A LATIN AMERICAN COMPANY START UP: INTEL IN COSTA RICA by Ehab Ahmed Abusabha

A LATIN AMERICAN COMPANY START UP: INTEL IN COSTA RICA
Study Research by Ehab A Abusabha
University of Wollongong in Dubai



Table of Contents
PART 1. PRE CASE RESEARCH 4
1.0 ABOUT COSTA RICA 4
1.1 ECONOMY OF COSTA RICA 4
1.1.1 STATISTICS 5
2.0 ABOUT INTEL CORPORATION 7
2.1 STRENGTHS OF INTEL 8
2.2 WEAKNESSES 9
3.0 THE FIVE FORCE FRAMEWORK 9
3.1THE THREAT OF ENTRY 10
3.2 THE THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES 10
3.3 THE POWER OF BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS 11
3.4 COMPETITIVE RIVALRIES 12
5.0 SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 13
6.0 PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE 13
PART 2. STRATEGIC/BUSINESS PLAN 15
7.0 STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN 16
7.1 APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW CEO FOR THE COSTA RICA FACTORY 16
7.2 FAST TRACKING THE INTEGRATION OF TICOS INTO THE INTEL CORPORATION CULTURE 16
Staff Retention & Compensation Strategy 16
Motivation & Performance Strategy 17
7.3 THE IDENTIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION LOCAL MANAGEMENT TEAM 18
Staffing & Recruitment Strategies 18
8.0 PLAN CHART 20
List of Activities: Error! Bookmark not defined.
9.0 CONCLUSION 22
10.0 REFERENCES 23






Part 1. Pre case Research
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1.0 About Costa Rica

Costa Rica is located in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua, Panama & Caribbean Sea. Costa Rica comprises of many islands & has some lakes of which the largest one is lake Arenal.
Costa Rica is a democratic republic with a strong constitution. It is seen as one of the most stable countries in Latin America. Costa Rica has avoided the violence which has plagued Central America; it is seen as an example of political stability in the region which had made Intel to come to Costa Rica, and is referred to as the "Switzerland of the Americas". (Wikipedia,2005 ’History of Costa Rica’.)
1.1 Economy of Costa Rica

Costa Rica's has a stable economy which depends on tourism, agriculture, and electronics exports. Costa Rica has very good cultivate land which produces coffee & banana It has the second biggest GDP per capita of Latin America. In the past 15 years poverty has been reduced and a strong social safety net has been put into place. In past few years software development has the main business. Costa Rica's location in the Central American provides easy access to American markets as it has the same time zone as the central part of the United States and direct ocean access to Europe and Asia. (Wikipedia, 2005 ’Economy of Costa Rica’).
The economy has been growing for Costa Rica because of the implementation of Government plan of expansion in the high tech industry. The investors who are willing to establish themselves are exempted from tax by the central government, which provides an open opportunity for trade and also education system has also improved in this country with time & illiteracy rate has decreased. Costa Rica also exports electricity to Central America and has the potential to become a major electricity exporter if it plans for new generating plants and a regional distribution grid are created. (Wikipedia,2005 ’Economy of Costa Rica’. )
After few instability in the economy & then during the period of 90s economical growth was steady although in 1995 there was a decline which bowed towards negativity in 1996. Health per capita was maintained in 90`s. The exports increased during this decade
1.1.1 Statistics
Area: 51,100 sq km (19,652 sq ml)
Population: 3.59 m.
GDP: purchasing power parity—$24 billion (1998 est.)
GDP—real growth rate: 5.5% (1998 est.)
GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$6,700 (1998 est.)
GDP—composition by sector:
agriculture: 15%
industry: 24%
services: 61% (1997)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.3%
highest 10%: 34.7% (1996)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12% (1998 est.)
Labor force: 868,300
Labor force—by occupation: industry and commerce 23.3%, government and services 55.1%, agriculture 21.6% (1996 est.)
Unemployment rate: 5.6% (1998 est.); much underemployment
Budget:
revenues: $1.1 billion
expenditures: $1.34 billion, including capital expenditures of $110 million (1991 est.)
Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
Industrial production growth rate: 10.5% (1992)
Electricity—production: 4.785 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—production by source:
fossil fuel: 14.11%
hydro: 75.44%
nuclear: 0%
other: 10.45% (1996)
Electricity—consumption: 4.931 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity—exports: 44 million kWh (1996)
Electricity—imports: 190 million kWh (1996)
Agriculture—products: coffee, bananas, sugar, corn, rice, beans, potatoes; beef; timber
Exports: $3.9 billion (f.o.b., 1998)
Exports—commodities: manufactured products, coffee, bananas, textiles, sugar (1997)
Exports—partners: US, Benelux, Germany, Italy, Guatemala, El Salvador, Netherlands, UK, France (1997)
Imports: $4.5 billion (c.i.f., 1998)
Imports—commodities: raw materials, consumer goods, capital equipment, petroleum (1997)
Imports—partners: US, Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala, Germany (1997)
Debt—external: $3.2 billion (October 1996 est.)
Economic aid—recipient: $107.1 million (1995)
Currency: 1 Costa Rican colon (C) = 100 centimos
Exchange rates: Costa Rican colones (C) per US$1—272.58 (January 1999), 257.23 (1998), 232.60 (1997), 207.69 (1996), 179.73 (1995), 157.07 (1994)
Fiscal year: calendar year
[Source: Photius Coutsoukis, 1999 ]




