Electrical Industry Roundtable 2014 - 7

Roundtable Discussion
JOHN KERR: Let's get started...let's fi rst move to John Sencich to start
the conversation.
It's the whole issue of globalization-all of a sudden, out of the blue-
we get a corporate giant in ABB buying T&B. We get the context of
that...we take a look at a lot of our electrical wholesaler partners in the
marketplace-the customers we're selling to and the companies we're
competing against. Also, the people that are serving the end-user in this
country-they've got global roots. What do you think the implication of
that is opposite Canada? Is globalization a good thing or a bad thing?
JOHN SENCICH: Well, I think the whole concept of globalization has
been going on for a long time. We've all said, at one time or another that
the world is getting smaller. Now, with multi-nationals coming together,
there are advantages and disadvantages. If you think about the transfer
of technology and the ability to develop products in different parts of
the world and then transport those products into another geography, this
results in an expanded capability to bring products to market quickly. It
raises the whole level of manufacturer innovation
and increases the speed at which manufacturers can
reach their customers.
The issue that I see with globalization for manu
facturers and distributors, is that we see numerous
offshore manufacturers that want to enter the
marketplace-and because the world has become
so much smaller with the advent of the Internet,
where somebody can source any product they
want, anywhere in the world-all of a sudden, our
world has shrunk down to just a click of a button.
And that in itself is dangerous. As long as we have
manufacturers who stand behind their products,
distributors who are supporting those manufacturers
and qualifi ed reps who are representing the manufacturers, we know
that our customer base will be well-served because they will get the right
products to serve their needs.
But with the globalization strategy, you could have customers that
might buy a whole container load of product from who-knows-where
in the world. These products may not necessarily have the required
support. All of a sudden, you have product on our shores that gets
installed and may not meet the customer's requirements or for that
Jean-Sebastien Bercier, Steve
Branscombe, David Syer.
Canadian Electrical Wholesaler JUNE 2014
7
Electrical Industry Roundtable 2014

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