Business View Magazine | July 2019

225 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 THE MD CHARLTON COMPANY LTD . comes from Canada. Seventy-five percent of the company’s business is with various Canadian law enforcement agencies –“anyone from the Vancouver Police Department, to the RCMP, to certain attachments, to the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police), the Montreal Police, the Newfoundland Constabulary, etc. There are approximately 60,000 policemen in Canada. They put out bids for certain products and accoutrements they require,” says Rossa. “Another 15 percent is dealer sales. We distribute to about 100 dealers in Canada – accoutrements, and firearms “ Regarding competition within the sector, Rossa says that, originally, there were two main competitors - MDC and a company called R. Nichols. “We were serious competitors,” he relates. “But, for instance, I carried Pepsi, he carried Coke; I carried Kleenex, he carried Charmin. So, we had different lines that we carried. But, in 2010, the company was sold to a venture capital group and in 2014, they went bankrupt. So, there was a big disturbance in the marketplace. When that happened, a lot of ex-employees of R. Nichols, and smaller companies came in, and started setting up shop, but, we’re the largest. I’m not exclusive, I’m exclusive for lines. The thing I pride our company upon is that at MDC, we’re innovators; we’re constantly looking for new products and technologies to bring into the Canadian marketplace. When we bring those, our salespeople go in and demonstrate the products to the agencies, to their training sergeants, to the training academies in each province, so they can bring it to their hierarchy to see if they can acquire the technology.” Speaking of new technology, Rossa says that MDC recently put out an RFP for a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. “We’ve been hand-tied for technology for some time now,” he notes. “It’s been one of the difficult parts of the business; we haven’t been able to find the right software to focus and run our business, because it’s a unique business. We’re dealing in multiple warehouses, multiple currencies, and multiple lines from retail,