Afghanistan Marble Research

Afghanistans MarbleIndustry Competitiveness
January
2009
MBA dissertationssssssss By MirA.RahimYahya
This dissertation paper has been prepared part of the mandatory MBA program assignments at Robert Kennedy College (RKC) /University of Wales (UoW), U.K. It describes and analyzes using the Porters Diamond analysis modelcompetitive status of marble industry in Afghanistan and recommends ways to improve productivity in the industry.
Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya
A nations competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industries to innovate and upgrade. Michael E. Porter
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This research is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan.
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FORWARD: As I was completing the final courses in my MBA program, I thought about the next assignment, which had to be this research paperthe last eligibility requirement for my Masters degree. I thought for weeks and consulted with many before deciding that the best way to select a topic for my paper was to devise a formula that would lead me there. My formula was to select an industry in which Afghanistan would have a comparative advantage with the potential to create a competitive advantage. I assessed the suitability of several possibilities, and marble emerged as the most likely by far. By the time I completed the work and it was approved by both the Robert Kennedy College and the University of Wales, I wondered how best I could make use of itbeyond earning the degree. The most promising prospect was to make the paper public and expose it to the people and the practitioners who arein one way or the otherinfluential in the industry. Now that the paper is public, I would very much enjoy hearing from people in the marble industry and others who have read this paper and have thoughts about it. I hope you will find value in these pages and will apply whatever you find useful to help improve marble production practices and potential in Afghanistan. Until then, I am looking forward to the day when Afghan Marble is fully competitive in the international marble market.
Mir Abdul Rahim Yahya, MBA Rahim1164@yahoo.com Kabul, Afghanistan March 15, 2009
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PROFESSORS REPORT ON THE PAPER

