News
Issue No. 65 - June/July 2012
Kelly grows with South America sales
Agricultural machinery manufacturer, Kelly Engineering has underpinned export to North America with a sound currency hedging strategy and protection of its intellectual property. S
et to make the South Australian company’s first sale in Central America (Costa Rica), CEO Shane Kelly is guided by lessons from selling his light tillage and harrowing products to North American farmers.
“When we started exporting in 2008, we put in place a hedging strategy that provided us with a stable platform to set the right price to sell our machinery. Had we not been disciplined in following that strategy, and keeping in close touch with the banks, we would be out of business,” Shane says. I
n early forays to the USA the 2010 Telstra Australian Business Awards Regional Business of the Year learned the importance of IP protection – an area where almost a quarter of entrants in last year’s Awards weren’t confident that they had adequate coverage.
Kelly Engineering, a family business and the biggest employer in Booleroo Centre, has grown its presence in the US to five local marketing representatives and manufacturing under licence agreements.
“We went to the States without appropriate protection. Having IP protection also helps if you want to form relationships with dealers that will act with confidence on your behalf and go that extra step. They don’t want to create a market for something that doesn’t have IP protection,” Shane says.
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