| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 20, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- LATIN AMERICAN COVER STORY
A Microscope Maker Takes a Global View (int'l edition) Oscar Rossbach is living proof that Mexico's 1994 devaluation had an upside. Thanks to a weaker peso, his family's microscope manufacturer, Microscopios, now exports just over half of its production to 22 countries, competing against the likes of Carl Zeiss Oberkochen of Germany and Olympus of Japan. The Mexican government recently named the company the best small exporter of 1999. So why does Rossbach want Mexico's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to be voted out of office next year? It's the only way for Mexico to shed the corruption that plagues it, he says. Rossbach plans to vote for Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the left-of-center Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the July 2000 presidential election. ''He's the only decent leader in this country,'' says Rossbach, who likes Cardenas' plans to spend more to combat poverty. Even though he's had it with the PRI, Rossbach can still muster faint words of praise for President Ernesto Zedillo. He's a ''well-intentioned man,'' he says, who has done his best to repair the damage inflicted by the '94 devaluation. Moreover, Rossbach, 43, believes Mexico can avoid a financial crisis in 2000. ''It looks as if, for the first time in my adult life, the economy isn't going to take a hit the way it has in other presidential transitions,'' he says. The 1994 peso crash was tough on Microscopios. Its biggest customer, the government, slashed spending for schools and hospitals. Sales fell 39% in 1995, to $1.8 million, and Rossbach laid off a third of his workforce. Back then, Microscopios was exporting about 35% of its output, mainly to Latin America. A marketing push led to big new contracts from Germany and Malaysia. Today, the company is back up to 180 employees and has annual sales of $5 million. NEXT CHALLENGE. To protect itself against another downturn, Microscopios keeps a large inventory of parts. It also shuns floating-rate bank loans. Rossbach relies on government-subsidized export financing, with annual rates of 10%. ''But that still leaves us at a disadvantage compared with our German and Japanese competitors, who enjoy 6% or lower financing,'' he notes. The next challenge for Rossbach is cracking the huge U.S. market. Americans ''don't think we are capable of manufacturing decent microscopes,'' he says. He hopes to prove them wrong, using the Internet to advertise and sell his products. By Geri Smith in Mexico City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 RELATED ITEMS Mexico: Breaking the Curse (int'l edition) LATIN AMERICAN COVER IMAGE: Mexico: Breaking the Curse TABLE: Mexico: Then and Now TABLE: What Could Still Shake Mexico's Financial Stability A Microscope Maker Takes a Global View (int'l edition) ``Why Did They Have to Mess It All Up?'' (int'l edition) ONLINE ORIGINAL: Gurria: Toward Democratic Normality ONLINE ORIGINAL: Mexico's Central Banker: ``It Doesn't Matter Who Wins'' INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