TITLE: Afghanistans Marble Industry Competitiveness The background to this dissertation is the analysis of the marble industry in Afghanistan specifically considering the industrys potential capacity to compete on the international market. To understand current literature on the Afghan marble industry; To investigate current approaches to the Afghan marble productivity; To analyze the Afghan marble competitiveness; and, To draw conclusions and recommendations.
The study is competently carried out, and the work shows how the industry may make strategic future decisions regarding competitiveness. The candidate has put together a good opening chapter which sets the scene nicely. The literature review is an interesting & informative chapter that makes effective use of relevant underpinning theory to contextualize the research question in the wider academic & relevant practical literature. Some of this section has rather long quotes but all are properly referenced. The methodology chapter is well written and gives the reader a clear insight into the methods used to collect primary & secondary data. The analytical models used for the analysis are also introduced & their use is justified in the chapter. The field work is presented appropriately & there is adequate use of visuals to support the discussion. The analytical models (predominantly from Michael Porter) discussed in the methodology chapter are used appropriately & to good analytical effect. The chapter demonstrates higher order thinking & analytical thought processes a good chapter. The conclusions chapter is succinct & quite well-written & draws together the findings from the preceding chapters in an appropriate manner. However, there is insufficient contextualization of the conclusions in extant theory, i.e. too few references in this section. The recommendations are appropriate & are based on the work presented in the thesis. Overall, it is a very interesting & informative MBA dissertation. Well done Rahim I enjoyed supervising this research & working with you. Prof. Steve Page
stevepage99@yahoo.co.uk
Robert Kennedy College (RKC) University of Wales (UoW), Wales, United Kingdom (U.K.) January 05, 2009 v
TABLE OF CONTENTS FORWARD: Page iv PROFESSORS REPORT ON THE PAPER: Page v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Page viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Page x LIST OF FIGURES Page xi ABSTRACT Page xiii INTRODUCTION Page 1 BACKGROUND AND THE CURRENT LITERATURE OF THE AFGHAN MARBLE INDUSTRY Page 3 CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE AFGHAN MARBLE PRODUCTIVITY Page 9 THE METHOD(S) USED FOR GATHERING THE INFORMATION Page 13 THE METHOD(S) USED FOR ANALYZING THE INFORMATION Page 17 THE ANALYSIS Page 20 Afghanistan National Diamond: Page 20 Factor Conditions: Page 21 Demand Conditions: Page 22 Related and supporting industries: Page 22 Context for firm strategy, structure, and rivalry: Page 23 Clusters in the Afghan Business Environment: Page 26 Afghan Marble Cluster Diamond: Page 27 Marble Cluster Map: Page 36 Cluster Diamond Advantages and Disadvantages: Page 37 The Five Forces of Porter influencing the Afghan Marble Cluster: Page 38 CONCLUSIONS/JUDGMENTS Page 45 RECOMMENDATIONS Page 48 Role of the government Page 48 Role of the private sector Page 50 Role of donors Page 52
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APPENDIX: Page 53 BIBLIOGRAPHY Page 54 Exhibit number one: Worldwide standard versus Afghan domestic practices in marble quarrying and processing Page 57 Exhibit number two: Afghanistan GDP performance Page 69 Exhibit number three: Ministry of Mines standard provisions Page 70 Exhibit number four: Table of initial prices fixed by the Ministry of Mines for royalty fee Page 71
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This paper is the result of inputs and feedbacks from a wide range of people including friends, colleagues, Afghan government employees, institutions, companies, and the various stakeholders organizations. The author thanks everyone who contributed his knowledge, time and efforts to this project. Notable contributions were made by his Excellency the deputy Minister of Mines and Industries, Eng. Mohammad Akram Ghyasi; Acting Director of Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS), Eng. Mohammad Omer Yonousi; Director of Mines, Eng. Abdul Aziz; Director of Quarry Extractions, Eng. Abdul Sami Ghafary; Head of Solid Minerals Department, Eng. Abdul Haq Barakati; geology engineer of the Quarry Extraction department, Eng. Mohammad Haider; representative of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Afghanistan, Mr. Fahim Zaheer; Director of the Afghanistan Marble and Granite Processors Association (AMGPA) and CEO of Shahin Koh Marble Company, General Amrullah Nazari; Mr. Besmellah Ebrahimi, Director General of Khaled Omed Marble Company; Mr. Emal Momand, CEO of National Marmar (marble) Company; and a number of other people within the various departments of the above respected agencies and organizations, who exposed themselves to provide information, assistance and cooperation throughout this work. Special thanks and gratitude goes to Professor Steve Page, who served to be the advisor throughout the various stages in the development of this paper. The author appreciates his invaluable reviews, constructive guidance and instructions from the initial concept all the way down to completion of the work. His way of supervising and commenting on the paper was unique and very in compliance. The author also acknowledges Dr. M. S. Chagla for her constructive and guiding instructions at the proposal development stage. Her inputs were very useful and essential to the project. Foremost among those it is very appropriate to thank all the respectful Professors and the administrative staff at the Robert Kennedy College/University of Wales, who worked hard to teach us all the essential courses throughout the MBA program. Professor David Costa and Professor David Duffill are acknowledged for their brilliant teachings and efforts during the residential course of Microeconomics of Competitiveness at the college campus in Switzerland as well as online. The author also thanks all the other Professors who taught us the various courses throughout the program. In fact, without their academic contributions the author would never be able to get to the point of working on a thesis to complete this work. In particular, notable appreciations go to Prof. Benedicta Lusk, Prof. Mechille Schaefer, Prof. Gerson Rosa, and Prof. Dennis Crossen.
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Among all, it is also very right to thank colleagues in my office who provided the necessary time andin some casestechnical assistance throughout the work. Thanks to Ms. Robin Brinkley (the authors supervisor at the USAIDs Office of Programs and Project Development) for approving the necessary leave time that allowed the author to devote quality time into the project. Thanks to Mr. Mohammad Kabir Haseeb for providing the relevant IT technical support to the author throughout the project development. Without the support and assistance of all the above respectful people, this work would have not gone anywhere, so thanks and appreciations to every one of them. Wish them success and prosperity from the almighty God throughout their lives and careers.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: AGS AISA AHDR AMGPA ARIES ASMED CCCA CIA CEO CPHD DAB DDI EPAA OTF FDI GDP GIROA HDI MMI MT NGO NEPA PPP PRR SME USGS USAID USSR Afghan Geological Survey Afghanistan Investment Support Agency Afghanistan Human Development Report Afghanistan Marble and Granite Processors Association Afghanistan Rural Investment and Enterprise Strengthening Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprises Development Commercial Competition Commission of Afghanistan Central Intelligence Agency Chief Executive Officer Center for Policy and Human Development Da Afghanistan Bank (the central bank) Domestic Direct Investment Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan On the Frontiers Group Foreign Direct Investment Gross Domestic Product Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Human Development Index Ministry of Mines and Industries Metric Ton Non-Governmental Organization National Environmental Protection Agency of Afghanistan Purchasing Power Parity Priority Reform and Restructuring Small and Medium Enterprises U.S. Geological Survey United States Agency for International Development Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
LIST OF FIGURES: Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Figure 5: Figure 6: Figure 7: Figure 8: Figure 9: Figure 10: Figure 11: Afghanistan map showing the neighboring countries. Page 3 Quarrying Capacity (contracted volumes versus actual extraction in MT). Data source: AMGPA and MMI/AGS as of November 2008. Page 10 Status of domestic companies involved in marble production. Data source: AMGPA and MMI/AGS as of November 2008. Page 10 Determinants of national competitive advantage Porters Diamond Model. Page 18 Afghanistans Economic Growth Rate. Source: Afghanistan Central Bank Report. Page 20 National Diamond for Afghanistan. Page 25 Clusters in the Afghan business environment. Ovals with green background are clusters in which Afghanistan has comparative advantage. Page 26 Price for different types of Pakistani and Afghani marble tiles in Afghan marble market. Page 30 Status of domestic companies. Data source: AMGPA and MMI/AGS. Page 31 Total production in square meter of tile for four selected leading SMEs that are function since 2001. Data source: AMGPA as of December 2008. Page 32 Total Production in Square Meters of Tiles for Khaled Omed Marble Company, the Leading SME in the cluster. Data Source: Khaled Omed Marble Company as of November 2008. Page 32 Marble Cluster Diamond. Page 34 Afghan Marble Cluster Map. Page 35 Illustration of the triangle for the relevant entities having potential stake in the cluster. Page 47 Splitting stone by feathers, wedges, and hammer in old days. Page 56 Quarryman hand sawing the stone in old days. Page 56 Block of stone being transported with lizza. Page 56 Helicoidally wire saw being used at the marble quarry in early 19th. Page 57 Diamond wire saw being used at the marble quarry the modern practice of quarrying. Page 57 Drawing of two drills making vertical and horizontal holes at an ideal quarry (by Wahy & Jha, 2003). Page 58 Block being loaded on truck. Page 59 Irregularly shaped blocks after explosion in Khogiani quarry. Page 59 Marble tile produced with cracks as a result of explosion at the quarry. (Rathore & Bhandari, 2003). Page 59
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Figure 12: Figure 13: Figure 14: Figure 15: Figure 16: Figure 17: Figure 18: Figure 19: Figure 20: Figure 21: Figure 22: Figure 23:
Figure 24: Figure 25: Figure 26: Figure 27: Figure 28: Figure 29: Figure 30: Figure 31: Figure 32: Figure 33: Figure 34:
Marble being wasted at the quarry in Khogiani as a result of explosion. Photo by Rahim Yahya. Page 59 Marble quarry damages as a result of explosions. (Rathore & Bhandari, 2003). Page 61 Marble block being squared at the processing plant. (www.wiresawmachine.com). Page 63 Marble irregularly shaped blocks transported to the processing plant for cutting. Photo by Rahim Yahya. Page 63 Multi-bladed Water-fed Gang Saw being used to cut a block into thirty-eight slabs. (www.dondougan.com). Page 64 Diamond Wire Saw being used for profiling special shape marble surfaces (HAUDA wiresawmachine.com). Page 64 Circular saw being used for cutting small block into slabs. Page 64 Circular saw being used for cutting small block into slabs in Khaled Omed processing plant in Kabul. Page 65 Gang saw being used for cutting a bad shaped block into slabs at Khaled Omed processing plant in Kabul. Page 65 Water-fed Circular Saws for cutting slabs of marble Photo from courtesy of UN Industrial Development Organization. Page 65 Afghanistan GDP performance versus neighboring countries in the region. Data source: CIA The World Fact Book. Page 68
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ABSTRACT: The paper at your hand describes and analyzes the status of marble industry in Afghanistan. The focus point of the analysis is competitiveness of the industry. It consists of a brief review of the relevant literature, the industry productivity in compare with the concerned neighboring countries; the marble market trend worldwide as well as in-country; and the analysis of the overall marble situation. The paper also includes some conclusions along with recommendations for the relevant players on the ground. Model used for the purpose of the analysis was chosen to be the Porters Diamond Analysis model. Michael PorterProfessor at Harvard Universityis the inventor of the Diamond model and the cluster concept as well as the Porters five forces influencing a business. The model can be applied at the industry level as well as at the national level to analyze the competitive status of a particular cluster or industry. The paper is comprised of several chapters covering different aspects of the industry: The background and literature chapter has covered all the past studies, researches, and reports that were conducted either by the afghan or foreign scientists, geologists and experts from 70s and 80s until now. The chapter on current approaches of marble productivity explains in details the current standard practices worldwide versus the afghan practices; it actually compares the two. The two subsequent chapters describe the method of data collection as well as the method that was used to analyze the collected data. The Analysis chapter then analyzes the collected data using the Porters diamond model and the five forces model. The analysis has been conducted for the national diamond as well as the cluster diamond. Consequently, the paper summarizes the findings in the form of conclusions within the four attributes of the cluster diamond. Recommendations chapter has suggested ways to improve the productivity of the marble cluster through interventions by three key and very essential actors that consist of a) the government, b) the private sector, and c) the donors. There are also appendixes that provide further details to certain sections of the paper as you go through.
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I.
INTRODUCTION: It is a wide known fact that Afghanistan was weakened in all sectors by decades of conflict since it was invaded by the Soviets in 1980 (Tanin, 2001). As a result of this invasion almost all sectors became down. Mineral resources that theoretically form a considerable part of the economy were left undeveloped especially the marble with great supply potential to the regional markets (Mitchell, 2008). A number of reports and studies have highlighted the importance of afghan marble e.g., the report from The OTF Group entitled: Afghanistan Competitive Project states: The Afghanistan marble market has been hindered by a lack of investment. Quarrying operations are conducted by blasting with dynamite, a process which yields irregularly shaped pieces of stone which are difficult to process and much of which are wasted. Furthermore, blasting causes microfractures throughout the stone, resulting in a lot of breakage during cutting and polishing. Blasting not only creates these micro-fractures in the quarried stone, but can also do so in the entire quarry, destroying a great deal of the value of the stone. (The OTF Group, 2006) There are other reports, too, that confirm the above statements, e.g. the report entitled Afghanistan Revival & Redevelopment from the Afghan Minerals Project states that Afghanistan has large resources of dimension stone and consequently has the potential to supply Middle Eastern and Asian markets with an almost unlimited supply of marble. (Mitchell, 2008) All these reports emphasizes on the quality and potential for demand and supply of Afghan marble in the domestic and regional markets (e.g. Mitchell, 2008; EPAA, 2006; AISA, 2006), however, the issue with these studies and reports is that they do not sufficiently analyze the various factors involved in the process and therefore do not give a clear cost/benefit analysis to the investors so that the investors dare to invest. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the whole marble industry from quarrying all the way down to the actual production and marketing of the marble products in Afghanistan and suggest to the investors innovative approaches that would increase the productivity and competitive position of the Afghan marble. This research covers the following four questions, which are the optimal aims for the paper in regard to the Afghan marble productivity:
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To understand current literature on the Afghan marble industry; To investigate current approaches to the Afghan marble productivity; To analyze the Afghan marble competitiveness; and, To draw conclusions and recommendations. The perceived value of this paper is to present a clear picture for the marble cluster along with analyses of different factors influencing the competitiveness of it.
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BACKGROUND AND THE CURRENT LITERATURE OF THE AFGHAN MARBLE INDUSTRY: Afghanistan is a land of mountains and desert plains situated at the western end of the Himalaya range. It is landlocked, is bordered by Iran to the west, Turkmensistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north and northeast, Pakistan to the east and south, and by China in the extreme northeast by the Wakhan Corridor (Mitchell, 2008). Afghanistans geographical position places it at the crossroads between the Middle East and Asia, Europe and India, and between Northern Europe, Russia, and the Indian Ocean (AISA, 2006). Afghanistan, as a result of its geo-strategic location, is not only an important Figure1:Afghanistanmapshowingthe connection point for the development of political, neighboringcountries economic and cultural relations; but also holds special importance in the area due to its extraordinarily rich natural resources (http://www.mom.gov.af/index.php). Afghanistan was never a developed country or a place of enlightenment, but at least in the pre-war years of the 1960s and 1970s a number of development projects were reasonably successful in the Cold-War confrontation between the Soviets and the West. The subsequent quarter century of conflict involved the well-known communist coup, Soviet invasion, Mujahideen counter-insurgency, Soviet defeat and withdrawal, civil war, repressive Taliban takeover, Al Qaeda terrorism, and a new invasion by the Western Coalition led by the USA (Shroder, 2008). As a result of all these consequences and decades of conflict almost all sectors became down. Mineral resources that theoretically form a considerable part of the economy were left undeveloped especially the marble with great supply potential to the regional markets (Mitchell, 2008). Despite Afghanistans wealth of natural resources and critical geographic location, it still has not developed, and remains one of the poorest countries of the world. We must admit the problem has its main roots in the previous economic systems of the country. Exploration and geological studies of only ten percent of the territory have discovered abundant deposits of many precious and semi-precious industrial minerals including marble. Provided that these geological studies are extended to cover the entire country, it is a virtual certainty that they will reveal the countrys natural resource riches are far beyond those known to us today (http://www.mom.gov.af/index.php).
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History of mineral studies in Afghanistan goes back to early 19th century, when the very first stratigraphic scheme of Kabul region was prepared by G. G. Hyden in 1911 (Geostructure report of Kabul region, 1982). The second round of researches took place in 1950s and 1960s where a number of theoretical works and researches in the areas of stratigraphy, topography, and tectonic studies were completed by French and German researchers (Geo-structure report of Kabul region, 1982). In late 1970s and 1980s some researches and studies took place by Afghan and Russian experts to study marble deposits in several locations; the focus of the reports was mostly on prospect and exploration works, reconnaissance works, and evaluation of the decorative marble in Afghanistan (AGS, 2008). These reports have been held by the Afghanistan Geological Survey and the Ministry of Mines and were never published.1 Most of these reports are written in Russian language. Except these, there have not been so many comprehensive studies taken place in this sector so far. Only recently a couple of studies were completed with more depth and details on marble and other minerals in Afghanistan. The report by U.S. Geological Survey has focused more on the geological aspects of marble and other minerals, while the other report by the On The Frontier (OTF) Group has focused mainly to cover the business aspects of the marble industry in Afghanistan. United States Geological Survey (USGS) with financial resources from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) conducted a study of Afghanistans non-fuel mineral resources (Peters and others, 2007). The report states that Afghanistan has abundant mineral resources, but they have not been successfully developed during the 20th century. Nor have they been systematically studied using modern mineral resource assessment methodologies. Most of the existing mineral resource information was gathered between the early 1950s and about 1985, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its Eastern European allies provided Afghanistan with large amounts of technical assistance. Mineral resource studies included systematic geologic mapping, collection and analysis of rock and sediment samples, airborne geophysical surveys, and systematic mineral exploration (Peters and others, 2007). The government of Afghanistan was actively preparing several of these deposits for exploitation when the Soviet intervention began. No further development was possible during the ensuing years of war and civil strife (Peters and others, 2007).
Some of these reports are the following noted down from the Afghanistan Geological Survey official website: - Report on the prospecting and exploration works at the onyx marble deposits in the south of Afghanistan carried out in 1976-1977. Vol.1. Text. 1977; - Report of reconnaissance works on onyx marble of southern Afghanistan; - Report of evaluating prospect of decorative marbles of Badambagh (an area in the capital of the country); - Report of evaluating prospect of decorative marbles of Badambagh; (AGS, 2008) and, - Several other reports
The study covers marble under the Dimension Stones class that includes the principle rock types such as granite, limestone, marble, sandstone, and slate. Of these stones; granite, limestone, and marble are the three main materials. (Sutphin and Orris, 2007) Commercial marble includes metamorphosed limestone and serpentine rocks, all of which are capable of taking a polish. An important member of this classification is serpentine marble, which is also known as verde antique, and comprises green-to-black serpentine, which is a hydrous magnesium silicate mineral that is crisscrossed by veins of lighter minerals, such as calcite or dolomite. (Dolley, 2004) Delineation of tracts permissive, favorable, or prospective for the presence of undiscovered dimensions stone deposits should take into account all available information to make the best possible, geologically sound tracts. Unfortunately, there is almost no information on the physical and esthetic properties of the rocks in Afghanistan that point to their suitability for use in dimension stone applications. (Sutphin and Orris, 2007) The report based on the study from Doebrich and Wahl, 2006 states that in general, the permissive tracts drawn for assessing dimension stone resources are based on the first designation of the rock unit on the Russian 1:500,000-scale geologic map be it granite or other rock types marketed as granite, limestone, marble, or sandstone. (Sutphin and Orris, 2007) The most common variety of marble is white, but it can also be yellow, red, or green. It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications (Sutphin and Orris, 2007). There are a lot of identified and unidentified marble deposits in Afghanistan as you move across the country. Several of these deposits have been identified and surveyed by the Afghan Geological Survey (AGS) and/or the Russian geologists during the 80s. Many of the deposits have not even been identified so far. The Exhibit-I lists the most famous deposits identified so far. Some of these are contracted out to domestic companies while the rest have not yet been touched. On The Frontier (OTF) known as The OTF Group a private company conducted a research in 2006 with financial support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for three priority clusters that included, among others, marble (The OTF Group, 2006). The aim of OTFs study was to detail opinions regarding existing business conditions, assess Afghan attitudes towards macro and micro economic policies, and to identify subjects of agreement and dispute among Afghanistans current leadership. The study highlights that the decision makers are of different beliefs or mental models concerning the importance, meaning and means of achieving goals such as prosperity and competitiveness. Specifically, the responses from the Afghan leaders that were surveyed showed that it might be difficult for them to form a unified national agenda for making investments and creating prosperity in two extremely
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important ways. First, mental models impact the types of investments made and the type of results achieved, and the disagreements may impede the speed, magnitude and even wisdom of the investment. Second, the public discussion of how people think can help to provide understanding of the root causes of poor investments and allow for focusing on the proper change initiatives (The OTF Group, 2006). There are mainly three issues pointed out in the OTF study regarding the overall thinking of the people that would influence the development process of the industries in Afghanistan. The first issue is as firms are allowed into Afghanistan, what will be their impact on Afghanistans culture? The concern is whether the way wealth creation develops in the country pursues social equity and its growth does not adversely impact Afghan culture. This raises the question of how prosperity and culture can be integrated so that the country builds up on its tradition to create prosperity (the OTF Group, 2006). E.g. for international business with operations in different countries, of considerable importance is how a societys culture affects the values found in the workplace. Management process and practices may need to vary according to culturally determined work-related values, and international business with operation in both countries should vary its management process and practices to take these differences into account. (Hill, 2003) Any inconsistency between the domestic culture and the development trend of investments and wealth creation at any point throughout the process can make the effort fail. A second issue that may impede a truly competitive agenda that will enable firms to innovate is the belief of many respondents that the government should promote an interventionist policy along other key dimensions (the OTF Group, 2006) versus leaving the market entirely to the private sector. The concerning point here is that the government officials also feel that the government should regulate prices and impose tariffs in certain industries and that the government should own businesses (the OTF Group, 2006). While governments proper role as a catalyst and challengers; is to encourage or even push companies to raise their aspirations and move to higher levels of competitive performance, even though this process may be inherently unpleasant and difficult. Governments cannot create competitive industries; only companies can do that (Porter, 1998). Over 80% believe that it is not possible for individual firms to be competitive with generally poor national conditions (the OTF Group, 2006). The third issue the OTF study highlights is the perception among respondents of low levels of trust. Only one in five persons is satisfied with trust levels between the government and the private sector as well as between people of different clans (the OTF Group, 2006).
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With the exception of the Commercial Competition Commission of Afghanistan (CCCA)2, the marble industry seems to place the most confidence (62%) in the ability of regional leaders to provide a secure business environment. This may be due to the location of many marble quarries in isolated and hostile rural areas where local contacts and protection are a requirement for doing business. As the security situation in Afghanistan improves, one could expect that this acceptance of regional leaders as business enablers may change (the OTF Group, 2006). Another theme that emerged from the marble responses is the tendency towards shortterm thinking and making a quick profit versus investing now for long-term competitiveness. 48% of respondents stated that it would be more profitable to continue selling their marble cheaply versus investing in new equipment and training to improve quality. Only 5% of respondents thought that continuing to blast marble from quarries would yield higher profits and grow the industry. This practice is commonplace in Afghanistan and not only reduces the quality of current production, but also discounts the value of entire deposits by creating micro-fissures in the rock (the OTF Group, 2006). The report continues: The Afghanistan marble market has been hindered by a lack of investment. Quarrying operations are conducted by blasting with dynamite, a process which yields irregularly shaped pieces of stone which are difficult to process and much of which are wasted. Furthermore, blasting causes micro-fractures throughout the stone, resulting in a lot of breakage during cutting and polishing. Blasting not only creates these micro-fractures in the quarried stone, but can also do so in the entire quarry, destroying a great deal of the value of the stone. (The OTF Group, 2006) The report emphatically states that Afghanistan enjoys a comparative advantage due to its deposits of rare, high quality marble. In particular Afghanistan possesses white marble (Chesht and Khogiani) and onyx (Helmand) deposits that are among the best in the world. (The OTF Group, 2006) There are other reports, too, that confirm the above statements, e.g. the report entitled Afghanistan Revival & Redevelopment from the Afghan Minerals Project states that Afghanistan has large resources of dimension stone and consequently has the potential to supply Middle Eastern and Asian markets with an almost unlimited supply of marble. (Mitchell, 2008)
CCCA is designed to be a forum for public-private sector debate and leadership body for promoting the vision of a competitive Afghan economy.
Another report from Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) states: Afghan marble is good quality and in high demand. There are currently 35 types of marble in Afghanistan and 40 different colors. (AISA, 2006) There are also other superficial reports and statements throughout websites and magazines that have declared ideas about the importance and the great potential of the Afghan marble to become one of the major economic sources for the country (e.g. Mitchell, 2008; EPAA, 2006; AISA, 2006). With the exception to the OTF and the USGS study, none of the other reports have been so deep and analytic to give clear ideas for the investors and the relevant sector specialists. All these reports emphasizes on the quality and potential for demand and supply of Afghan marble in the domestic and regional markets (e.g. Mitchell, 2008; EPAA, 2006; AISA, 2006), however, the issue with these studies and reports is that they do not sufficiently analyze the various factors involved in the process and therefore do not give a clear cost/benefit analysis to the investors so that the investors dare to invest.
III.
CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE AFGHAN MARBLE PRODUCTIVITY: Typically, production of marble or any other dimension stone such as granite, limestone or sandstone includes several steps including quarrying (mining); squaring and chamfering (preparing the blocks); profiling (cutting into wide slabs); multi-cutting (sizing); and polishing/finishing (http://www.wiresawmachine.com/En/wire-saw-quarrymarble.htm). Rough stone blocks split or cut from a quarry face are transported to processing plants that are typically located at the quarry site, at least for preliminary sizing. Further dressing, which includes final sizing and finishing operations, such as decorating, edging, and polishing, also may be done at the quarry site (Dolley, 2004), but usually these operations take place at the marble factories/processing plants far from the quarrying sites. The detail of this process is explained in the Exhibit number one entitled standard versus Afghan domestic practices in marble quarrying and processing. The Market and the Actual Production: Overview: the world production of dimension stone comprising of marble, granite, slate, limestone and sandstone is about 70 million tons (Mumtaz, 2003). In marble, production is dominated by five countries worldwide, Italy, Turkey, Spain, India, and China. These countries control over half of the market. Worldwide the marble industry has been growing strongly since the 1990s, and at roughly 8.7% per year since 1999. The industry is expected to continue to grow over 8% per year into 2025. Currently, 55% of the marble quarried is destined for exports. Estimates are that by 2025, 60% of all quarried marble will be exported (the OTF Group, 2006). World marble imports are estimated at $2.5 billion (AISA, 2008). Recent market trends indicate a shift away from exports of blocks to more value added products such as slabs and finished goods like tiles, etc. (the OTF Group, 2006). Based on these facts, the overall trend of the marble industry, worldwide, seems to have continuous growth, which makes the industry players optimistic about its future. Regional dominant of marble industry in Afghanistan marble market is primarily Pakistan followed by India and Iran, though India does very little export. The largest share of value is found in quarrying blocks and in cutting slabs, the most difficult and capital intensive links in the value chain. However, countries with the ability to manufacture cheaply (especially China) are beginning to enter the finished goods market, and rich economies are increasingly importing finished goods. Currently, the largest importers of slabs and finished goods are the US, and the Middle East, UAE and Saudi Arabia (the OTF group, 2006).
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The Afghan traders import finished goods in vast quantities from Pakistan in different colors and sizes. The Afghan marble due to its high cost of production cannot compete in the Afghan market. Currently the Afghan marble industry aggregate production Figure2:Datasource: AMGPAandMMI/AGSasofNovember2008 capacity at the quarry sites based on existing contracts with five domestic companies and/or individuals is supposed to be around 11,000 Metric Tons (MT) for the year 2008 (Quarry Dept. of MMI, 2008). The actual numbers collected from the factories doing the quarrying operations is slightly different. Look at the chart below: In some part of the country due to bad security situation unknown volumes of marble is illegally quarried and transported to Pakistan in the form of raw materials, which is further processed (value added) and imported back to the Afghan market with higher price (Deputy Minister of MMI, 2008). This fails to maximize the potential value of the marble, which would capture higher export prices if cut into slabs and polished. Presently, there is not or very less equipments in the country that can cut slabs to the international standards. Outdated processing methods and machinery lead to a higher degree of wastage in some cases as high as 80% (AISA, 2008). There are literally around Figure3:Datasource:AMGPAandMMI/AGSasofNovember2008 130 SMEs nationwide registered to be functioning in the marble industry. But in the real world only around 30% of them have been productive. Of these, very few are involved in the quarrying operations and most in the processing part through the value chain. Take a look at the graph below:
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The huge number of companies with no production as well as the number of companies failed may be because of an inappropriate supporting environment for the cluster and lack of appropriate strategic initiatives by the government that would help the cluster growth. The reasons will be discussed in more details in the subsequent sections. The Afghanistan Marble and Granit Processors Association (AMGPA) is an independent entity that conducts coordination and advocacy on behalf of these SMEs to the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as well as to the relevant Donors and international players said Mr. Nazari, head of the AMGPA. Market Segments: The marble market is organized around two segments: a) the business segment, and b) the consumer segment. The business segment is organized around sales of marble blocks quarried by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and processed by the same or other SMEs. The consumer segment is comprised of geographic regions and finished products mostly consumed for construction purposes. Business Segment: This segment is functioning between the SMEs who are involved in quarry operations and SMEs who produces finished goods. Most value of finished marble comes at the block and slab cutting stage. Transportation costs out of Afghanistan make exports of most types of marble blocks unprofitable, and the few premium types such as Khogiani and Chesht marble would leave a great deal of value if exported as blocks. However, blocks are quarried by SMEs and sold to other SMEs in the local market, which is further processed into slabs and tiles and supplied to the market. Consumer Segment: the consumer segment is organized around geographic regions and the sizes of the products tiles. The consumer segment is defined to be functioning between the SMEs who produce and the people who consumes. Geography: Marble is generally costly to the end buyer as the purchase price paid by the retailer/wholesaler (a function of quality and color), plus the transportation cost (a function of distance) plus the retailer/wholesaler margin. If the marble is of top quality, and a very rare color, the end buyer is generally willing to incur high transportation costs to obtain it. However if the quality and color are more common and can be sourced from many different places, price becomes a bigger issue, and nearby sources enjoy a comparative advantage. For example, Khogiani (eastern province) and Chesht (western province) have the same quality of white marble. Consumers of both provinces enjoy the
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comparative advantage of their locations opposed to the Northern provinces that bear the cost of transportation. Finished goods (tiles in various sizes): The finished products are organized around tiles for construction in different sizes. Size is an important factor in tiles. Common sizes for tiles in the Afghan marble market are: 30 cm x 30 cm x 1 cm; 30 cm x 30 cm x 2 cm; 15 cm x 60 cm x 1 cm; 15 cm x 30 cm x 1 cm; 30 cm x 120 cm x 2 cm; and 60 cm x 120 cm to 250 cm x 2 cm.
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IV.
THE METHOD(S) USED FOR GATHERING THE INFORMATION: The type of work conducted in this paper as defined by William G. Zikmund in Business Research Methods is a descriptive research, which seeks to determine and describe the answers to the research objectives identified to understand the competitiveness of Afghan marble industry. In light of the objectives set for the research, a method was designed for the information collection. The research design is the master plan specifying the methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing the needed information (Zikmund, 2002). Zikmund indicates that there are four basic research methods for a descriptive type of research: surveys, experiments, secondary data studies, and observation. Each of these methods can be determined and used based on the nature of the research objectives, availability of data sources, the urgency of the decision, and the cost of obtaining the data. For the purpose of this research, the author used surveys, secondary data studies, and observation as the methods for data collection. The most common method of generating primary data is through surveys (Zikmund, 2002). Although it has been suggested that surveys are conducted to quantify certain factual information, certain aspects of surveys may also be qualitative. This usually involve structured interviews for individuals and groups, questionnaires, and so forth that help in collection of data that would be used for measuring variables and verifying existing theories or hypotheses or questioning them, which is often used to generate new hypothesis based on the results of data collected about different variables. (Wisker, 2007) Qualitative aspects of surveys involve a phenomenological perspective whereby researchers aim to understand; report and evaluate the meaning of events for people in particular situations, that is, how their social world is structured by the participants in it. (Research Methodologies Defined, 2007) The focus is on how the participants rather than the researcher interpret their experiences and construct reality. To do the surveys, the author conducted personal interviews, telephone interviews, group interviews, designed questionnaires, and carried out site visits as well as direct observations. Overall, the research has been built based on real-world information available with the relevant players on the ground for the marble industry. Information was collected through both primary and secondary sources of materials. The extent of use of primary research information versus secondary materials throughout the paper differs depending on the nature of each objective. For example:
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In Objective number one, to understand the current literature on the Afghan marble industry, the author chose to use a lot of secondary information. Generally this part of the research was performed on the basis of data available in the governmental and nongovernmental entities, e.g., the Ministry of Mines and Industries (MMI), the Afghan Geological Survey (AGS), Office of the representative of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Afghanistan Marble and Granit Processors Association (AMGPA), and Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA). These data included geological survey reports conducted during 80s together by the Afghan and Russian experts, e.g. Geo-structure report of Kabul region that was conducted in 1982. Other data that was used for this research was the Minerals Law of Afghanistan and Partnership Law of Afghanistan. The research also included a series of reports and studies that were recently conducted by USGS, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the OTF Group. These included the Preliminary Non-fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan; Mines and Mineral Occurrences of Afghanistan; Natural-Color Image Mosaics of Afghanistan: Digital Database and Maps; Preliminary Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Mineral Deposit Types in Afghanistan; Enterprise Development Project in Central Asia report; the OTF Groups Afghanistan Competitiveness Project key document library and several other small reports. Many technical articles as well as data in terms of market trends; facts and figures including prices of marble blocks and tiles worldwide were downloaded from a number of websites. Some of the very useful articles include but are not limited to the Quality Management Practices in Dimensional Stones: A Reference to Marble Stones Processing (Gyani, Lunia, & Pareek, 2003); Innovation in Quarry Front (GALLI) Cutting Technology (Wahy & Jha, 2003); and several others. Data from Afghanistan Investment Support Agency included Afghanistan Investment Opportunities with Regional Significance; report on the Market Prospects and the Sector Overview on Mining, Power and Water. In objective number two, to investigate current approaches to the Afghan marble productivity, a mix of both the primary and secondary information was used. The primary information was collected by conducting interviews, while the secondary information was collected from the above mentioned secondary sources. The interviews were conducted with the people, who were in one way or the other involved in the value chain, e.g., presidents of several plants/factories, quarrymen, laborers, etc. The interviewees included Deputy Minister of Mines and Industries, Director of Mines, Director of Afghan Geological Survey, Head of Minerals Department
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of the Ministry, Director of Extraction Departments, four geological Engineers, Director of the Afghanistan Marble and Granite Processors Association, five Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Processing Plants, ten quarrymen, and several laborers at five processing plants in Kabul and Jalalabad cities. Questions for the interviews were arranged in a way that covered areas of expertise for each particular interviewee i.e., the deputy minister was asked questions at the policy and strategy levels. In general, three sets of questions were developed covering policy/strategy level, operational level, and customer level, which included the market information as well. Strategy and policy level questions were more to the attention of the senior officials of the government. The questions explored a) the position of the government regarding the natural resources especially the marble; b) their current role and involvement throughout the value chain in marble production; c) their thinking and initiatives on how they could further develop the industry; d) what they have done so far to facilitate foreign direct investment as well as domestic investment in the industry; e) their initiatives towards privatization and strengthening the private sector; f) what they have done to make the afghan marble more competitive; and g) what is their formula in setting the royalty fee for the quarries of marble across the country. Additionally, other questions that kept arising throughout the interviews were also asked to further clarify the issues. Operational level questions were developed for the attention of the personnel of the processing plants and marble companies. These questions explored the overall development chain of marble production from quarrying all the way to the processing and distribution of marble tiles to the market. Particularly the questions included a) what the people in the processing plants were thinking about the afghan marble quality; b) what approaches they were using to quarry the stones from the mountains; c) what they thought about the requirements and procedures imposed by the government; d) what their thoughts were regarding the main barriers against development of marble in the country; c) why afghan marble was illegally exported to Pakistan; d) what was their technological limitations in terms of machineries for the industry; and e) what were their suggestions for the government to further develop the industry. Additionally, questionnaire was developed and distributed to each company to fill out for recoding the volume of production for the years 2001 through 2008. Customer level information was limited to the whole sellers and retailer shops that were selling marble tiles to the construction companies, individuals, and other consumers. Questions to collect the market information in terms of prices and types of marble tiles
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available in the market from other countries were developed in the form of a separate questionnaire and distributed to ten retailer and whole seller shops to record the marble prices in the domestic market. The information that became available throughout the interviews were carefully noted down and recorded on papers and notepads that were subsequently filed to be used for the purpose of the research. Similarly, site visits were carried out that included direct observations from the quarry sites, the processing plants, retailer shops and exhibitions, and wholesalers stocks. Observations included detailed process of blasting at Gazak quarry in Kabul and Khogiany quarry in Nangarhar provinces. Additionally, observations included visits of tiles production process at the five leading processing plants in Kabul Province. The author also photographed certain parts of the process, e.g., blasting, loading, unloading, processing, sawing, polishing, finishing, and distributing to the market. Objective number three was to analyze the Afghan marble competitiveness, using the Michael Porter diamond analysis model, which is discussed in details in the upcoming chapter.
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V.
THE METHOD(S) USED FOR ANALYZING THE INFORMATION: For the purpose of this research, the author chose to work with Michael Porters Model of Competitiveness to analyze the information. Porters Diamond Analysis and the Five Forces models were selected because these models provide an outstanding framework that explores and illustrates very comprehensively the various angles of competitiveness in the industry. Using the Porters model, based on the information available, the National Diamond the four broad attributes, e.g. the factor conditions, the demand conditions, the related and supporting industries, and the firm strategy, structure, and rivalry in a nation that individually and as a system constitute the national advantage of a nation is illustrated. Each of the four determinants is discussed in relation to the marble industry in sufficient details. Consequently, the marble industry Cluster Diamond and Cluster Map are developed, which provide illustrative information to the reader. The Diamond diagram and the Cluster Map have also been accompanied with narratives that further analyze the industry. Following the National Diamond, Cluster Diamond, and the Cluster Map, the industry has been analyzed in accordance with Porters Five Forces, e.g. the suppliers force, the buyers force, the new entrants force, the substitute products force, and the rivalry force among the existing firms. Each of the five forces has been analyzed separately in regard to the Afghan marble industry. Based on all these analyses conclusions have been drawn and recommendations made. Overview of Porters Diamond Analysis: Michael Porter of Harvard University offers a model that can help understand the national competitiveness of a country and its comparative position in the global economy. He argues that the national competitiveness of a nation does not rely on the factors that many believe at. It is not a macroeconomic phenomenon driven by variables such as exchange rates, interest rates, and government deficits. Neither it is a function of cheap and abundant labor, nor is it connected to the bountiful natural resources of a territory. He believes that the only meaningful concept of competitiveness at the national level is productivity. The principle goal of a nation is to produce a high and rising standard of living for its citizens. The ability to do so depends on the productivity with which a nations labor and capital are employed. A nations standard of living depends on the capacity of its companies to achieve high levels of productivity and to increase productivity over time. Sustained productivity growth requires that an economy continually upgrade itself. (Porter, 1998) Porter adds that no nation can be competitive in everything. The ideal is to deploy the nations limited pool of human and other resources into the most productive uses. Even those nations with the highest standards of living have many industries in which local companies are uncompetitive. For a country to be competitive then the question is to find out
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determinants of productivity and the rate of productivity growth and more importantly finding the particular fields/industries that the countrys success in productivity is related. Porter has identified four attributes that individually and as a system determine and constitute the diamond of national advantage for a country. These attributes are: Factor conditions: the nations position in factors of production, such as skilled labor or infrastructure, necessary to compete in a given industry; Demand conditions: the nature of home-market demand for the industrys product or service; Related and supporting industries: the presence or absence in the nation of supplier industries and other related industries that are internationally competitive; Firm strategy, structure, and rivalry: the conditions in the nation governing how companies are created organized and managed, as well as the nature of domestic rivalry.
Firm strategy, structure and rivalry
Factor conditions
Demand conditions
Related and supporting industries

