My last corporate project launched the first mobile product delivered to a Brazil local market for Compaq Computer Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) in 2000. Pulling together a team comprised of third-party Taiwanese suppliers, ego-centric American product developers, proud Brazilian engineers and factory planners, a patriarchal Brazilian sales force and reporting to a Mexican national executive, we began the arduous task of building the first branded laptop in the country.
Brazil has one of the most complicated taxing structures in the world,
raising the street price on laptops by more than US $1000. All components were
historically manufactured and assembled into finished products by a third-party
vendor in Taiwan, a role they were invested in retaining in full. The goal was
to buy unassembled components and ship to our factory for build; a role the
Brazilians felt was their overdue right. Spanning twelve-hour time differences,
four primary languages, and three continents, we succeed in bringing a
Brazilian-built laptop to the retail market on schedule.
I am largely missing from the story above, yet the project would not
have happened without me. Pregnant at 29, I certainly was not doing the
heavy lifting to make this project a success. However, I had invested years
into the relationships with all of the key players and was instrumental in keeping
the team communicating and moving forward.
The project delivered incremental revenue of US
$6.4m and gross margin dollars over US $1.8m (39% GM) in the first quarter. The
proud Taiwanese crew sent a smiling photo of them wearing the team shirts
emblazoned with the Brazilian flag. I was on maternity leave before market
share figures were published. The day my son was born ten positions were added
to our three-person department.
That's an amazing story!
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