than cover the costs” says Tomislav Zdravkovski, TE-TE Plast’s Sales Man-ager.

These efforts have raised the com-pany’s credibility and attracted new, higher value customers, to the extent that TE-TE Plast could reach full ca-pacity in the coming year. Neverthe-less, the company continues to look for ways to stay cutting edge and stay competitive.

USAID Macedonia Competitiveness Project (MCP): Who we are and what we do

The USAID Macedonia Competitiveness Project (MCP) is a five-year project, implemented by CARANA Corporation, that supports initiatives to stimulate foreign and domestic investment, capture higher value export markets, and gener-ate significant numbers of new jobs for Macedonia. MCP implements cost-effective, high-impact and market-oriented activities within an integrated approach that considers sector-specific issues as well those that affect Macedonia’s ability to achieve export-driven growth across sectors through market linkage activities, firm level upgrades, access to finance, workforce development, foreign investment and innovation.

MCP would like to express gratitude to Project partners for their generous contributions to Macedonia Competes:

Michael Fritz, USAID Macedonia Mission Director; Kristijan Danilovski, owner of fx3x; Dejan Simonov, co-owner of Demastil; Igor Vidovski, owner of Evergrin Enerdzi; George Todorovski, owner of TE-TE Plast and Tomislav Zdravkovski, Sales Manager at TE-TE Plast.

MCP would like to thank departing USAID Mission Director, Michael Fritz for his support to the Project, and welcomes to Macedonia the newly appointed Mission Director, Robert Wuertz, arriving in March.

“Investment in technology helps TE-TE Plast to com-pete at the same level as competitors anywhere in Europe……by adopting manage-ment systems (ISO 9001, TS 16949), we have become a more efficient and competi-tive company.”

George Todorovski, Owner of TE-TE Plast