Written by:

Beltrán Rivera María Laura

Morales Araujo Edith Verónica

MC. Karen Audelo

Cementos de México
                                                      
Cementos de México (CEMEX) is a global building materials company that provides high-
quality products, reliable service and solutions to satisfy the construction needs of their
customers and communities in more than 50 countries. They have a rich history of
improving the wellbeing of those they serve through innovative building solutions,
efficiency advancements, and efforts to promote a sustainable future.
CEMEX was founded in northern México, started to operate in 1906 with the opening of
the Cementos Hidalgo plant. And nowadays it has a global presence, it has located in
México, United States, Europe, Latin America and in Asian middle and Africa (AMEA). It
has 1561 ready-mix plants, 56 cement plants, 262 aggregates quarries, 7 grinding mills, 166
land distribution terminals, 57 cement terminals and 30 maritime terminals.

The chief executive officer (CEO) of the whole business is Fernando A. Gonzalez
thanks to all his experience. Since joining CEMEX in 1989, Fernando A. González has held
several senior management positions, including Corporate Vice President of Strategic
Planning, head of operations in Venezuela, President of CEMEX Asia, President of the
CEMEX South America and the Caribbean region, President of the CEMEX Europe,
Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia region, and Executive Vice President of Strategic
Planning, Finance and Administration (CFO). Fernando was appointed Chief Executive
Officer in 2014. He also serves in the Board of Directors of Grupo Cementos de
Chihuahua, Axtel, and Tecnologico de Monterrey’s Business School. He earned his BA in
Administration and an MBA, both from Tecnologico de Monterrey.
 

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 Some of the products CEMEX provide are cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete
that is a composite consisting of the following main constituents: cement, aggregates,
water, and admixtures. Also they have asphalt, concrete block, roof tiles, architectural
products, pipe and other precast products as concrete floors, box culverts, barriers, bridges
and parking curbs. CEMEX´s global trading network is one of the largest and most widely
recognized in the industry. It is supported by a worldwide network of strategically located
marine terminals and strong relationships with reliable suppliers and shippers. It has lasting
relationship with more than 100 nations. Their trading network is vast and covers almost
every continent, the majority of their exports are for USA and South America, but they also
have operations in Europe and Asia.
 
As a result of this coverage, they sell to and trade with clients on every major
continent. The main products they export are: gray cement and clinker that is the main
ingredient of ready-mix concrete and they provide it whether in bags, big bags, or in bulk.
Also white cement and clinker, CEMEX is one of the world's largest producers of White
Portland Cement and they provide it in the same way as the white cement. Another product
is granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and is a by-product of the steel industry that
provides specific characteristics to ready-mix concrete; among other properties, it improves
workability, increases resistance to aggressive chemicals, and lowers heat of hydration.
They also export special mortars, CEMEX offers a wide range of them that complement
their construction materials portfolio. And other products such as gypsum and fly ash that
complement global requirements for construction materials.
 
The key figures of the company are: annual sales of US$13.7 billion and Earnings
Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) of US$ 2.6 billion in
2017, One of the leaders in each of our core businesses: cement, ready-mix concrete, and
aggregates. Sales distribution by product on percentage are 45% on cement, 39% ready-
mix, and 16% aggregates. Presence in more than 50 countries across the Americas, the
Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and the sales distribution by region
on percentage are 28% on United States, 25% on Europe, 22% on Mexico, 13% on South,
Central America and the Caribbean and 12% on Asia, Middle East and Africa in

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accordance with data as of december 31, 2017. Trade relationships in more than 100
nations and one of the world’s top traders of cement and clinker. More than 40,000
employees worldwide.
 
As the company born in Mexico, there is where the challenges first started, with the
opening of the country in the end of the decade of 1980, bigger companies like Holderbank
and Lafarge saw Mexico as a possible market to expand their operations. To face that
challenge, CEMEX decided to unifique its operations, and in 1987 acquired "Cementos
Anahuac" giving to the company the access to the central mexican market and adding up to
CEMEX the capacity of exportation with the addition of two plants and four millions of
tons of capacity. 2 years later, the addition of "cementos tolteca", the second biggest
producer of seven new plants and 6.6 millions of tons of capacity, turned CEMEX into the
biggest producer of Mexico. This fusions, that costed CEMEX almost $1.000 millions,
assured its position in the national territory and given it the size and the financial sources to
started the process of geographical expansion.
 
The process of identifying new opportunities for CEMEX was growing so fast, so it
had to develop better tools to identify and analyze the opportunities, according with it
entering to new distant markets; likewise, it identified various factors to decide to invest in
other countries. A country had to have a big population and a growth on its population too,
as well as relatively low level of the current consumption. The company only markets with
countries where it finds to be the potential leader of the market or at least having the control
of 25% of this. This considerations tended to favor opportunities on emergent countries.
They assigned a weight of 65% to the quantitative factors in the country analysis and the
qualitative factors, such as the political risk, had a weight of 35%.
 
 

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References

CEMEX. (2017). Company Profile. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from

https://www.cemex.com/about-us/company-profile

CEMEX. (2017). Products. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from

https://www.cemex.com/products-services/products/cement

CEMEX. (2017). Trading. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from

https://www.cemex.com/products-services/trading

CEMEX. (2017). Our history. Retrieved April 7, 2018, from

https://www.cemex.com/about-us/our-history

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https://www.cemex.com/about-us/management-team

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Pankaj Ghemawat, P. G. (2002, February). International expansion. Retrieved April 7,

2018, from http://www.usmp.edu.pe/recursoshumanos/pdf/Caso-CEMEX.pdf