Figure 4: Determinants of national competitive advantage Porters Diamond Model
Furthermore, Porter introduces the concept of Clusters that helps to illustrate a particular industry and its links with all the other relevant and interconnected industries on the ground. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, firms in related industries, and associated institutions in particular fields that compete but also cooperate (Porter, 1998). Clusters are very helpful in understanding an industry and then the Diamond for a cluster is even more helpful to understand the determinants of productivity in a particular cluster. Porter also introduced a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The model is called the Porters Five Forces Model. These forces are the power of suppliers, the power of buyers, the power of new entrants, the power of substitute
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products, and the power of rivalry amongst the existing players. Analysis of all these forces along with the cluster and the national Diamond gives a very comprehensive understanding and illustration of any industry in a particular geographic territory. The subsequent sections in this chapter analyze Afghanistans marble industry cluster competitiveness based on these models.
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VI.
THE ANALYSIS: Afghanistan National Diamond: Country economic overview: As put by Michael Porter, raising the standard of living of the citizens in a country is the principle goal of any government. Afghanistans standard of living is amongst the lowest in the world. The human development index (HDI) for Afghanistan has a value of 0.345. It remains far behind neighboring countries with a rank of 174 out of 178 countries on global HDI (a composite indicator that measures education, longevity, and economic performance) (CPHD, 2007). Afghanistan has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $35 billion. With an estimated GDP per capita of $3353 and $1000 adjusted for purchasing power parity or PPP, Afghanistan remains the poorest country in the region. Exhibit number two illustrates Afghanistans economic performance in compare with its neighboring countries. Economic growth trend is declining as it is not an unusual phenomenon in any post-conflict economy. (See the chart)
Figure 5: Source is Afghanistan Central Bank Report
The declining trend is mainly because the country started recovering the economy from scratch in 2002 with infusion of international assistance at once. The gap is being filled year by year and the trend is taking its real position as time goes. The national diamond: Afghanistans civil war had devastated the countrys economy. It just started to recover in 2001 after the fall of Taliban regime. The four attributes that constitute the diamond of national advantage were similarly affected.
This is based on Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) the Central Bank report entitled Afghanistan Economy: An Overview dated August 26, 2007.
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Factor Conditions: Security is widely considered as the number one short-run issue for Afghanistans reconstruction. There have been undoubted improvements, including formation of the Afghan National Army, disarmament and demobilization of armed militias. However, different types of insecurity remain endemic in many parts of the country, ranging in severity up to outright conflict in some areas (World Bank, 2005) while certain other regions are wholly permissive such as north and west. In terms of Infrastructure, road investments both rehabilitation of Afghanistans main highways and building smaller and rural roads have moved ahead, although implementation has been in some cases slower than desired for various reasons including security and cost of highway rehabilitation. Progress has been much slower in other sectors such as power and irrigation. Financing of infrastructure is not on a sustainable basis (World Bank, 2005). However, the development in terms of both physical and technological infrastructures are promising and taking place by time. For example, the telecommunication sector has made extensive progress from scratch during the past six years, which is very considerable and important for the overall business environment. In terms of human resources, the country is making good progress. Based on the Afghanistan Human Development Report (AHDR), the country has great strides in raising its level of economic prosperity along with access to health and education. However, the needs of many still remain unfulfilled (CPHD, 2007). A fundamental change in the overall behavior and attitudes of Afghans towards education can be easily observed in different layers of communities in urban and rural areas. A number of private primary and higher institutes have been established that produce educated and professional graduates. This to a great extent helps in the scientific infrastructure, which is human capital in the country. In terms of capital resources, Afghanistan has been relying entirely on external assistance to finance its fiscal deficit, including a large operating deficit as well as the entire development budget (CPHD, 2007). Capital resources for financing businesses and supporting investments are happening in small and medium sizes through donors assistance e.g. Afghanistan Rural Investment and Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES) is a $76 million program funded by USAID that provides medium and long term loans to businesses. Banks also provide loans but with high interest rates, which is usually not affordable by businesses. Administrative systems in Afghanistan are being reformed. Priority Reform and Restructuring (PRR) is a process that was initiated by the government in 2004 and staff members of different ministries and government entities are being re-recruited through
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this process. Additionally, the government entities are also being restructured part of the transition from the old command economy to a market economy type of structure. Structures are getting simpler and more accessible now e.g. requirement for registering and setting up a business company is not so complicated. You can go through a simple process at the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA), which takes half a day time to get your business registered. One of the important factors for the national diamond is availability of natural resources in Afghanistan. The country possesses a wealth of mineral resources that remain largely undeveloped, including precious, base and rare metals, precious and semi precious stones, coal, oil, and gas and industrial minerals (Mitchell, 2008). Marble is one of the natural resources that the country has comparative advantage in it. The country owns large resources of marble and other dimension stone that has the potential to supply Middle Eastern and Asian market with almost unlimited quantities (Mitchell, 2008). The country can become very productive and subsequently very competitive if managed well to utilize its natural resources. Demand Conditions: Overall, the nature of domestic demand of buyers is not so sophisticated in Afghanistan; however, it is different in urban and rural areas. In urban areas, the percentage of literate people is greater than rural areas. Literate people can easily learn to handle sophisticated products while illiterate people cannot do so easily and therefore, the less sophisticated the better for them to handle. People in the rural areas are mostly illiterate, simple and less complicated, maybe because of their low standard of living and/or the simple life style they have. Given all this, it is difficult for them to manage complicated products and/or go through a complicated process while receiving a service. Therefore, they prefer simple systems and simple products. For the businesses in any clusters, it is very essential to consider the desire of the majority of the people (who would be the potential consumers) in the domestic market and address their nature of demand. One way is to create relevant market segments for both, the urban and the rural populations, and this way cover almost all the potential consumers/customers. Related and supporting industries: Afghanistan lacks access to internationally competitive locally based suppliers especially when it comes to machinery and technology for its industries, which is considered as the main related support industry to the rest of the industries in the country. In terms of technology and machinery, the country is fully dependent on outside suppliers including the neighboring countries as well as other countries. More dependency is to Pakistan, Iran, and China, however, the trend in the past recent years has been more towards China for most of the supplying industries in terms of machinery and technology.
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Financial institutions remain limited to international donors. Banks provide loans with high interest rates, which constrain development with limited investment and working capital. However, related clusters are available that supports each other e.g. crush gravel industry; mosaic and ceramic industries, machinery repair service industry, etc. are the clusters in relation to the marble industry. Context for firm strategy, structure, and rivalry: The conditions that govern how companies are created, organized and managed is literally addressed by two laws namely the Partnership Law of Afghanistan and the Corporations and Limited Liability Companies Law of Afghanistan. In practice the process of creation and management of companies is realistic and easy to handle. The constraints start with the relevant governmental entities for particular clusters and industries. The institutional support from the relevant technical ministries is very poor e.g. surveying capacity is lacking, moreover, murky procedures for quarrying rights, land titling issues, etc. are lengthy and corrupted that constraints the development process. Afghanistan has signed several agreements with its Central Asian neighbors. Since the inception of the new regime after the Taliban trade and transportation agreements have become more prevalent as Afghanistan seeks to integrate itself in the regional economy and take advantage of its key geographic position in the region (PRAGMA, 2003). Since then, many efforts have been made to that direction. This, in fact, paves the way for domestic and foreign companies to invest in the field of business and trade. Rivalry amongst the domestic business companies are stronger at the top level within several big companies, who are dominant in particular clusters, while it remains moderate at the medium level amongst the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The market in the big picture seems to be dominated by limited number of players, who are politically connected with the government. This makes the situation a bit difficult for the SMEs to grow. Figure 6 shows the Afghan national diamond in summary. The diamond works as a system: Literally, each of the four attributes defines a point on the diamond of national advantage; the effect of one point often depends on the state of others (Porter, 1998). The Afghan national diamond shows both advantages and disadvantages in each of the above four attributes, that interlinks their impacts on each other. For example security is a cross-cutting factor that contributes to the context of firm strategy, the supporting industries as well as the conditions for demand. Similarly,
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presence of physical and technological infrastructures as a positive factor contributes throughout the diamond. Advantages/disadvantages of the above diamond include the following: Factor Conditions Advantages: Physical and technological infrastructures are improving rapidly. Positive attitude towards human development, despite many challenges. Several donors e.g. USAID is implementing large loan programs for SMEs. Administrative systems are being reformed to become simpler and less complicated. Availability of vast and diversified amounts of natural resources. Factor Conditions Disadvantages: Security is good only in certain parts of the country. Despite considerable progress throughout the past several years, the scientific infrastructure still has rooms for a lot of improvement. Demand Conditions Advantages: Less sophisticated nature of domestic demand. Domestic population can be targeted in urban areas for sophisticated products and services, while rural populations can be targeted for less complicated products and services in terms of use and procedures to go through. Demand Conditions Disadvantages: Lack of sophisticated nature of domestic demand would cause less initiative and competition. Related and Supporting Industries Advantages: Related clusters are available that supports each other. International donors provide business loans to SMEs. Related and Supporting Industries Disadvantages: Afghanistan lacks access to internationally competitive locally based supplying industries for machinery and technology. Financial Institutions are limited to international donors. Banks provide loans with high interest rates. Context for Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Advantages: Laws that govern creation, organization, and management of companies exist. Easy and simple process for registering companies in the real world. Trade agreements are available to facilitate free trade with neighboring countries.
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Context for Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Disadvantages: Technical governmental entities are problematic being bureaucratic and corrupted. Rivalry remains in hands of limited players.
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CONTEXT OF FIRM STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND RIVALRY:

