[Leica] Leica Article in LA Times

[miki at arbos.net (MIKIRO)]

Several years ago, I joined a factory tour in Solms. They showed us some 
places where they assembled M cameras and R lenses. We then watched a 
short movie on Leica history. I understood little German, but do 
remember countless repetition of "Leica is number one". After the tour, 
the guide spoke to me in English and kindly enlightened me by repeating 
that Leica is superior to other cameras without telling me why and how. 
Later, I saw him in front of the factory driving away in his gorgeous 
Mercedes. If my memory serves, he was titled "Dr.". I simply thought 
that they can do something else.

MIKIRO

Nathan Wajsman wrote:
> I disagree, Stephen. Family control would have been no panacea. It is 
> easy to rail against "bean-counters" but the reality is that a company 
> has to make profits or it will be forced to close. It is not the job of 
> the board to determine which products are brought out--that is the job 
> of management. Leica's problem is arrogance at the top which led them to 
> believe that people will keep buying stuff just because it has a red 
> dot. In the film world, they did nothing to respond to the threat of the 
> Cosina/Voigtlander cameras, which you of all people are familiar with, 
> probably thinking that no serious photographer would consider a $400 
> Bessa camera an alternative to a real Leica. Well, plenty of serious 
> photographers did. On digital, they obviously missed the boat 
> completely. I read the Spiegel article Feli posted yesterday, and Cohn's 
> arrogance is simply breathtaking--as late as September 2004 he was still 
> dismissing digital as a threat to his company.
> 
> Putting Leica photographers in charge will solve absolutely nothing. 
> Putting competent managers in charge, regardless of which industry they 
> come from, will (look at what Lou Gerstner did at IBM). They have to be 
> willing to make tought decisions and slaughter sacred cows if needed. 
> Worshipping at the altar of Barnack will not pay the employees' salaries.
> 
> Nathan
> 
> Stephen Gandy wrote:
> 
> 
>> I believe Leica's real troubled started when the Leitz family sold Leica
>> decades ago, giving control of the company to bean counters who never
>> completely understood Leica's products or Leica's devoted customers.
>> Unfortunately the bean counters only excel at beating their chests
>> proclaiming how great the product is (they would do the same MBA
>> standard rhetoric if the same execs were running, say a fashion scarf
>> company).  The problem for decades is fundamentally that the Leica Board
>> of Directors simply does not know what products to bring out,  what
>> product improvements need to be made,  or what products to stop
>> production on to cut losses, simply because the Board is not comprised
>> of Leica photographers. Worse, the Board does not see its own
>> shortcoming because of overwhelming pride.   I believe Leica can be not
>> only fixed, but brought into continued profitability.  But that won't
>> happen until professional Leica photographers are making the product
>> line and marketing decisions, not bean counters.
>>
>