2.0 About Intel Corporation

In 1968 there were three engineers from Fairchild Semiconductor who created Intel in Mountain View, California, to develop technology for silicon-based chips. The group of three consisted of Robert Noyce , Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove.
Intel initially provided computer memory chips such as DRAMs and EPROMs. The electronic Industry was revolutionized by these chip design success.. In 1979 Moore had become Intel's chairman. When Intel's 8088 chip was chosen for IBM's PC in 1981, Intel had secured its place as the microcomputer standard-setter. (Hoovers,2005,’Intel Corporation’)
Intel was forced out of DRAM market in 1985 by the Cutthroat pricing of Japanese competitors; in a breathtaking strategy shift which has become the subject of countless business school case studies, the company refocused on microprocessors. Intel licensed its 286 chip technology to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and others to create an industry standard. Reacting to AMD's escalating market share , Intel fiercely protected the technology of its 386 and 486 chips; AMD sued for breach of contract. (Hoovers,2005,’Intel Corporation’)
In 1995 many microcode suits were settled by Intel and AMD. AMD got the code license and Intel won $58 million in damages. Rather than fight an accusation from Digital Equipment that Intel stole its technology to develop the Pentium, Intel bought Digital's semiconductor operations.
In 1998 Grove handed the CEO reins to President Craig Barrett; Grove replaced Moore as chairman, while Moore became chairman emeritus.
Intel’s operational overview includes Manufacturing, Research and Development, and e-Business. As the leader in silicon process technology and high volume silicon manufacturing, Intel serves this desire at virtually every level, providing the building blocks of the Internet economy and assisting to archaic computing, communications and wireless information technologies. Intel is managing advanced research to prevail over technical barriers so they will not obstruct the company's future manufacturing and product plans. Intel operates everything online, from order processing to materials (Hoovers,2005,’Intel Corporation’)
2.1 Strengths of Intel
Intel with its strength continues to transform the way people work, learn & communicate.
• Manufacturing and Technology Leadership
With leading-edge manufacturing technologies, Intel improves its chip designing for better performance & it benefits from significant product performance and cost advantages.
• Architecture/Platforms
Intel always designs products with end users in mind, thus delivering platforms with full sets of technology ingredients for end users.
• Ecosystem Development
By investing in the development of complementary technologies and research Intel helps bring the digital transformation to more people and also in friendly usage.
• Global Presence
Intel has its offices or factories in close to 50 countries this makes it to address the unique needs of local markets worldwide.
• Intel’s brand
Intel has strong branding system. Intel still continue to invest in branding programs that help build a strong preference for Intel® products, Intel inside brand is the famous & now it is know as Intel leap ahead.
• Corporate Excellence
Intel’s ongoing commitment to good corporate citizenship and ethical business principles contribute to its success. ( Intel,.2006,‘Intel Strengths’.)
2.2 Weaknesses
Some of the weaknesses are its high cost of Research and Development. But it still needs to keep update itself with new demands of the consumers, which increases the cost of Research and Development, if it fail to do so, competitor may take over the majority market share, resulting in liquidation of the Intel corporation, so its necessary to have better infrastructure for research & development. ( Leslie P Norton,2003,‘oh mother’)
Intel sales are also dependent on motherboard manufacturing. Prediction of demand and the ability to deliver enough machines to satisfy demand in a short period of time is also an issue.
Intel sale is dependent on other Pc manufacturers; any decrease in manufacturing of Pcs can result in a reduction in chip manufacturing which Intel must keep in mind.