Laws that govern creation, organization, and management of companies exist. Easy and simple process for registering companies in practice. Technical governmental entities are problematic being bureaucratic and corrupted. Rivalry remains in hands of limited players. Trade agreements are to facilitate free trade with neighboring countries.
Security is good in certain parts of the country; Physical and technological infrastructures are improving rapidly; Positive attitude towards human development, despite many challenges; Several donors e.g. USAID is implementing large loan programs for SMEs. Administrative systems are being reformed to become simpler and less complicated. Availability of vast and diversified amounts of natural resources.
FACTOR CONDITIONS:
DEMAND CONDITIONS:
Less sophisticated nature of domestic demand. Domestic population can be targeted in urban areas for sophisticated products and services, while rural populations can be targeted for less complicated products and services in terms of use and procedures to go through.
RELATED AND SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES:

Afghanistan lacks access to internationally competitive locally based supplying industries for machinery and technology. Financial Institutions are limited to international donors. Banks provide loans with high interest rates. Related clusters are available that supports each other.
Figure6:NationalDiamondforAfghanistan
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Clusters in the Afghan Business Environment: the following clusters have presence in small, medium and big sizes in Afghanistan. These are the clusters that are presently alive and functioning in one way or the other. The country is well famous for some of these clusters such as carpet, dried fruit, lamb skin, etc.
Micro hydro Fresh Vegetable Renewable Energy
Oil Education services Handmade Carpet Metal works Lambskin
Health services Fresh Fruits
Cotton Dried fruits/nut Granit
Media advertizing Photography
Internet services
Lamb wool Horticulture
Marble
Food retail
Gemstone Wood work
Hotelservices Carpentry Transport services air/land Tourism PVCpipes
Painting industry Real estate Carengine repair Wireless telephone services
Construction services ITservices
Household furniture Clothing production Mosaic tiles
Electronics repairservices Leathermanf. Textile& embroidery
Animal husbandry
Figure 7: Clusters in the Afghan business environment. Ovals with green background are clusters in which 27 Afghanistan has comparative advantage
Afghan Marble Cluster Diamond: Marble industry in Afghanistanas a clusterhas great potential to become one of the key clusters to the growth of the Afghan economy in the future. The Diamond for the cluster clearly illustrates competitive advantages and disadvantages in relation to each of the four attributes on the ground. Factor conditions: Quality: almost all reports and studies conducted on Afghan marble have confirmed that the marble in Afghanistan is good quality and in demand e.g. the quality and quantity of Afghan deposits provides a comparative advantage with the industry can leverage to build a competitive advantage. For example the deposits in Chesht and Khogiani are of top quality white marble very similar to Carrara marble from Italy (the OTF group, 2006). Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) states in a report that there are currently 35 types of marble in Afghanistan and 40 different colors. (AISA, 2006) Strategic location: Afghanistan geographically is located in a place that can access easily and with less transportation cost the Middle Eastern and Central Asian market. (Mitchell, 2008) Imported knowledge: Some of the Afghan refugee returnees from Iran have brought with themselves experience in conjunction with processing of marble products. Today, many of the skilled labors in the processing plants in Kabul and Hirat provinces are Afghan returnees from Iran. Poor processing plants: The way Afghan marble is processed, limits the exports and creates inefficiencies throughout the value chain. The existing processing plants can only produce small-size slabs, which remain limited to the domestic market only (The OTF group, 2006). Marble infrastructure: The word infrastructure is not limited to the physical infrastructures only; it also covers the systems and procedures that facilitate development of the cluster. Infrastructures such as roads, power plants, systems and procedures that can facilitate investments is very week and in most cases lack in this country. Specially, power is sporadic and most factories and quarries are forced to rely on expensive generators. This makes the operation cost very expensive and limits investment in the cluster.
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Security: Poor security profile in some quarrying areas makes the cluster vulnerable and discourages the investors to invest. However, northern, central, and western regions are comparatively better. Demand conditions: 100% of processed marble is sold and consumed in the domestic market for local construction. The nature of demand inside the country is not so complicated. The finished products are organized around tiles for construction in different sizes. Size is an important factor in tiles. Unless consumers order for an unusual size, the standard sizes for tiles in the Afghan domestic market are limited to the followings: a) Square tile: 30 cm x 30 cm x 1 cm and 30 cm x 30 cm x 2 cm; b) Rectangular tile: 15 cm x 60 cm x 1 cm and 15 cm x 30 cm x 1 cm; c) Rectangular tile big size: 30 cm x 120 cm x 2 cm and 60 cm x 120 cm to 250 cm x 2 cm. The problem is that not all of the volume that is quarried is processed in the country. A big portion of quarried marble is shipped to the neighbor country, Pakistan for processing purposes; much of this shipping happens illegally. These are often re-imported as higher value-added polished marble product (Mitchell, 2008). The fact that continuous shipments of unprocessed marble to Pakistan is happening and many European and other foreign buyers are asking for Afghan marble indicate a strong export potential. However, what is processed by the domestic processors, are not acceptable for the international buyers in terms of quality of the finished products. This partially explains that the nature of foreign markets for marble seems to be more complicated than the domestic market. Afghan processors cannot meet the standards of foreign markets in terms of quality that comes out of value adding activities such as polishing and finishing. The reason for low quality finished goods/products is influenced by several factors such as lack of technical knowledge, lack of standard and modern equipments and the machineries, lack of energy resources, etc. The other important challenge in demand conditions that exists, is lack of understanding of the requirements of the international buyers. What helps the Afghan producers in this area is to know marketing techniques in one hand and on the other, be equipped with up to date knowledge about the world markets and the nature of their demand and continue to meet those demands/standards.
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Context of firm strategy, structure and rivalry: In terms of legislation, the minerals law of Afghanistan exists that governs the the ownership, control, prospecting, exploration, exploitation, extraction, concentration, processing, transformation, transportation, marketing, sale and export of mineral substances in the territory of Afghanistan (Minerals Law of Afghanistan, 2005). The law supports development of mineral activities through or in association with the private sector, which provides the opportunity for the marble private companies to invest in the industry. Based on this law, clear procedures exist that outlines the duties and responsibilities of the Ministry of Mines and Minerals in regard to the minerals including marble. In addition to the Minerals Law, there exists the Partnership Law of Afghanistan that facilitates and regulates the affairs related to activities and creation of Partnerships between the private sector and the government of Afghanistan. Literally there is a will to develop the sector through the private sector, but actually when it comes to the real world, the practices are not that promising. First of all, the ministrys capacity is limited in terms of initiating policies, strategies and tactics that could further facilitate and enforce development of the sector as well as the cluster. Expertise at the ministry is very focused around the geological aspect of the minerals rather than the business side of it. Most of the personnel at the ministry consist of geology engineers at all levels, e.g., the minister, his deputy, directors of major departments are all geologists whose knowledge remain limited to the technical geological aspects of the minerals. They rarely think about the economy and business part of these god-given gifts in which the nation has comparative advantage. There is a big gap to be filled by new policies and new strategies/tactics that could practically enforce development of businesses, foreign and domestic direct investments in the cluster. E.g., the ministry could initiate penetration pricing policy for couple of years in order to attract investment in the cluster. Currently the Ministrys pricing policy is in no way competitive in compare with the neighboring countries especially Pakistan. See Figure 8 for comparison of the prices of tiles for Afghan marble versus Pakistan, the neighboring country. Looking at the graph, Pakistan marble prices are more competitive against the Afghan marble in terms of price; value added quality, and diversification in types despite the transportation cost for import. In comparison, the Afghan marble is less competitive in terms of price; value added quality; and diversification in type despite being produced within the country and without extra transportation charges. Based on interviews with the marble processing companies, a big portion of the costthrough the value chainis going to the royalty fee imposed by the Ministry of Mines and Industries, which increases the cost of production. Other factors also play a major role such as lack of power and production efficiency as a result of modern equipments and technology.
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The Ministrys knowledge about the marble market and the prices remains very little and insufficient i.e. when the deputy Minster was asked about the prices of marble in the neighboring countries and how his ministry was acting in terms of competitiveness; the answer was simply I dont know. In summary, the ministry is not thinking economically and competitively about the natural resources that it holds, which by itself is a major barrier against development of the sector as well as the cluster.
Figure8:PricefordifferenttypesofPakistaniandAfghanimarbletilesinAfghanmarblemarket.
In addition to the low capacity, lack of knowledge in management and competitiveness, there exist a kind of negative attitude and mentality amongst employees of the government at different levels against the private sector. For example, they dont seem to be enthusiastically cooperative and helpful with the private sector companies as well as other customers e.g. when the author of this paper was dealing with them to collect the relevant data at some departments of the Ministry of Mines, this was very obvious in several occasions. This negative attitude seems to be the most dangerous phenomenon for development of the sector. To overcome this challenge a lot of awareness building and capacity development activities need to be initiated and sustainably followed in the medium and long term. In terms of technical capacity personnel of the Ministry looks to have geological knowledge, but lack the capacity in terms of finances to conduct the required surveys and feasibility studies for the benefit of the private sector investments. The Ministry has put in place standard provisions for contracting the quarrying operations of marble to the private companies. However, some of the provisions dont seem to be
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realistic given the current capacity of the private sector in the country as well as the overall context for business development. Please see Exhibit number three for the translated copy of the standard provisions. Marble companies have problems with several articles such as article number 5, 6, 7, and 9. The rate of royalty fee in Article 5 comes out of the initial price set by the Ministry based on one of the categories in the Table presented at the Exhibit four and a subsequent bidding process, which imposes high royalty fee over the companies on marble extraction in compare with the neighboring countries. Other challenges as a result of the standard provisions are advance payment, mandatory volume of marble to be quarried in each year without consideration of seasonal barriers as a result of weather and week infrastructure such as muddy roads that gets blocked easily in rainy seasons. On top of these, expenses of the geological engineer such as purdiam, transportation cost, and other privileges linked to the regular travels for the purpose of monitoring fall over the shoulders of the contracting company doing the quarrying operation. The business community for marble production is 100% comprised of domestic companies. Foreign Investment has not taken place yet. Much of knowledge of the domestic companies is focused on production and the relevant approaches. Little capacity exists in the business community for business plan writing, etc. (the OTF group, 2006). Credit is difficult to access and expensive. One in fond of access to credit must be equipped with modern business knowledge of proposal writing, budget planning, business plan writing, etc, which is lacking amongst the business community for marble production in Afghanistan. Rivalry remains limited to the domestic companies. Although the size of the Afghan marble industry is not well known, the Association of Marble and Granite Processors of Afghanistan (AMGPA) indicates that there are around 130 factories producing marble across the Figure9:DatasourceisAMGPAandMMI/AGS country (Mitchell, 2008). Most of these companies are small scale producers. The overall context for rivalry is not
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impressive and therefore, the growth of companies has been going through a declining trend. Based on information provided by Mr. Besmella Ebrahimi Director General for Khaled Omid Marble company and a key member of the Afghanistan Marble and Granite Processors Association (AMGPA) 65% of companies that were established with the mandate to work in marble industry have not been productive at all. 14% of companies could only continue to produce till early 2008 and went bankrupt afterwards. Only 16% of companies are functioning at the moment and can continue to produce. Five percent of companies are involved in quarrying operations only. The pie chart shows that clearly: For the purpose of analyzing the productivity of the cluster, the author selected top four leading companies out of 16 that are currently functioning and producing marble tiles. The aggregate amount of production for the Figure10:DatasourceisAMGPAasofDecember2008. four companies seems to be impressive till 2005 and not so well afterwards. The affecting factors for the decline in the production trend generally are those identified in the diamond for the cluster. But the problem mainly stems from the inappropriate context that cannot facilitate healthy and proper development of the cluster. In general, 2008 has not been a productive year for the cluster at all. Even the top performing company that could maintain a gradual growth rate throughout the years failed in 2008 to meet its previous year level of production.
Figure11:DataSource,KhaledOmedMarbleCompanyasofNovember2008.
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Related and supporting industries and institutes: Afghanistans Marble and Granite Processors Association (AMGPA) as a supporting association was created in 2006 by the Afghan marble companies to carry out lobbying and advocacy activities for the benefit of the marble industry in Afghanistan (AMGPA quarterly, 2007). The Association has taken some initiatives to establish relationship with donors, buyers and other supporting agencies on the ground and in the region. As an example, the efforts of marble promotional events such as the big five exhibition and the Afghan Marble Showcase, both held in Dubai in 2007 (Mitchell, 2008) can be noted down as few of the successes for the Association. However, the Association does not have cohesive focus on the industry (the OTF Group, 2006). Based on interviews with members of the Association, the Author found out that there is not adequate transparency in terms of procedures and official relationship in place for the members of the Association. This results very little knowledge sharing between the cluster members (the OTF Group, 2006). This little knowledge and information sharing has been declining trust among the members. A major challenge is financial support. The companies are small scale and therefore, lack capital cost to buy modern quarrying and processing equipments. Supporting financial institutions e.g. banks provide loans with high interest rates that is not affordable by the marble processors. Overall, financial sector constrains development with limited investment and working capital. Few donors are looking at marble industry (the OTF Group, 2006) and so far none has really taken practical step into some kind of investment in the marble cluster. Lack of proper equipment and knowledge leads to extraction methods that ruin the value of the marble. Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprises Development (ASMED) is a program financed by USAID, which provides some minor support to the marble companies. E.g., they have facilitated arrangement of couple of marble exhibition shows in the region such as the big 5 event in Dubai in 2007. Institutional support from the relevant ministries is very poor. In addition to lack of surveying capabilities there exist murky procedures for quarrying rights, land titling issues, etc. (the OTF Group, 2006). Manufacturing companies for equipments and machineries do not exist in country and therefore, all these has to be imported from outside mainly China and Pakistan.
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Cluster Diamond Model:

