Re: [Leica] Economics 101

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Whew! I was beginning to feel as if I had insulted somebody! You are right,
too- look at what the Japanese did to compete with Mercedes. Toyota had
consumer confidence in their cars that rivaled Mercedes, but the went even
further- and voila! The Lexus. It also is about as costly as Krupp steel,
but the quality and marque are still there.
dwpost@msn.com
- -----Original Message-----
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Saturday, January 31, 1998 11:10 AM
Subject: [Leica] Economics 101

>At 10:59 PM 1/30/98 EST, Tom Shea wrote in response to the following:
>>><< I think the Elves of Solms Know how to make a superior lens; The
Japanese
>>>do too, but, they opt for a large quantity of lower priced lenses, made
to
>>> standards lower than we expect, and they are made by folks on an
assembly
>>> line who understand too little-  >>
>>
>>This is a silly, provential attitude.
>
>
>No, it is neither silly nor provincial.  The Japanese are masters at
>determining what the market wishes to pay and achieving a decent product at
>that price;  the Germans tend to toss reason overboard and build the
>absolute best without regard for price or market realities.  (As my
>co-author, Charlie Barringer, has noted:  "when did economic reason ever
>beseige the Zeiss concerns?")
>
>Thus, Japanese products, in general, are built to lower standards than are
>German goods, something the Japanese acknowledge -- that is why
>Yashica/Kyocera insist that the inspectors in the Contax SLR lens works are
>employees of Carl Zeiss and not of Kyocera, to ensure that the Japanese
>public understand that the construction standards on these lenses are to
>German, and not Japanese, standards.
>
>Which is not to say that the Japanese are not capable of making the finest
>products:  they are, and have repeatedly shown this in, for instance,
>astronomical optics.  However, they generally do not export these products
>as their pricing in foreign markets such as the US or Europe would be
>identical to the prices charged by, say, Zeiss or Questar, as production
>costs in Japan are now actually a tad higher than in Europe and quite a bit
>higher than in the US.
>
>Marc
>
>
>msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
>Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
>