Zest: A Driving Force in Motors

Every successful company has to reinvent itself
- James Blakemore, CEO: Zest Group

Johannesburg-based Zest, well respected in the electric motor industry, was the only distributor of WEG motors throughout southern Africa. In 2001, its chief executive officer (CEO), James Blakemore, added variable speed drives (VSDs) to the product portfolio and, by 2009, Zest had become the fourth-biggest player in the local drives market. Now, in July 2009, Blakemore pondered his options. Should he focus on increasing market share and boosting sales? Or had the time come to diversify once more? Perhaps, he wondered, he could look at the portable generator set market. On the other hand, being strong in drives, he was tempted to expand into control systems, which would add significant value to his current product offering. He knew, though, that that would mean competing with customers, thereby jeopardising the relationships he had so carefully built up over the years.

Case is relevant to the following topics: B2B marketing, marketing strategy, entrepreneurship.

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