3.0 The Five force framework

Figure 1: The Five force framework
Source: Adapted from M.E.Porter , Competitive strategy

3.1The Threat of Entry

The competition in Costa Rica becomes higher, when companies like Motorola, and Advanced Micro and Texas Instruments are entering the industry. New entrants might change major facts of the market place like market shares, prices, customer loyalty. always new direction to react are there and adjustment for existing major players in this market. The threat of new entries will depend on extra factor which there are threat to entry. Threat of new entrants will be bigger when Computers manufacture Processes are not restated by regulations, differences when compared licenses and permits are required to do business need to be protection from new entrants.
Customers might have brand loyalty to some other brand like Motorola which is well known in the market, you need to know that without strong brand loyalty as Intel has, a potential competitor Start-up costs are low for new businesses entering in Costa Rica . The bigger commitment needed in R&D and capital assets by Intel , the less chance to new competitors to enter the industry.

Microprocessor products provided are not unique, machine and the assets used to produce them are available in china with very competitive price ,which allow firms to enter semiconductor market .
Economies of scale are minimal. If there is little Intel improvement in efficiency as scale increases, other company sees the opportunity and try to entering a market if Intel not produce the large volume that cover the mark

3.2 The Threat of Substitutes

Industry substitutes different products and services that can be used by customer instead of using the Intel products, For example, Motorola processor substituting for a Intel Microprocessor. This can show evidence that different sectors are converging, there may be substitution of need by a new computer part as Intel microprocessor that produce,
However Intel believe that it will continue to flourish and the substitutes threats is invisible for them especially that’s only 10 % of the world’s population only is currently using the internet. According to a Saatchi & Saatchi survey, Latin American Internet use is expected to jump from 7 million users in 1997 to 34 million in 2000 which means more customer to computer field in general and to microprocessors and semiconductors specific industry . (M.E.Porter Competitive strategy).

3.3 The power of buyers and suppliers

There is two power can effect Intel which can be linked together. The relation with market buyers and sellers which might have similar force in constraining the long term plan for freedom of an Intel and which influencing the margins of that Intel.
Buyer force is likely to be high when some of the following conditions influence, there is a aggregation of buyers, especially if the volume purchases of the buyers are high where just a few suppliers dominate the market. The same with the Intel market where few players are dominating the industry, Intel is one of them. In addition there is supplying industry comprises a large number of small operators which Intel might not notice.
On the other hand there are alternative sources of supply ,supplier force is likely to be high when There is a concentration of suppliers rather than a fragmented source of supply ,The brand of the supplier is powerful - for example, a retailer might not be able to do without a particular brand. Intel is a strong brand name showed a success in many countries. There is the possibility of the supplier integrating forwards if it does not obtain the prices. (Porter, Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitor).