CONTEXT OF FIRM STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND RIVALRY:
Legislatively minerals law of Afghanistan exists to govern marble quarrying and processing. Partnership law exists to facilitate FDI and DDI. MMI capacity is limited to initiate policies and strategies to create a better environment for marble business. MMI leadership does not think like an economist rather thinks like a geologist. Ministry pricing policy for quarrying is uncompetitive. Negative attitude of government employees. MMIs standard provisions for quarrying is not realistic. Business community lack marketing and business planning knowledge. Rivalry is limited to domestic companies.
FACTOR CONDITIONS: Afghan marble is of best quality and huge

quantity. Strategic location geographically accessible to Middle East and central Asian markets. Some Afghan returnees from Iran are skilled in marble processing. Infrastructure i.e. roads, power plants, systems, and procedures in place is very week and almost inexistent. Security profile is poor in certain parts of the country and good in other areas.
100% of processed marble is liquidated in country. Less sophisticated nature of domestic demand (only some standard sizes). Not all of the quarried marble is processed in country. Some goes to Pakistan. Quality of finished marble products are low and not meeting the international demand. Marble producers lack understanding of the requirements of international buyers.
DEMAND CONDITIONS:
RELATED AND SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES & INSTITUTES:

AMGPA Association as a support agency exist that lobbies and advocates for the cluster. Information sharing lacks amongst the members of the cluster. Loans are available with high interest rates. Institutional support from relevant ministries is poor. Manufacturing companies for equipments and machineries dont exist in country. ASMED provides some minor supports to the marble companies through the AMGPA. Marketing exhibitions is an example of the kind of support they provide to the cluster members. Figure 12: Marble Cluster Diamond
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Marble Cluster Map:

