Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/02/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rick wrote:
>I should be careful about what I wish for. Porsche was turned
>around by quite radically changing its approach to design and
>manufacturing and through appealing to what they described as the
>'changing demands of it's customers'. I.e., more comfort and
>convenience, and more performance but not so raw please.
That's precisely the point - surviving in today's competitive markets
is all about the ability to manage change, and Leica's current
management have proved pretty conclusively that they can't change the
company's products far enough or fast enough to succeed in current
market conditions.
Any takeover of the company would also need an injection of new broom
management who are not so hide-bound by Leica's past traditions, and
can find a relevant market niche for new Leica products.
There's no need for this necessarily to be at the expense of quality,
but there's no escaping that Leica's current production methods are
somewhere back in the 20th century rather than being firmly in the
21st.
FWIW, my personal take on the probabilities of various options are:
Leica soldiering on under Hermes 20%
Sale to camera competitor/collaborator (Cosina probably) 70%
Sale to another, unrelated company 40%
LHSA/LUG buy-out 5%
Leica being put into liquidation 20%
I'm sure other people will have radically different views, but I had
to start somewhere... :-)
As many have already pointed out, there are no imperatives for
illustrious brands to survive simply on the basis of their glorious
past. What we need is a company looking 20 years forward, not 50
years back.
Best
Alex
--
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