3.4 Competitive Rivalries

Many semiconductor market experience different levels of competitive rivalry. Competitive rivals are other company with the same products and services target at the same customer group. There are a number of semiconductor factors that affect competitive rivalry also the degree to which competitors are in balance capabilities. Where competitors are strong equal size also there is threat of intense competition as one competitor attempts dominance over another, in addition the less competitive markets tend to be those with dominant companies within them and the smaller players have accommodated themselves to this situation
"Concentration and Balance" in the microprocessor industry - There are four major competitors in this industry. In 1993, Intel accounted for 74% of the worldwide market; Motorola 8%; Advanced Micro Devices 6%; Texas Instruments 2%; and numerous competitors, each with less than 2% of the market, accounted for the remaining 10% of the global market. [Source: Dataquest] The trend in the number of competitors has been relatively stable, but the relative market share of the industry leaders is changing. ( e-competitors, Michael Porter's industry structure analysis).
Costa Rica Market growth rates may affect rivalry. The idea of the life cycle suggests that conditions in markets, primarily between growth stages and maturity, are important, not least in terms of competitive behavior. For example, in situations of market growth, an organization might expect to achieve its own growth through the growth in market place, whereas when markets are mature, this has to be achieved by taking market share from competitors. Intel is competing in a growing market , and it has to achieve it is market position through the growth of the microprocessor market (Porter, Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitor).
High fixed costs in an industry, which Intel built in Costa Rica , may result in price wars and very low-margin operations as capacity-fill becomes a prerogative.
Differentiation is one of the important issue, as expel Intel depend heavily in the quality as a source of differentiation in addition, exit barriers which Intel face in Costa Rica might be high because of different reasons. For example, high investment in non-transferable fixed assets and high redundancy costs.
5.0 Product life cycle
the market life cycle is short, just as research and development costs can be prohibitive in the break-neck pace of computer technology innovation


Figure2: Product life cycle (Exploring corporate strategy , Garry Johnson)


6.0 Source of competitive advantage

The high degrees of technical &education level are significant advantages. Its intent is to entice high tech corporations to take advantage of Central America's most educated, computer literate and disciplined work force, as well as creating a more modern production infrastructure.
Costa Rica was chosen because it offered important location-specific advantages. Among these, the most important ones were the already existing tax exemptions for any firms satisfying certain conditions under the free zone scheme, the high educational level of the labor force, a stable political scenario, and a relatively corruption-free environment. (Zorawar Singh, Intel in Costa Rica)
The process of making Intel executives aware of the advantages that Costa Rica
represented for the company was neither easy nor cheap in financial terms, though its cost effectiveness soon became evident. Intel’s decision process took more than one year, on the other hand two important issue explain Intel decision to move into Costa Rica As competitive advantage :first advantages the country offered—tax exemptions, good governance and institutional strength, and a highly educated labor force, among the top ones and the explicit and coordinated effort by the Costa Rican government to convince Intel that going to that country was the right decision (Felipe Larra A n,A Case Study of FDI in Central America).




Figure3 : Exploring corporate strategy (exploring corporate strategy , Garry Johnson)

Part 2. Strategic/Business Plan

Business Plan Introduction

Dear Head Office CEO,
After the major board of directors meeting which held on October 20th of 1997, and taking under consideration your directives on below matters:
Bringing home to USA the factory CEO .
Pushing back productions go live date by 4 months into the year after.
Reducing target ramp up 50% for all mid-term planning..
I had the below business strategic plan which I expressed the experience I had as Director of Strategic Human Resource in the company’s subsidiary in Cost Rica.
The level of Adoption and integration between the company’s cultures and local environment will shape the future strategies of the company.
Below is a summarized set of strategies towards future business plan in adapting intel’s culture with Ticos’ Culture. As we have to move fast and act smart with the strategies and plans pointed in below crucial plan.

Best Regards,
HR Director


7.0 Strategic Business Plan

I’ve introduced a group of solutions and plans for the Intel’s factory in Costa Rica in terms of Culture integration and adoption of the local labors. I took under consideration also the Staff with American background and Intel Head office mentality. Those changes aim to correct the existing HRMS problems faced by old CEO and take the firm to another level of implementing successful integration policies to meet the company’s targets.
7.1 Appointment of the new CEO for the Costa Rica Factory

Since the board has decided to appoint a new CEO, it is a matter that has I have given primary importance to. We will be transferring Mr. Marc Salvesen from our UK subsidiary to assume the duties of CEO at the new Costa Rica plant. Mr. Salvesen has proved himself in his various international tasks and assignments and would therefore make an ideal candidate for this post. In addition to that, the fact that he comes from Austria and has worked across many cultures gives him the ability to deal with the new Costa Rican low power distance culture better than any other candidates. I am confident that he will turn the face of the Costa Rican plant and make it a success like our other plants.