MinistryofMines andIndustries (MMI) Afghanistans MineralsLaw;and PartnershipLaw Illegalquarrying Quarrying Pakistani Processors Profiling Sizing Polishing Finishing Local Processors Private Constructions Government, NGOs, International Construction Companies
Retailers Whole sellers
Processing
Consumption
AfghanistanMarbleand GraniteProcessors Association(AMGPA) Over130Domestic Companies: Someinvolvedinquarry operations; Mostinvolvedin processingactivities. Commercial Competitiveness CommissionofAfghanistan (CCCA) NationalEnvironmental ProtectionAgencyof Afghanistan(NEPA)
Equipment, machinery& spareparts suppliers(China andPakistan) Fueland lubrication suppliers Banks providingloans Private Investors
Export Promotion Agencyof Afghanistan (EPAA)
Ministryof Commerce Internationalfinished productsbuyers Internationalblocksand slabsbuyers
Figure 13: Afghan Marble Cluster Map
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Cluster Diamond Advantages and Disadvantages: Based on the above discussion, the advantages and disadvantages under each of the four attributes in the cluster diamond can be noted as follows: Factor Conditions Advantages: Afghanistan marble is of best quality and is available in huge quantities that can supply the regional as well as the Europe and U.S. markets. Afghanistan has a strategic location that is geographically accessible to Middle East and central Asian markets. Some Afghan returnees from Iran are skilled in marble processing techniques. Factor Conditions Disadvantages: Infrastructure i.e., roads, power plants, systems, and procedures in place are very week and almost inexistent. Security profile is poor in certain parts of the country, especially at the quarry sites. Demand Conditions Advantages: There is high demand for marble in the domestic market. Currently 100% of processed marble is liquidated in country. The nature of demand in the domestic market is less sophisticated at the moment, which does not give a hard time for the processing companies in production. This can be an advantage especially at this time since the marble companies are not well developed yet. Demand Conditions Disadvantages: Not all of the quarried marble is processed within the country. Unknown quantities are illegally quarried and exported to Pakistan for processing. Lack of sophisticated nature of domestic demand would cause less initiative and competition amongst the marble processing companies. Quality of finished marble products are low and not meeting the international demand standards. Marble producers lack understanding of the requirements of international buyers. Related and Supporting Industries Advantages: AMGPA as a support association exist that lobbies and advocates for the cluster. ASMED provides some minor supports to the marble companies through the AMGPA. Marketing exhibitions is an example of the kind of support they provide to the cluster members.
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Related and Supporting Industries Disadvantages: Information sharing lacks amongst the members of the cluster. Banks are available that provide loans but with high interest rates. Institutional support from relevant ministries is poor. Ministry of Mines and Industries does not take initiatives even at the strategy and policy level to further develop the industry and the cluster. Afghanistan lacks manufacturing companies for equipments and machineries for marble processing factories.
Context for Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Advantages: Legislatively minerals law of Afghanistan exists to govern marble quarrying and processing. Partnership law exists to facilitate FDI and DDI. Easy and simple process for registering companies in the real world. Context for Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Disadvantages: MMI capacity is limited to initiate polices and strategies to create a better environment for marble business. MMI leadership does not think like an economist rather they think like geologists. Ministry pricing policy for quarrying is uncompetitive. Government employees have some kind of negative attitude that creates a big obstacle against development of the sector. MMIs standard provisions for quarrying contracts is not realistic. Business community for marble lack marketing and business planning knowledge and skills. Rivalry is limited to domestic companies only. The Five Forces of Porter influencing the Afghan Marble Cluster: Different industries can sustain different levels of profitability; part of this difference is explained by the industry structure (Quick MBA, 2007). Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces (such as bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, threat of entrants, threat of substitute products or services). The collective strength of these forces determines the ultimate profit potential of an industry (Porter, 1998). Porter says, the weaker the forces collectively; however, the grater the opportunity for superior performance. Porter studies the relationship of the forces with the concerned companies in an industry.
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Whatever their collective strength, the corporate strategists goal is to find a position in the industry where his or her company can best defend itself against these forces or can influence them in its favor. The collective strength of the forces may be painfully apparent to all the antagonists; but to cope with them, the strategist must delve below the surface and analyze the sources of each. For example, what makes the industry vulnerable to entry? What determines the bargaining power of suppliers? (Porter, 1998) For the purpose of this paper, to analyze the marble cluster, it is essential to delve below the surface and study each of the forces in greater possible details to find out how they influence the marble cluster in Afghanistan: Threat of new entrants: new entrants to an industry bring new capacity, the desire to gain market share, and often substantial resources. The seriousness of entry depends on two main things: a) the barriers that exist against the new entrants in the business environment and b) the reaction of the existing competitors against the new entrants (Porter, 1998). The barriers in relation to the afghan marble cluster competitiveness are as follows: 1. Economies of scale: for a new entrant into the cluster, it is essential to reduce the unit cost of production in order to be able to compete with the existing companies; to do so the new company needs to establish with large scale. This requires huge capital cost. According to the OTF group estimations, with a minimum project cost of $500,000 for a quarry and over $1 million for a plant it is difficult for SMEs to invest. Most of the businesses operating in the Afghan marble industry today are relatively small and even with loans; they cannot put up 30-40% equity stake (the OTF group, 2006). There is potential for foreign investors to capture economies of scale in Afghanistan and compete very easily with the domestic producers. 2. Product differentiation: brand identification creates a barrier by forcing entrants to spend heavily to overcome customer loyalty (Porter, 1998). However, the marble products in Afghanistan are not known under any specific brand; they are considered as the afghan marble under several different names regardless of the names of the companies who produce them. So, product differentiation does not remain a barrier to entry into the cluster.
3. Capital requirements: as mentioned above, the huge fixed cost plus some variable costs to establish a quarry as well as a processing plant is a real barrier for the new
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entrants. Few banks in Afghanistan are giving business loans to projects of this size. The cost of financing and inability to put together an adequate business plan are further impediments to accessing financing (the OTF group, 2006).
4. Cost disadvantages: there are certain advantages that stem from past experience as companies keep practicing the same manufacturing process for years and years. This is referred to as the experience curve, which gets improving in terms of knowledge and skills of the workers in a company as time goes on. This could be considered a barrier for a new entrant in the afghan marble cluster; however, it is not so serious because the existing competitors practices in terms of the international standards are not so well and therefore, there is potential for a new entrant to establish putting up the standard practice, which has not been experienced by any of the existing practitioners in the cluster. This is true especially with the new technology and machineries innovated for the industry worldwide, but not yet practiced by the afghan processors.
5. Access to distribution channels: the level of production for the domestic marble in Afghanistan is not at a level to require very complicated distribution channel; it is taking place through a number of retail shops at several specified marketplaces for marble. The retail shops are supplied by the marble processing companies. In few cases the SMEs have established their own distribution points, but in general the same retail shops are supplied by the same or different marble processing companies. As a whole, access to distribution channel does not seem to be a serious barrier for the new entrants.
6. Government policy: government has influenced the industry greatly by setting policies that do not easily facilitate the development of the cluster. The pricing policy for quarrying of marble is not fair. Although it is claimed to be through a full and open competitive process, the minimum cost for royalty fee has not been set competitively in compare with the quarries in Pakistan, Iran, and Indiathe neighboring countries. The ministrys not initiating policies, strategies and tactics to facilitate and enforce development of the cluster. As mentioned in previous sections, the expertise at the ministry is very focused around the geological aspect of the minerals rather than the business side of it, which causes the ministry personnel to rarely think about the economy and business part of the mineral industries. There are a lot of rooms for improvement in terms of effective policies and new strategies/tactics, which by itself is the biggest barrier against the development of the cluster at this time. Currently the
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Ministrys pricing policy for quarrying contracts is in no way competitive; this is why 65% of companies that established did not produce a single tile since 2001 and 14% of companies that established could only continue until early 2008. Government policy is the biggest barrier against the development of the cluster at the moment. In addition to the barriers discussed above the potential rivals expectations about the reaction of existing competitors also influences their decision to enter into the marble cluster. However, this does not seem to be a big challenge; it is a matter of establishing good relationship with the existing competitors on the ground. The AMGPA, as the association to promote marble cluster, can always play a positive role in this regard. Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers can exert bargaining power on participants in an industry by raising prices or reducing the quality of purchased goods and services (Porter, 1998). From the authors perspective, suppliers for marble production in Afghanistan are classified into two categories: a) primary suppliers consisting of companies that provide raw materials (blocks) to the processing plants and b) secondary suppliers that include companies that provide machineries, spare parts, and lubrications to both the quarry operations as well as the processing plants. a) Primary suppliers are referred to the block producers that supply the processing plants with raw materialsthe marble blocks. Level of power of the primary suppliers depends on the status of the following conditions influencing their power: Dominance by few quarrying companies: In terms of block suppliers, there are five companies and/or individuals who hold contracts from the Ministry of Mines to do the quarrying operations and supply marble blocks to the processing plants. The limited number of block suppliers is not a good idea for the cluster. The few suppliers can hold the power to squeeze profitability out of the cluster and leaving the cluster unable to recover cost increases. The limited number of block suppliers is because of the unhealthy government policies. Product differentiation: The blocks are mostly extracted by explosives, and therefore producing badly shaped blocks to the processing plants. Only few companies: Mir Limited and Madan Limited use wire saw in Hirat province to produce regular blocks; these are the only two companies producing standard marble blocks to the processing plants. Their products are differentiated; they come with regular shapes reducing the processing wastage to a large extent. Being few and the only producers of differentiated blocks, the two companies have the power of supplying raw materials to the processing plants.
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Integration of suppliers in the actual marble business: Some of the block suppliers are the ones who supply their own processing plants as well as others. This practice gives a weaker position for the rest of the processing plants to compete in terms of production. Importance of marble industry to the block suppliers: Although some of the block suppliers supply their own processing plants they also end up with surplus amount of blocks that they need to sell. Therefore, the marble industry is very important for them to absorb their surpluses. For the rest of the block suppliers the industry is the only source of raw material, except for the ones exporting blocks to other countries. Having said this, the processing plants are not so much under pressure by the suppliers of blocks. But still it is a factor that might give power to suppliers of blocks as situation changes. b) Secondary suppliers are referred to providers of machineries, spare parts, lubrications, fuel, etc. that move the whole process of production in the quarries as well as in the processing plants. The suppliers are usually international companies located outside the country mainly in Pakistan and China. Firstly Afghanistan and secondly marble cluster as a whole is only a minor segment amongst their target buyers. Therefore, they have un-influence-able power over the afghan buyers in the marble cluster. The Afghan members of marble cluster have to follow the overall trend of the market. Bargaining power of buyers: Customers also can force down prices, demand higher quality or more service, and play competitors off against each other (Porter, 1998). The power of buyers depends on the status of the following factors in the afghan marble market: Large-volume purchases: Marble is used as dimension stone for construction purposes; most of the consumers are small private construction projects. Purchases are usually in small scale filling the demand of the domestic buyers; they take place in large-volumes occasionally and only when there are some large construction projects. For example, construction of the new terminal-building for Kabul Airport was one of the large projects, which was supplied with afghan marble dimension stone last year. In summary, purchases are not concentrated or in large volumes to give a powerful position to the buyers; therefore, buyers cannot act collectively and influence the cluster. Differentiation versus standard products: A buyer can be powerful if products it purchases from the industry are standard or undifferentiated (Porter, 1998). As
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mentioned in previous sections, the nature of demand is very simple in the afghan marble market. Marble is consumed only in the form of tiles in several standard sizes for construction purposes. Buyers have stronger position because they can access the same marble sizes from different suppliers. Marble being a component of a larger project: The marble buyers have powerful position in buying marble products because marble is usually used as a single component of a larger construction project. Therefore, the buyers are likely to shop for a favorable price and purchase selectively (Porter, 1998). Threat of substitute products: In Porters model, substitute products refer to products in other industries (Quick MBA, 2007). For example, substitute products for marble tiles are products coming in the form of mosaic tiles, ceramic tiles, granite, and other dimension stones. By placing a ceiling on prices it can charge, the substitute products or services limit the potential of an industry (Porter, 1998). Substitute products for marble tiles in terms of price are much lower and accessible by the average consumersthe largest number of consumers in the segment. Consumers of marble tiles are mostly construction projects; most of the consumers are the average peoplefrom the economic perspectivewho do not prefer costly products. Substitute products are cheaper and available in different colors and designs. The government as well as the members of the marble cluster needs to follow such pricing strategies and tactics that could place the industry in a better position to compete with the substitutes. Rivalry among existing competitors: According to Michael Porter, this rivalry takes the familiar form of jockeying for positionusing tactics like price competition, product introduction, and advertising slugfests (Porter, 1998). This rivalryin the context of the afghan marble marketcan be influenced by different factors such as the following: Number of competitors in the cluster: competitors in the marble cluster are not so many and are limited to the domestic companies. Out of these companies, only 14% that established operations in 2001 have been able to continue operation; the rest gave up and went bankrupt. The competitors are roughly same in size and less different in terms of capacity from each other. Rivalry is not so complicated within the cluster at this time because as the number of companies increases; they have to be still competing for the same number of customers, which makes the nature of competition more complicated. Slow market growth for the cluster: Marble cluster growth is taking place very slowly. The companies need to fight for market share in order to improve revenues as a result of expanded market share.
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Fixed costs: Capital costthe part that goes to fixed costfor establishing of a marble processing plant is huge, which makes the companies to produce near capacity production to attain the lowest unit cost possible. This can result an increase in rivalry, but for the time being, most of the existing companies are same in size as well as in terms of type of technology. Therefore, the rivalry issue is not that hard. Low switching costs: there is no switching cost for marble buyers to change their suppliers. This can result increased rivalry amongst the marble producers. Product differentiation: marble products are limited to dimension stonesusually tiles in different sizes. There is very low level of differentiation; this can also result increased rivalry. Exit barriers: since the capital cost for setting up a marble processing plant is huge, it makes it difficult for a company to withdraw and exit from the business. The equipments and machineries are very specialized to the marble manufacturing; they cannot be sold so easily. To exit from the business is very difficult and almost impossible. Therefore, one needs to continue and compete. Diversity of rivals: Diversity of rivals in terms of culture, type of people, etc. can make an industry unstable (Quick MBA, 2007). Marble processors in Afghanistan are all domestic and coming from the same culture and history; this makes the rivalry understandable and intense.
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VII.
CONCLUSIONS/JUDGMENTS: Overall the cluster is not performing very well; however, there is potential for growth if strategic actions be taken by both the government as a policy maker entity and the private sector doing the actual work in the cluster. The paper concludes all the findings within the four attributes of the cluster diamond. Under each attribute, there are specific conclusions and judgments. Conclusions under the Factor Conditions: Afghanistan marble is of best quality and is available in huge quantities with potential to supply the regional as well as the Europe and U.S. markets. The country has strategic location that is geographically accessible by Middle East and central Asian markets. These are the main factors that can increase the potential of growth for the cluster and can be considered as cluster comparative advantages. However, to have only comparative advantage in a cluster is not sufficient for development and growth. In addition to the comparative advantage, it is necessary to create competitive advantage in order to make the cluster-growth possible. There are other factors that are very fundamental to the development as well as growth of the cluster; these factors are very basic but essential, e.g., infrastructure such as roads, power plants, systems, and procedures in place that play very important role. Unfortunately, these factors are currently very weak in Afghanistan; however, progress is being made, which is promising. Security is another major factor to the development and growth of marble cluster. This is poor in certain parts of the country e.g., south and south east. Conclusions under the Demand Conditions: There is high demand for marble in the domestic market. Currently 100% of processed marble is liquidated in-country. The nature of demand in the domestic market is not sophisticated at the moment, which does not give a hard time for the processing companies in the production process. This can be an advantage especially at this time since the marble companies are not well developed yet. Foreign market demand is sophisticated and the afghan marble producers cannot meet that standard given their current knowledge and quality production capacity. Additionally, the afghan marble producers do not have easy access to the international markets, too. Marble producers lack understanding of the requirements of international buyers.
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Demand for unprocessed marble blocks exists in the form of illegal exports. Not all of the quarried marble is processed within the country. Unknown quantities are illegally quarried and exported to Pakistan for processing. Conclusions under the Related and Supporting Industries: AMGPA as a support association exist that lobbies and advocates for the companies in the cluster. However, information sharing lacks amongst the members of the cluster though they come around the association. The leadership of the association does not play a more proactive and transparent role to keep the members of the cluster in a real team. ASMED provides some minor supports to the marble companies through the AMGPA, e.g., marketing exhibitions in Dubai last year is an example of the kind of support they provided to the marble companies. Banks are available to provide loans but against high interest rates, which does not encourage the investors to invest. Institutional support from the relevant ministries is poor. Ministry of Mines and Industries does not take initiative to innovate such policies and strategies that would further develop the industry as well as the cluster. Afghanistan lacks manufacturing companies for equipments and machineries for marble processing factories. The marble processing companies need to import the machineries from other countries e.g., Pakistan, China, and others. Conclusions under the Context for Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry: In terms of administrative procedures and policies, there is some legislation available; if put into practice, have the potential to facilitate development of the cluster. For instance, minerals law of Afghanistan exists to govern marble quarrying and processing process. Partnership law exists to facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic direct investment (DDI). However, in the real world, nothing considerable is happening in terms of investments. Easy and simple process for registering of companies is in place, which is a good point; however, MMI capacity is limited to initiate polices and strategies to create a better environment for marble business. In general, MMI leadership cannot think like an
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economist; they rather think like geologists. There needs to be some kind of balance that would encourage more investment by the private sector. For example, ministrys pricing policy for royalty cost of quarrying is uncompetitive, which needs to be relooked and updated in a way that addresses the competitiveness of marble quarrying in terms of royalty prices. Throughout the government as whole and in particular at the Ministry of Mines and Industries, one can feel that the government employees have negative attitude towards the private sector; this creates a big obstacle against development of the sector. As a result of this negative attitude, wrong policiessuch as the uncompetitive standard provisions for quarrying contractshave been developed that creates obstacles instead of facilitation. Marble business community lack marketing and business planning knowledge and skills. Rivalry is limited to domestic companies only.
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VIII.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Recommendations are organized around three angles of a triangle consisting of government, the private sector, and the donors. In fact, role of each of the three is very key and essential for the success and development of the cluster. Coordination and cooperation is a must among the three angles.
Donors
Cooperation/ Coordination
Privatesector
Government
Figure14:illustrationofthetriangle
Role of the government Government has critical responsibilities for creation of fundamental factors such as the basic infrastructure (Porter, 1998) like roads, power plants, systems and procedures; currently the government is doing very little to createor at least facilitate creation of these factors. Ministry of Mines and Industriesas the line ministry to push for the cluster growthneeds to create some of these factors that fall under its own scope of work and push for other factors that cut across other governmental ministries and entities. In particular, the ministry can do the followings: Reform the systems and procedures to pave the way for the investors to invest. Currently, the system in placein terms of administrative proceduresis very bureaucratic and time consuming. Additionally, the system is imposing unrealistic conditions over the companies. The companies are trying to emerge but cannot do so within such an environment. Amongst several conditions, the royalty fee is a major one that imposes uncompetitive cost on companies for quarrying of marble. It is strongly recommended that the ministry conducts an in-depth study in terms of prices and conditions for marble quarrying at the neighboring countries and consequently apply the results by updating
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the concerned policies and procedures. In particular, the ministry needs to update the standard provisions for quarrying contracts. Push and facilitatethrough other ministries and entitiesfor creation of factors such as building of roads and power plants in strategic locations necessary for extraction and development of marble quarries with large potential. Conduct fund raising activities and push donors for investing on capacity building activities throughout the various levels and areas such as policy/strategy development, training of the ministrys personnel on management as well as technical areas that would help them learn up-to-date knowledge and practices on new technologies for marble. Create mechanisms such as specialized apprenticeship programs, research efforts in universities connected with the industry, trade association activities etc. Such activities will ultimately contribute in creation of the factors that will yield competitive advantage for the cluster. Government can play indirect role to enforce upgrading of domestic demand by placing standards for product performance, product safety, and environmental impact to improve quality, upgrade technology, and provide features that respond to consumer and social demands (Porter, 1998). This will create good impacts on the foreign demand as well. The government can do this by enforcing realistic and practical regulations and policies to standardize products in terms of quality. The governmentpart of its responsibilities to provide an enabling environment for the private sectorneeds to carry out some of the efforts that cannot be achieved by the private sector alone. For example, R&D is one of such efforts, which seems to be costly to individual companies; companies are likely to under-invest in this because they cannot reap all the benefits. In such cases, the government needs to invest and make the result available to the members of the cluster. The Ministry should enforce the relevant donors to help them in establishment of R&D department within the ministry that would conduct researches and development initiatives for improvement of the cluster. Governments can promote goals that lead to sustained investment. As referred by Porter: government has a vital role in shaping the goals of investors, managers, and employees through policies in various areas. For example, a single most powerful
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tool for raising the rate of sustained investment in the industry is a tax incentive for long term (e.g., five years) investments restricted to new investors. The government needs to enforce strong domestic antitrust policies in order to prevent monopolistic behaviors by the champions of an industry, which usually undermines creation of competitive advantage. So far, the ministry has not put a single step towards absorbing foreign investments. The ministryin order to encourage foreign investmenthas to create the opportunities as well as the enabling environment for it. For example, the ministry needs to create concepts of potential projects and develop request for proposals (RFPs) for certain quarries and invite foreign investors to join the process and invest.
Role of the private sector Ultimately, only companies themselves can achieve and sustain competitive advantage. To do so, they must act on the fundamentals such as recognition of their central role of innovation and the uncomfortable truth that innovation grows out of pressure and challenge. Competitive advantage arises from a leadership that creates dynamic and challenging environment. The marble companies will need to bind together the forces in the diamond. Here are some of the important things that the marble companies could consider: Investment on proper equipments in the quarries as well as in the processing plants to increase productivity and achieve economy of scale. Special focus needs to be made on quarrying equipments. Diamond Wire Saws are now available in the regional markets such as China. Diamond wire saws are very efficient in conducting the quarry extractions; they reduce the loss as well as the damages to the quarries to as low as 7% from 50%-80% that is now taking place through expulsions. Since it needs a large amount of capital cost, one way is to establish joint ventures and concentrate capital. Make the products up to standard in terms of size accuracy and polish. The private sector can arrange training programs for them to achieve that. A little investment in knowledge development can result long-term returns in terms of productivity and profitability.
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Create differentiation of products. This is something that the afghan marble companies have not paid attention to it. They have been producing the same products for years and have not tried to apply differentiation of products. The afghan marble companies need to invest in research and development (R&D), an area that never received attention by the afghan companies; if did, very little. R&D efforts reveal new features of domestic demands, based on which the products can be diversified and can increase potential for product development in the cluster. The other thing that the marble companies can do is to create pressures for innovation. For example, companies can sell to the most sophisticated and demanding buyers and channels; seek out those buyers with the most difficult needs; establish norms that exceed the toughest regulatory hurdles or product standards; source from the most advanced suppliers; treat employees as permanent in order to stimulate upgrading of skills and productivity etc. Marble companies can choose to seek out the most capable competitors as motivators to motivate organizational change. This approach can make the companies learn more and upgrade their knowledge and techniques that would result in product differentiation and improved qualities of their products. Companies need to work towards improvement of their national diamond. The marble companies, part of their responsibilities, should play an active role in forming clusters and to work with its home nation buyers, suppliers, and channels to help them upgrade and extend their own competitive advantage. For the afghan marble companies, the AMGPA, as the association for the cluster members, should try to fill in this gap through establishment of good relationship with the rest of the clusters and industries that are relevant to the marble industry. The companies need to welcome domestic rivalry. To compete globally, a company needs capable domestic rivals and vigorous domestic rivalry. Vigorous domestic rivalry creates sustainable competitive advantage. The afghan marble companies need to research the world market and try to start selecting target markets for the afghan marble.
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Role of donors Much of what is being done today in Afghanistan is on the basis of the international assistance through donor countries. The country is vastly relying on donor assistance and thus the donor community is playing a major role in giving the overall direction to the development of the country and its industries. Donorsas supporting institutionscan do the following: Major donorsinvolved in development assistance to Afghanistansuch as USAID, DFID, etc. should create investment funds within their programs to provide long term development loans to marble investors; up to 100% of project cost should be provided in loans with realistic pay back plan. The fund will provide TA for the quarries and processing plants to work with the management of the enterprises. The assistance provided will include equipment selection and purchasing, set up of the quarries and plants, ongoing operational assistance to maximize efficiency, and marketing support for exports to include trade show participation and sales trips. Design and conduct feasibility studiestogether with the afghan government relevant entitiesin order to identify potential of the existing quarries as well as find out new quarries of best quality marble, which could be designed in the form of new projects and presented to investors. Design and implement specialized Capacity Development programs with the Ministry of Mines and Industries to help them learn programming and strategic thinking about the marble quarries in Afghanistan. Donors in order to foster effectiveness of their aid to Afghanistan can regulate their assistance to increase domestic demand by enforcing policies and regulations that would make them to buy from the domestic market. The nature of their demand would contributeto a large extentin up-gradation of the products in terms of quality and standardization within the cluster.
