Page 56 - Countertrade

As the market for industrial lighting dried up he decided to change to the
production of domestic lighting and to widen the product range as rapidly
as possible. There was in the enterprise no experience in the production of
domestic lighting. His aim was to develop a niche in the market that could
be exploited. He observed:

"I had seen other plants lose their market outlets and fail. Ours
was an intuitive decision to choose this product. Perhaps it
was an amateur approach but it allowed us the time to develop
the courage to tackle the problem."

A problem of which they became aware was that growth brings its own
problems. There was difficulty in increasing production in a period of
inflation. Weak spots regularly appeared in both finance and production.
The enterprise outgrew its structure. Originally it had only two workshops
and centralised control. In 1995 it had seven workshops, five sections and
five independent enterprises and the prospect of a further five.

A clear manifestation of the turmoil created by the events of 1993 was the
financial bottleneck that developed.