7.2 Fast tracking the integration of Ticos into the Intel corporation culture

Staff Retention & Compensation Strategy

As the Ticos’s Culture based on relationships between people. With a warmed family atmosphere, you have to give them ambitions to work hard under loyalty themes and team sprits eg. “One team, one Goal”. Staff in the cost Rican environment needs to feel that they are a part of a family.
• Staff Accommodation: Intel should start building group of compounds in different local areas with common service centers like garden yards, Post offices and medical centers. This will help the ticos to live the atmosphere of family firms with senior management with them having a larger family under Intel imperial.
• Medical Facilities: Under the idea of being caring oriented the company should offer medical insurance packages which will cover the employees themselves and their families and loved ones. As I mentioned in the centralized compounds there should be a 24 by 7 medical centers response to emergency cases.
• Allowances: rescue allowance should be innovated to employees interact directly with machines and materials.
• Education Facilities: As the location of the firm is too far from the central of the city we have tow options, first: building small schools which will be part of the compounds common services, which is costly but efficiently. The second option is to provide transportation to staff’s children to go to the nearest schools to the compound. Offering the staff’s children’s to have the opportunity to complete high studies as scholarship and work as senior staff in the planet will be a good future investment.
• Miscellaneous Facilities: There will be a gymnasium, swimming pool and sports ground within the compound to be used for staff team sports. The sports ground is to be also used for quarterly company picnics and companies day outs.

Motivation & Performance Strategy

For the company to improve the performance of individuals, you should spread the norms of exchanging ideas and experiences between individuals. This will increase the trends of having effective meetings. Courses should on effective meeting should be offered as a compulsory knowledge to all staff. The importance of time should be crucially highlighted to ticos as they enjoy flexible timings, emphasizing on the discipline system to be followed where entire team will be affected by an individual. This system cannot be flexible because the staff should realize the company’s strict discipline policy.
On the other hand Bounce system can be introduced to staff as a result of their overall yearly performance which could be weighted upon attendance, overtime, quality and quantity of work and additional self development skills.
Leaders of the groups will held the responsibility of setting targets and dead lines to their members, this will ease the integration of Intel practices to the ticos mindset
Experiences should be exchanged and meeting should be held regularly (every 1 month) between teams with higher performance to transfer the strength points to weak teams.
Cost Rican Culture respect status and individuals stayed away from individual challenges avoiding embarrassments. So Intel should offer constructive confrontation course compulsory to all staff. This will give more confident to individuals.
As a startup phase by the firm, staff complaints should be taken under consideration where complains boxes should be placed at various locations around the plant. Some of the major complaints should be announced in the local intranet by the HR manager.

7.3 The identification and development of the next generation local management team

Staffing & Recruitment Strategies

Qualified employees will be the skeleton of the new human resource assets in the firm, in order for us to do that Intel need to implement a flexible plan for recruiting skills.
As the startup date been postponed four months and the sales target been decreased to ½ million, this will give enough time to start recruiting 2000 employees and have enough training time frame before production.
Some of the recruitment and staffing techniques are discussed in details below.

• Selection
In the first phase the best policy to be applied is the Utilizer strategy which will deploys the human resources of the firm as efficiently as possible through. (Gray Oddou, P77, 200).
This means recruiting highly qualified and efficient skills from other firms to start the operation in Costa Rica and hold them for 6-10 months. Experienced skills could be transferred from our existing planets in Malaysia and Philippines. Some Ticos will be recruited as well based on their experience with semiconductors industry. Intel Head office will have to negotiate about cooperation with local educational institutes to supply the firm with fresh graduate trainees whom you can contract them with long term contracts.
• Training
As mentioned in the motivation and performance strategy, the staff will work and trained in groups to increase the collectivism norms in the planet.
Some of the major teams that can be implemented are SWAT Teams. Where the leaders will conduct training directly under the SWAT teams. The group leaders will then train the other members of their group. The SWAT team should be made aware of the situation in Costa Rican and what they can expect, before they leave for Costa Rica. This will save a lot of time once they are in Costa Rica.
Technology can be used to implement training to through the internet and through video conferencing. Interaction will be between co-workers and engineers in the malysian and Philippines firms and trainees.
Another effective training strategy is “Tandem Pairs” To balance the company’s belief of individual success and the Ticos value of group success. As an implementation of this strategy will be small groups of 10 as a beginning. The team leaders will be a tandem pair which has a Ticos and expatriates from other firms. The expatriates would be responsible for training and orienting the other members of the group into the Intel culture, practices and norms. The Tico in the pair will be responsible for monitoring the work of the other group members. After the first phase (18-20 months) the number of members in the group can be reduced in order to comply with the global Intel’s HR practices