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IX.
APPENDIXES: Exhibit number one: Worldwide standard versus Afghan domestic practices in marble quarrying and processing Exhibit number two: Afghanistan GDP performance versus neighboring countries in the region. Data source: CIA The World Fact Book (https://www.cia.gov) Exhibit number three: Ministry of Mines standard provisions for quarrying contracts. The translation is selective and covers articles 5, 6, 7, and 9 only. Exhibit number four: Table of initial prices fixed by the Ministry of Mines for royalty fee
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X.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Printed Books and/or Articles Zahir Tanin (2001), Afghanistan throughout the 21st Century, London. Clive Mitchell (2008), Afghanistan Revival & Redevelopment, Kabul. AISA (2006), Afghanistan Investment Opportunities with Regional Significance, New Delhi. John Shroder (2008), Afghanistans Development and Functionality: Renewing a Collapsed State, Omaha: Springer David M. Sutphin and Greta J. Orris (2007), Preliminary Non-fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan: Dimension Stone, Kabul. G. G. Hyden (1982), Geo-structure report of Kabul region, Kabul. Stephen G. Peters and others (2007), Preliminary Non-fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan, Kabul. Thomas P. Dolley (2004), Stone Dimension, Kabul. Charles W.L. Hill (2003), International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, New York: McGraw-Hill. Michael E. Porter (1998), On Competition: A Harvard Business Review Book, Boston: HBS Press. Rob Henning and Others (2006), The OTF group: Afghanistan Competitiveness Project Key Document Library, Kabul. The OTF Group (2006), Business Plan template, Kabul. Minerals Law of Afghanistan (2005), Article four: Ownership of Minerals, Kabul. MMI (2005), Tables of Initial Pricing for the Royalty Fee, Kabul.
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AISA (2008), Market Prospect report: A country abundantly rich in natural resources, Kabul.
CPHD (2007), Afghanistan Human Development Report, Kabul: Saboor Printing Press. Da Afghanistan Bank (2007), the Central Bank report entitled Afghanistan Economy: An Overview, Kabul. World Bank (2005), Afghanistanmanaging public finance for development, Kabul. William G. Zikmund (2002), Business Research Methods, Oklahoma.
Websites AGS (2008) AGS [internet]. Afghanistan, AGS. Available from: <http://www.bgs.ac.uk/AfghanMinerals/scripts> [Accessed October 2008]. MoMI (2008) MoMI [internet]. Afghanistan, MoMI. Available from: <http://www.mom.gov.af/index.php> [Accessed October 2008]. HUADA Wire Saw Machines (2008) HUADA Wire Saw Machines [internet]. China, wire saw for marble quarrying. Available from: <http://www.wiresawmachine.com/En/wiresaw-quarry-marble.htm> [Accessed October 2008]. Vacanze in Versilia (2008) Vacanze in Versilia [internet]. Italy, Extraction Techniques for Marbel. Available from: <http://www.vacanzeinversilia.com/eng/escavazione.html> [Accessed October 2008]. DON DOUGAN (2008) DON DOUGAN [internet]. Rome, Traditional Process, Spliting and cutting. Available from: <http://dondougan.homestead.com/TheProcess4_History.html> [Accessed October 2008]. Corentin Wauters (2006) Corentin Wauters [internet]. Rome, A History Carved in Marble. Available from: <http://www.theromanforum.com/articolo.asp?ID=296> [Accessed October 2008].
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Cutting Edge Services Corp. (2008) Cutting Edge Services Corp. [internet]. Batavia, Diamond Wire Sawing. Available from: <http://www.cuttingedgeservices.com/diamond.html> [Accessed October 2008]. Dr. S. N. Wahy & U. K. Jha (2003) Center for Development of Stones (CDOS) [internet]. India, Innovation in quarry front (Galli) cutting technology. Available from: <http://www.cdos-india.com/Papers%20technical.htm> [Accessed October 2008]. G.J. Gyani, Amit Lunia, & Deependra Pareek (2003) Center for Development of Stones (CDOS) [internet]. India, Quality Management Practices in Dimensional Stones. Available from <http://www.cdos-india.com/Papers%20technical.htm> [Accessed October 2008]. Georg Blank (2008) Georg Blank [internet]. China, Gang Saw versus Diamond Wire Saw. Available from: <http://www.graniteland.com/infos/production/gang-saw-diamondwire-saw> [Accessed October 2008]. Michael Reis (2008), World Stone [internet]. Italy, World Stone. Available from: <http://www.stoneworld.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-52006_A_10000000000000103589> [Accessed October 2008]. Society & Culture Association (2008) Society & Culture Association [internet]. Research Methodologies Defined. Available at: <http://www.ptc.nsw.edu.au/scansw/socultworld.html> [Accessed December 2008]. Skill4Study (2008) Skill4Study [internet]. Choosing appropriate research methodologies and methods. Available from: <http://www.palgrave.com/skills4study/studentlife/postgraduate/choosing.asp#Introductio n> [Accessed December 2008].
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Exhibit number one: Worldwide standard versus Afghan domestic practices in marble quarrying and processing Quarrying (Mining): This section intends to explain: a) the standard methods of marble extraction practiced by quarrymen of some of the famous countries in the industry, and b) the Afghan current extraction practices. Before getting to the details of todays standard practices in marble quarrying, it is worth to have some background on the history of quarrying and how it improved throughout the centuries. Indeed, up till the 16th century, the techniques used for the development of the marble basins had been directly inherited by the Roman quarrymen of the first Figure 15: Splitting stone by centuries before Christ and consisted of the careful use of the feathers, wedges, and hammer in subtle cracks which divide the different layers of marble. old days. www.dondougan.com (http://www.vacanzeinversilia.com/eng/escavazione.html) Historically, one of the most common methods of splitting stone has been achieved with either boring a row of holes or carving a trough across the area to be parted and then wedging the material apart. One method used by various cultures, including ancient Egypt and Rome, drove dry wooden wedges into the trough, and then soaked the wood wedges with water, which subsequently expanded and split the blocks in two. (http://www.vacanzeinversilia.com/ eng/escavazione.html) The slaves, thanks to metallic chisels and wooden wedges which were inflated with water and then placed inside the natural cracks, easily managed to separate the marble blocks from the mountain which were then transported down to the bottom of the valley. Back Figure 16: Quarryman then, the lizza was used for transport (a hand sawing the stone in old days. large sledge secured by a metallic cable which slided on lubricated logs). (http://www.vacanzeinversilia .com/eng/escavazione.html)
Figure 17: Block of stone being transported with lizza. (www.vacanzeinversilia.com)
The use of saw to work stone has been circumscribed historically by the relative hardness of the material to be cut and the materials available to make the tool. Because of
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this, the operation of sawing stone was limited to cutting either very soft stone, or to cutting relatively small blocks of stone. (http://dondougan.homestead.com/TheProcess4_History.html) With the arrival of explosives, the excavation procedures changed drastically. The large buildups of debris, which were witness of the large waste of marble products, due to the explosions appeared everywhere. Little by little, the first industrial activities linked to the working of the marble begun, with factories for the cutting and polishing of slabs. Figure 18: Helicoidally wire saw being used These first productive units concentrated themselves at the marble quarry in early 19th. at the bottom of the valley in order to benefit from the (www.dondougan.com) hydraulic energy generated by the rivers. (http://www.vacanzeinversilia.com/eng/escavazione.html) Though in the Renaissance4 a man named Leonardo da Vinci devised a machine that would allow several slabs to be cut simultaneously by a two-man team, until the industrial revolution the use of the saw in the stone industry was usually on a single-user scale. (http://dondougan.homestead.com/TheProcess4_History .html) The helicoidally5 wire that was used to cut the stone from the end of the 19th century onwards represented a real revolution. This metallic cable, capable of digging in the stone, pressured together with a mix of water and sand, substituted almost completely the explosives and determined another visible change in the landscape. The mountain stopped being destroyed, leaving behind piles of wreckage, and begun to be literally cut, sculpted with precision, creating surreal Figure 19: Diamond wire saw being used at the marble quarry
the modern practice of quarrying. (www.fztsy.com)
n. (c. 1350-1600) revival of the arts and learning that began in Italy and spread throughout Europe (most often associated with the works of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante, and Da Vinci) (Babylon English-English electronic Dictionary, version 6) The helicoidally wire saw was introduced in 1895. A system of pulleys and a helicoidally wire, a cable made up of three steel wires wound together, meant the rock could be cut without breakage. Two years later, an Italian engineer named Monticolo invented the penetrating pulley, increasing the efficiency of the wire. This system was used until it was replaced in 1978 by the diamond wire used today. (http://www.theromanforum.com/articolo.asp?ID=296)
5 4
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landscapes made of huge flights of steps, and platforms called quarry warehouses, where the stone is cut and prepared for transport. Once the long and tormented period of the lizza, the period of the four wheeled carts driven by ox and the short period of the marble train, the quarries are today equipped with installations which allow for the cutting of enormous masses which are then reduced to smaller blocks, which in their turn are sent by truck to the sawmills, the factories and the port. (http://www.vacanzeinversilia. com/eng/escavazione.html) The helicoidally wire system was used until it was replaced in 1978 by the diamond wire used today. Further developments came in the twentieth century, with diamond blades, diamond saws and pneumatic drills replacing the ancient arts of the marble workers. Marble production improved in efficiency, reducing costs significantly. (http://www.theromanforum.com/articolo.asp ?ID=296) Current Standard Quarrying Practice: A number of quarrying techniques have been developed and implemented for extraction of dimensional stones e.g. controlled blasting, feather and wedge technique, wire/chain sawing, slot drilling, drill and blast techniques swelling material, and diamond wire saw/chain saw/belt saw cutting (Gyani, Lunia, & Pareek, 2003). Today most of the marble extractions are made by diamond wire saw machines, which was successfully applied in the early 1980's. Much of the success of the wire saw is due to the increase in productivity acquired. The job is completed in less time and with less manpower than required by conventional demolition methods such as explosives and the like that creates a considerable amount of noise, dust, vibration and the damages to the quarry. The diamond wire saw on the other hand, creates very little noise, no dust, and does not weaken/damage the surroundings. Also, the length of the wire is virtually unlimited - any size cut can be made. In operation, the diamond-embedded wire is driven and guided by a pulley system. The guide wheels or pulleys are mounted near the structure to be removed and generally are no larger than 16 centimeters in diameter. The power unit can be placed several meters from the work area. (http://www.cuttingedgeservices.com/diamond.html) The quarrying operation, literally, consist of a number of steps throughout the process: A) Analysis of mining feasibility followed by exposing the unproductive materials from the top of the quarry;
Figure 20: Drawing of two drills making vertical and horizontal holes at an ideal quarry (Wahy & Jha, 2003).
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B) Hole-drilling is one of the most important steps. The work starts by making back vertical and bottom horizontal holes. These holes are supposed to facilitate the diamond wire to pass through them for further cutting operation. (Wahy & Jha, 2003). Slim Drill/Line Drill machines are usually used for this purpose. While drilling the holes, hole-finder machine is used to check for the proper matching of holes. Using Italian hole-finder machine/laser technique is advisable; C) Diamond Bead Wire Saw Machine/Built Saw is set up. Diamond Beaded Wire is passed through the holes and mounted on the machine for imparting vertical/horizontal cuts to the rock; D) When cuts are complete, the block of rock is parted from the mother rock using the air pillow, hydro bags and Figure 21: Block being loaded on minor quantities of explosives sometimes within the truck (www.vacanzeinversilia.com) feasible gap in between; E) The parted block using excavator machines is made to fall in a prepared bed of loosened soil and slit to avoid the development of any cracks within it; F) Experts from the relevant ministry are called to examine the block for cracks and quartz. The experts mark the blocks for line of cutting to maximize the yield. Holes are drilled along the marked lines to perforate the large rock into smaller blocks suitable for loading onto trucks. The perforated rock is then Figure 22: Irregularly shaped blocks after explosion in Khogiani quarry. broken down systematically into marked fragments Photo by Rahim Yahya using feather and wedge methods. Un-sized blocks are also the output of this process; and G) The sized blocks are loaded by cranes onto trucks and dispatched to their respective destinations, the processing plants (Gyani, Lunia, & Pareek, 2003). The Afghan Quarrying Practice: Figure 24: Marble being wasted at the Afghanistan quarrymen mostly use quarry in Khogiani as a result of explosion. Photo by Rahim Yahya explosives in exploitation of the marble quarries, a method that stopped a century ago when helicoidally wire saw was introduced in 1895 (http://www.theromanforum.com/articolo.asp?ID=296).
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Figure 23: Marble tile produced with cracks as a result of explosion at the quarry. (Rathore & Bhandari 2003)
The USGS Preliminary Non-fuel Mineral Resources Assessment of Afghanistan quotes from the USAID, OTF Group study on Afghanistan Competitiveness Project that dimension stone industry has great potential to become one of the leading industries in the Afghan economy. However, that potential is being held back by inefficient practices (USAID and others, 2006). Difficulties begin at the quarry where black powder is used in blasting, which damages the rock by causing it to micro fracture resulting in material being wasted. Some dimension stone deposits have been effectively ruined by fracturing resulting from overuse of explosives. Blasting produces small (8 to 10 metric tons) irregular pieces; over 50 percent of which is wasted in processing (Sutphin and Orris, 2007). The Standard Provisions prepared by the Ministry of Mines and Industries does not include any article that prohibits use of explosives in the quarries. (Please see Exhibit number three for the Standard Provisions under quarrying contracts) Use of modern diamond wire saw is very limited and almost not existing. There is only one contractor that uses diamond wire saw machine for extraction at Chesht quarry in Hirat province (General Amrulla Nazari, President of the Afghan Marble and Granite Association, 2008). All the rest uses explosives that not only produces low quality marble but also destroys the quarry by making fractures throughout the mine. The marble exploitation work currently in Afghanistan is done only by domestic companies and/or individuals, who get permission from the Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) represented by Ministry of Mines and Industries (MMI) through a so far called full and open competition process (Eng. Mohammad Akram Ghyasi, Deputy Minister for MMI). The process for quarry extraction goes as follows: a) Usually a company or an individual, who wants to get a quarrying contract from MMI, submits application to the MMIs Afghan Geological Survey (AGS), Department of Minerals Extraction. b) The ministry after full and open competition signs contract with the company or the individual who is paying the highest amount for the particular volume of rock. After signing the agreement, the contractor has to start the operation by coordinating it with the host communities living around the quarry site otherwise it is almost impossible for an outsider to go and start work without proper negotiation and agreement with the local community leaders. Usually the communities impose conditions over the investing company or the individual who does the extraction at the quarry. The basic conditions are: a) all or most of the employees working at the quarry should be hired from the local community; and/or b) some one from the community should have stake to the quarrying part of the business. In some cases both conditions must be met by the investor (Aimal Momand, CEO of National Marble Company in Jalalabad).
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c) A representative from MMI usually a geology Engineer is assigned to accompany the contractor to the quarry site. The Engineer sketches the area that is allowable for the contractor to do the extraction work. The quarrying operation will be limited only to the area sketched and no further (Besmellah CEO of Omed Marble Company in Kabul). d) The contractor, at his own cost, needs to construct a road. The length of the road varies depending on the location of the quarry from the nearest road that connects to the district road. e) The next step is to install a compressor machine that is connected to drills. Using the drills, vertical holes in depth of almost one meter, spaced about 20 to 50 centimeters are made into the rock to cover an area of 5 meters width and around 100 meters length. f) The holes are filled with explosive material the so far called black powder and than blasted by using delay detonators, raydet, and cord relays. g) Once the explosion is done, the usable blocks are loaded onto trucks by cranes/winches and transported to the processing plants that are usually located far from the quarry sites (Aimal Momand, CEO of National Marble Company in Jalalabad). This way of quarrying produces a lot of irregularly shaped pieces of stone which are difficult to process and much of which are wasted. Furthermore, blasting causes micro-fractures through the stone, resulting in a lot of breakage Figure 25: Marble quarry damages as a result during cutting and polishing. This not only of explosions. (Rathore & Bhandari, 2003) creates these micro fractures in the quarried stone but can also do so in the entire quarry, destroying a great deal of the value of the stone (the OTF Group, 2006). Role of the government: The Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) is involved in this industry through the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Industries (MMI). By law, GIRoA/MMI owns all the quarries and mines in Afghanistan. The Minerals Law of Afghanistan states: All naturally occurring Mineral Substances and all Artificial Deposits of Mineral Substances on or under the territory of Afghanistan or in its water courses rivers and streams are the exclusive property of the State. (Minerals Law of Afghanistan, 2005). Chapter two, Article six of the Minerals Law of Afghanistan outlines the duties and authorities of MMI in regard to the minerals. Some of the relevant paragraphs have been quoted from the law as follows:
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1. Formulate and implement policies relating to Minerals and their development in Afghanistan, including policies for the promotion of private investment in Mineral Activities; 2. Propose to the Council of Ministers for its approval the classification, declassification or reclassification of an area as a Prohibited Area for Mineral Activities; 3. Propose to the Council of Ministers for its approval the classification, declassification or reclassification of a Mineral or a Mineral Substance as a Precious Metal", "Gemstone", "Ornamental Stone" or "Restricted Substance; 4. propose to the Council of Ministers for its approval the classification, declassification or reclassification of Deposits of Mineral Substances as Mines or Quarries; 5. Accept or refuse the extension of a License or other Mineral Right to associated or non-associated substances; 6. Cancel or withdraw Licenses or other Mineral Rights, accept declarations of relinquishments of Mineral Rights and certify the expiry of Mineral Rights; 7. Grant or refuse to grant Licenses and to establish the particular rights and obligations attaching thereto; 8. Propose to the council of ministers for its approval of the execution of Mining contracts with other persons for the implementation of Mineral projects; 9. Propose to the council of ministers for its approval the Deposits which are subject to tender or are to be awarded on the basis of a Mining contract; 10. Approve and register transfers of security interests in Licenses and other Mineral Rights; 11. Authorize the processing, transformation, transportation, marketing, sale and/or export of Mineral Substances; 12. Supervise and investigate the Mineral activities of public entities or other institutions which have invested in the public sector of Mineral activities; 13. Assess and ensure the collection of Mineral Royalties; 14. Assess and ensure the collection of Surface Rights Fees and the fees referred to in Article 8, paragraph 2, section 26.; The Ministry has categorized the Afghan marble quarries into four categories based on factors such as color, density, block productivity, shining, polish-ability, texture, pattern, and potential size of the quarry. The below table shows specifications for each of the categories (MMI, 2008):
Article 8, paragraph 2, section 2 obliges the government to collect Surface Rights Fees, in accordance with the provisions of article 64 of this law and to transfer such amounts to the relevant bank account.
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Categories
Descriptions
First Category
Second Category
Third Category
Fourth Category
80 to 100% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Chesht quarry in Hirat province (white), Khogiani/Shirzad quarry of Nangarhar province (white), Qalamkar quarry of Kabul province (pink) 60 to 80% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Gazak quarry of Kabul province (black), Maidan quarry of Wardak province (white close to gray), Khairkhana quarry of Kabul province (white close to green), Salang quarry of Parwan province (white with black lines), Pajshir province quarry (white). 40 to 60% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Tara Khil quarry of Kabul province (white close to green), Bi Bi Tandori and Do Boland quarry of Kabul Province (Cream, light yellow). 20 to 40% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Toop Koh of Parwan province (gray).
Initial Price (minimum royalty fee)7 450 to 500 Afs ($9 to $10)
350 to 400 Afs ($7 to $8)
250 to 300 Afs ($5 to $6)
100 to 200 Afs ($2 to $4)
In summary, role of the government remains limited only to the Quarrying part of the business throughout the whole value chain. To date as of November 2008 Squaring and chamfering (preparing the blocks)/Dressing: Under the standard practices, usually before the extracted blocks are dispatched and loaded on trucks to the processing plants, they receive the necessary inspection Figure 26: Marble block being squared for quality for any at the processing plant. possible cracks and (www.wiresawmachine.com) other lines which decide the quality of product by the relevant experts at the quarry site. Once the blocks are unloaded at the processing plants, they are set for removing of wastage and dressing of the blocks as per the size of the gang Figure 27: Marble irregularly shaped
blocks transported to the processing plant for cutting. Photo by Rahim Yahya
The initial price (minimum price) for each of the categories is set and announced by MMI in the bidding process through a full and open competition process.
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saw machines and cutting direction and angle (Gyani, Lunia, & Pareek, 2003). The dressing operation can be achieved by using the diamond wire saw at the plant as you see the picture. This is an important part of the process especially when the company prepares the blocks for export and not for its own use. In Afghanistan since the companies use explosive materials at the quarrying operations they come up with irregularly shaped blocks, which is very difficult to get through the squaring and chamfering process, that is why they directly put them under the gang saw for further cutting into slabs, without squaring or chamfering. On the other hand, the quarrying companies do not have the appropriate equipments and machinery to produce proper blocks of marble to the processing plants. Therefore, they provide the processing plants with the irregularly shaped blocks and the plants use those bad shaped blocks for further profiling, which ends up with a lot of wastage of stones. Profiling (cutting into wide slabs): After the blocks are small enough to be transported from the quarry to the processing plant, the rough blocks need to be cut into dimensional stones. Generally the next type of saw used is a large power-driven saw called Gang Saw. Older versions of this type of saw had steel blades that used the abrasive slurry in much the same manner as the wire saw in the quarry. During the last several decades the traditional abrasive-slurry method has been almost completely replaced by more efficient and faster-cutting blades fitted with diamond-embedded teeth. However, the basic water-fed design of the Multi-bladed Gang Saw is almost unchanged, and the time required to saw completely through a large (http://dondougan.homestead.com/The quarry block is measured in hours. Process4_History.html). The process starts by fixing the block on the trolley of the Gang Saw for trimming/sawing to produce wide slabs. After trimming, blocks are processed on smaller circular saws, which result in different sizes of tiles, e.g., 30 mm and 40 mm in thickness depending on the size of the final tile. The gang-saw is more suitable for mass production of thin slabs. In fact, normally there have to be used two (or four, or eight) machines in order to guarantee a continuous material output to the polishing line. As the machine needs Figure 28: Multi-bladed Waterfed Gang Saw being used to cut about two and half days for cutting one loading, it is a block into thirty-eight slabs. necessary that while one machine is working, the other (www.dondougan.com)
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machine can be unloaded. Apart from block-squaring for fitting them into the gangsaws without loosing space, the application of a diamond wire saw is more for the production of few Figure 29: Diamond Wire Saw slabs, of more expensive material being used for profiling special and different thickness. This would Figure 30: Circular saw being used for cutting small block shape marble surfaces absolutely not be economical to do into slabs (HAUDA with a gang-saw. Also cutting speed is quite different between the two systems: a gang saw cuts at a speed of 5 cm/h, a diamond wire saw at about 100 cm/h. Therefore, when there is a frequent need of few slabs or thick slices in short time, you use a stationary wire saw, if you need lots of thin slabs continuously, you go for a gang-saw. So the two systems are complementing each other. There are some further advantages of a wire saw. A wire saw can be used can be used on granite as well as on marble, travertine, etc.; there are no vibrations; it does not make any noise; it can be installed outside; it has got low shipping costs for the wire against higher costs for the blades of a gang saw; water recycling is less complicated as there is no steelshot; it needs much less space (http://www.graniteland.com/infos/production/ gang-sawdiamond-wire-saw). Circular saws are also used for cutting the blocks into slabs, though circular saws are used mostly for multi-cutting/sizing the slabs into smaller tiles. However, application of circular saws is limited to cutting of the small blocks. In Afghanistan, most of the
Figure 32: Gang saw being used for cutting a bad shaped block into slabs at Khaled Omed processing plant in Kabul
marble processing plants use small gang saws and circular Figure 31: Circular saw being saws to cut the blocks into used for cutting small block into slabs in Khaled Omed processing slabs. The gang saws are of plant in Kabul medium size that cuts blocks into maximum number of up to 15 slabs at a time. Most Figure 33: Water-fed Circular of the Afghan processing plants are equipped only with Saws for cutting slabs of marble one or two gang saw plus one or two circular saws. They Photo from courtesy of UN Industrial
Development Organization
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process the bad shaped blocks of marble as a result of explosions at the quarry sites. First of all, fitting these irregularly shaped blocks onto the trolleys of the gang saw machine is time consuming. Secondly, much of the stone is wasted during cutting operation because the blocks come with micro fractures which are invisible first, but as soon as the operation goes further they break up because of the vibrations at the time of cutting they receive from the gang saw machine. Multi-cutting (sizing): Though the Circular Saw blade was first fitted with diamond teeth back in the 19th century by Henry Disston & Sons, it is still the most used type of saw for cutting stone slabs. Large versions are all designed to be used with a constant water-feed, but in the last thirty years smaller 'dry-cutting' blades have become common for the individual user (http://dondougan. homestead.com/TheProcess4_History.html). Circular saws are used mostly at the multi-cutting/sizing of slabs into different sizes of tiles at the processing plants. As soon as the blocks are trimmed into slabs, they come to the multi-sizing section for producing the actual tiles. The slabs are ultimately split horizontally. The calibrated tiles are then sent to polishing section. The afghan processors use circular saws to cut the slabs into small pieces of tiles based on the order they receive from their customers/consumers. Overall, this part of the business works well technically though they are not so well equipped with more modern and automated technology. Polishing/finishing: Michael Reis of World Stone explains the polishing stage of marble tiles in standard practices as follows: during the operation, the split, semi-finished pieces which have a thickness of about 11 mm are gauged and pre-polished, and the resulting pieces have a thickness of 10.2 mm. Consequently, a polyester resin product is then automatically distributed as needed on the pre-polished surface. Since this resin-application step is for treating very small pores on the marble surface, the line uses polyester resin, which has a lighter consistency that allows it to flow into these small voids with optimum efficiency. After the resin is applied, the tiles receive their final polish, which has usually between 10 to 20 polishing heads. Two sides of the tiles are then chamfered (beveled), and any possible resin residue is removed from the sides. The work piece then moves on to a crosscutting unit, which trims the tiles to their exact final size using diamond blades.
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Once the tiles have completed the production cycle, they are transferred to an electronic control station to have their dimensions checked, and to ensure that the required quality level has been reached. The tiles are then sorted and classified according to color using a high-tech automated system. This system is able to automatically separate the tiles, and place material within a certain color classification in the designated area. The tiles are then automatically boxed, and the boxes are marked with the relevant information regarding color, type, etc. (Reis, 2008) In Afghanistan, the processing plants are not so automated yet. The larger slabs are handled with small winches, while the smaller and medium sizes are handled by hand when moving from one stage to the other within the plant. The polishing equipments are mostly single headed and very labor intensive. Only a few plants have recently been equipped with multi-headed polishing machines that can produce better quality product in lesser time.
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Exhibit number two: Afghanistan GDP performance versus neighboring countries in the region. Data source: CIA The World Fact Book (https://www.cia.gov)
Figure 34: Afghanistan GDP performance versus neighboring countries in the region. Data source: CIA The World Fact Book (https://www.cia.gov)
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Exhibit number three: Ministry of Mines standard provisions for quarrying contracts. The translation is selective and covers articles 5, 6, 7, and 9 only. Article number 5: Bidding takes place based on royalty fee of Afs## (initial price is fixed based on the table in the exhibit number four). Article number 6: The annual volume of marble to be quarried has to be ##MT in the first year and ##MT in the second year and so on. until fifth year. In the subsequent yearsafter the fifth yearthe contractor has to add 10% on top of the previous quarried volume. In case the contractor fails to do so, he/she has to pay the full amount regardless of the actual quarried volume even if it is less than the contracted volume. If the extraction exceeds the 10%, the contractor has to obtain permission form the ministry. Article number 7: The contractor has to make the payment in advance and on quarterly basis. In case it fails to make it on time and delays up to one month, the ministry would charge a 1% of fine for each month of delays. If the situation continues up to three months, the contract will be terminated. Article number 9: The monitoring engineer from the Ministry of Mines receives salary from the Ministry; however, the contractor has to pay the other expenses such as transportation, perdium, and other privileges to the assigned engineer.

