Research Paper on:
Entering the Cuban Cigar Industry

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
scenario is that an individual has interest in entering the Cuban cigar industry and has particular interest in assessing two of Porters five forces, the bargaining power of suppliers and  customers. There are many artificial barriers in this industry, but there also are opportunities. Current Situation As a result of the long-standing  political feud between the United States and Fidel Castro, importing Cuban cigars into the US remains an illegal activity. Tobacco stores throughout the country sell "legal" Cubans, but what  that means is that the cigars are assembled by Cuban expatriates either with or without the use of Cuban-grown tobacco. The rest of  the world has no such difficulty with political ideology, however. Cuba has about 50 cigar-manufacturers in the country (Fletcher, 2000). The largest of these, UNETA and Habanos, doggedly  cling to production goals of about 150 million cigars annually, only a small percentage of which are the "renowned big calibre torpedo-shaped brands such as Montecristo No 2s, Cohiba Robustos  and Romeo y Julieta Belicosos" (Fletcher, 2000; p. 18). At the end of 2004, Cuban manufacturer "Habanos says it holds about 70% of  the global market outside the U.S." (Flannery, 2004; p. 51). Habanos primary international focus at present is, of course, China. The two countries shared many similarities in the  1960s, but China has been able to progress much more economically than has Cuba. The Chinese are heavy cigarette smokers, and Habanos seeks to develop at least some of  those smokers into cigar smokers as well. The problem that Habanos faces is that the cigar it would most like to promote, its