8.0 Plan Chart

Months 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Tasks
Complete construction of common accommodation W W W W W W
Appoint Mr. Marc Salvesen from our UK subsidiary as our new CEO W W
Staff selection and recruitment W w w w
Formal training to new employees on Intel culture w w w
Selection of SWAT team and making them aware of the situation in the Costa Rican plant. W W W
SWAT team arrives in Costa Rica and starts preparation for the training for employees. W W
SWAT team trains the Intel employees. W W W W W W W
Employees are grouped with tandem pairs as leaders. The grouping is done depending on the abilities as governed from the one month of training. W W
Intranet and video conferencing is installed and employees are familiarized with them. W W W
Targets are set for each group. W W W
Full steam ahead operations at full capacity. The SWAT teams still available on site W W W W W



9.0 Conclusion



Intel selection of Costa Rica is not at all a wrong decision, Costa Rica had improved a lot from its past in terms of economy, education, trade which had attracted Foreign Direct Investment. This will also bring more benefits to Costa Rica’s long term Goals; they have picked targets carefully and picked their battles wisely which brought huge investment into their soil. This is going to bring long term Benefits in the development in the time to come.
As in the case of any foreign direct investment, integrating the country and the corporate culture is the primary task in the Costa Rican site. The cultural differences will certainly pose a problem and will be a major hindrance to our set time frame. The important thing is to minimize the obstacles that occur. Intel in Costa Rica should as far as possible follow the practices of Intel global. But there should be provisions for flexibility. By considering the culture of the Ticos and integrating into the corporate culture, Intel is rewarded with a long term dedicated workforce. As the Ticos adapt to the Intel culture some of the start up practices can be slowly phased out. The primary concern at this point is to build up our Costa Rican plant to match the outputs of our existing plants world wide. This cannot be done without applying the strategies mentioned above.











10.0 References
1. Barshefsky, Charlene. 2001. "Trade Policy for a Networked World." Foreign Affairs. March/April 2001.
2. Bremner, B. and Ihlwan, M. "Intel Struggling in Cost Rica." Business Week. 25 September 2000.
3. Evans, P. and Wurster, T.. Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy. Harvard Business School Press, 2000.
4. Davidson, William. The location of foreign direct investment activity: Country characteristics and experience effects. Journal of International Business Studies, US, 1980.

5. Mendenhall, M & Oddou, G. Readings and Cases in International Human Resource Management, Third Edition, South-Western College Publishing, 2000.

6. Muralidharan, Raman & Arvind Phatak.. International R&D Activity of US MNCs: an empirical study with implications for host government policy. Multinational Business review, US, 1999.

7. Meyanathan, S. D. Industrial Structures and the Development of Small and Medium Enterprise Linkages.Washington D.C, US, 1994.

8. Spar, D. “Attracting High Technology Investment:Intel’s Costa Rican Plant.” Foreign Investment Advisory Service Occasional Paper 11. Washington.D.C,US, 1998.

Electronic Resources



9. Hoovers,2005,’Intel Corporation’ Available: http://cobrands.hoovers.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au:2048/global/cobrands/proquest/history.xhtml?COID=13787, [Accessed: 26 Feb 2006]

10. Leslie P Norton,2003,‘oh mother’, Available: http://www.smartmoney.com/barrons/index.cfm?story=20030602 [Accessed: 26 Feb, 2006]

11. Intel.2006,‘Intel Strengths’,Available: www.intel.com, [Accessed: 26 Feb 2006]

12. ICRT (International Campaign for Responsible Technology). 1999. "Costa Rica Lures Intel and Microsoft." [http://www.svtc.org/listserv/leter12a.htm ]. 6 February 2001.
13. Photius Coutsoukis,1999,‘Photius Coutsoukis’,
14. Available:http://www.photius.com/wfb1999/costa_rica/costa_rica_economy.html [Accessed 26 Feb 2006]

15. Wikipedia, 2005 ’History of Costa Rica’. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica [Accessed 26,Feb,2006]