Copper business is definitely a commodity business, commodity business is run by very few and simply dynamics but among all of them is the PRICE and AVAILABILITY of copper as row material are the main negotiating variables?
And what about the differentiation in cables sector?
Cables are mainly made by copper and compounds which are commodities and being low added value products, we need to differentiate them as much as possible.
Are you a PRODUCER? Or a DISTRIBUTOR? are you a BROKER? or eventually an AGENT? or whoever you are trough the supply chain and till the end consumer cables need to be differentiated.
We can talk about intrinsic or extrinsic differentiation, with the intrinsic differentiation relates to the cables themselves and extrinsic to other proxy surrounding the cable like SERVICE, AVAILABILITY, DELIVERY and PRODUCTION Priorities.
and eventually… how can we differentiate?
Pretty simple you have to create a Product out of a commodity by adding SERVICES and therefore VALUE.
It is a like FLIGHTS (Ryanair) and Emirates. Both companies are profitable, but their business model is definitely different. One tries with success to achieve the PRICE leadership (no services and for additional services you have to pay) and the second one is differentiation by adding BUSINESS CLASSES SERVICES, TOP PREMIUM Services (priorities services) either on the aircrafts and on the ground.