Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/10/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:00 PM 10/9/1999 +0200, Anthony Atkielski wrote: > >Moving production overseas is generally motivated by greed, not by a desire to >help the consumer. I presume you have something other than a gelatinous hatred of capitalism to justify this position, Anthony? Could I have some industry-wide totals? In the camera industry, the transfer of production overseas by German companies, especially Leica and Zeiss, has kept them in the camera business. "Greed"? No. Survival? Yes. > >Sure, but many are not satisfied with a profit. It has to be a HUGE profit, not >just any profit. The greater the gap they can create between their costs and >their revenue, the happier they are. Consumers suffer in consequence. Show me a European camera company which is making HUGE profits. Reid, perhaps, or Corfield? What about Exakta? What about AGFA? And what about Kodak AG -- I guess my camera store is letting me know by not stocking the latest Retinas! Must be that ol' devil, corporate greed, at work again! >How did they manage to survive for the thirty years that they lost money? Leitz stayed in business because the Leitz family bankrolled the business. Zeiss Ikon stayed in business because the Zeiss Foundation bankrolled the company. Franke & Heidecke stayed in business because the Franke, Heidecke, and Voigtlander families bank-rolled them. When these folks quit paying the bills -- it damn near bankrupted the Leitz family, incidentally - -- the companies had to either go out of business or restructure. >Except that this increases trade deficits and ultimately damages the domestic >economy. Anthony, the choice is between no camera production, and that of a domestic company designing and marketing product made overseas. There is just no third choice in a free market. Like it or not, that is the way it works. >However, overall, I agree. The problem is that there is no way to force a >company to maintain quality, and very often they just don't bother. Don't be more of an ass than you have to be, Anthony. I stated the exact opposite. > > >What does that mean? Just about everything made today contains mechanical >components; how does this manufacturing continue if nobody can afford to engage >in it? Compur shutters, for instance. Precision, hand-assembled mechanical components can no longer be profitably manufactured or, in the case of the Compur shutter, manufactured at all, even overseas. Compare a Bosch or Delco-Remy automobile component from thirty years back with its equivalent today, to see what I mean. >I have no quarrel with that. Indeed, by doing that, they can avoid moving >production overseas. Absolutely not. To stay in the market, a chunk, if not all, production, must move overseas. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!