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The Problems Faced By The Copper Mining Industry

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The Problems Faced by MCM
Midwest Copper Mining’s (MCM) biggest problem they are facing is that of sustaining supportable profit growth, as the undercurrents of the copper mining industry are changing. In particular, they need to figure out how they are going to increase their capacity to meet demands globally. They also need to figure out how to do this without disrupting the current culture of the business. They have been very successful and have created process and procedures that have kept them sustainable over the years. With the changing of the copper industry, MCM needs to re-evaluate their business strategy, make changes as necessary, in order to continue to be a successful company that is both a cost-leader and a differentiator. …show more content…

This could lead to a huge price war within the industry. This is why it is important for MCM to remain on the leading edge of technology and engineering.

Internal Factors Affecting MCM

Despite the many external factors that affect MCM, they have many strengths that make them a strong competitor in the market. MCM has managed to hire some of the world’s best mining engineers. This allows them to maintain the knowledge that is best and most effective when mine the copper. Additionally, these engineers have developed patented processes for extracting and refining the copper that no other competitor has yet to match. As long as MCM is able to continue to hire these types of employees and stay on top of technology, this is a competitive advantage for them. Tacit knowledge is another strength of MCM. They hire strong and skilled employees, and incorporate on the job training to further the employees’ learning. The experience of the employees and the processes utilized by MCM has allowed them to minimize waste and pollution through their refining and mining processes. With more and more concern about the environment globally, this also puts MCM at an advantage over the competitors. Being a small player in the copper industry, is both an advantage and disadvantage for MCM. They are able to do co-locations with customers that are local, which provides a value-added feature for the customer; often, shipping can be a heavy

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