Brexit Case Study: Zunsport
Zunsport
This case study is part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Brexit toolkit. Our Business Brexit Toolkit sets out suggestions for how businesses can get “Brexit ready”, facts and stats on Brexit and the region’s relationship with the EU and our asks for stakeholders on both Brexit negotiations and the domestic policy changes that businesses need to thrive. For more information click here.
As soon as it was announced that there would be a referendum on whether Britain would remain within the European Union or Leave we knew that, regardless of the result, things would be changing.
What we didn’t know was how? And, by how much? Even if the decision was to Remain then Britain’s relationship with the EU, even if through the other sovereign states attitudes towards the UK, would inevitably change and if we left then Brave New World? Either way, Zunsport decided that to do nothing was not an option. We had a business to grow and we could not let uncertainty, or a change of business environment, deflect us from that ambition.
In retrospect the decisions that we took we would have taken anyway, but we examined our Value Chain (from Soup to Nuts) and identified the areas that carried the most risk, or the most opportunity. We took the pragmatic stance of knowing that the pathway was out of our hands; whatever was going to happen would happen and we had to be in a position where we had options.
On the supply side we repatriated the supplies of our materials and put as much expense as possible into £s. Currency fluctuations on the cost side would create more headaches than bearing a predictable, minor, cost inflation. On the demand side we created our own International Trade Strategy and set about having our website available in different languages, talking to our customers in their terms (trunk and not boot), and responding to their ways of making a purchase.
We are now two years down the track from when we started and not very much clearer on the outcome for BREXIT with another year to run and then a transition period. What business can wait that long?
Garry Smith, Communications and Marketing, Zunsport
Zunsport is a family run business (three generations) operating from its specialist facility in Norton Canes. Established in 2007, having evolved from a general engineering provider, Zunsport is the world’s premier stainless steel wire mesh car grille brand; designing, manufacturing and selling After-Market and Original Equipment grilles for motor vehicles.
Click here to access the Chamber's Brexit Toolkit.