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Exhibitnumberfour:TableofinitialpricesfixedbytheMinistryofMinesforroyaltyfee
Categories
Descriptions
First Category
Second Category
Third Category
Fourth Category

80 to 100% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Chesht quarry in Hirat province (white), Khogiani/Shirzad quarry of Nangarhar province (white), Qalamkar quarry of Kabul province (pink) 60 to 80% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Gazak quarry of Kabul province (black), Maidan quarry of Wardak province (white close to gray), Khairkhana quarry of Kabul province (white close to green), Salang quarry of Parwan province (white with black lines), Pajshir province quarry (white). 40 to 60% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Tara Khil quarry of Kabul province (white close to green), Bi Bi Tandori and Do Boland quarry of Kabul Province (Cream, light yellow). 20 to 40% in compliance with the above specifications; e.g. Toop Koh of Parwan province (gray).
Initial Price (minimum royalty fee)8 450 to 500 Afs ($9 to $10)
350 to 400 Afs ($7 to $8)
250 to 300 Afs ($5 to $6)
100 to 200 Afs ($2 to $4)
THEEND
***
The initial price (minimum price) for each of the categories is set and announced by MMI in the bidding process through a full and open competition process.
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Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

This research is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan.

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

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Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Related and supporting industries

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Figure 5: Source is Afghanistan Central Bank Report

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

CONTEXT OF FIRM STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND RIVALRY:

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Oil Education services Handmade Carpet Metal works Lambskin

Health services Fresh Fruits

Cotton Dried fruits/nut Granit

Media advertizing Photography

Lamb wool Horticulture

Gemstone Wood work

Hotelservices Carpentry Transport services air/land Tourism PVCpipes

Painting industry Real estate Carengine repair Wireless telephone services

Construction services ITservices

Household furniture Clothing production Mosaic tiles

Electronics repairservices Leathermanf. Textile& embroidery

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya

Research On Afghanistans Marble Cluster Competitiveness ByMirAbdulRahimYahya