Great article! I sure hope Mr. Weir is proven right. But, I do see a flaw
in the analogy which attempts to explain why BMW & Audi thrive, in the face
of competition from Honda/Toyota/Nissan. Sadly, it is not quality that
makes BMW & Audi more attractive to most of those who buy them; it's
"image". In other words, todays automotive consumer is, IMHO, obsessed with
projecting an image. To put it bluntly, they feel a great need to impress
others. We live in a society that spends a tremendous amount of it's annual
income on impressing others.
It's a "bullshit world", isn't it?
Basically, I've found that the general population really wants something for
nothing. Most of today's consumers have no clue about what "quality" really
is. So, they'll continue to buy the absolute CRAP sold by the
mega-retailers, at bargain basement prices, and think they're "getting
something for nothing".
With Simplicity & Snapper now being owned by B&S, I see Snapper returning to
Wal-Mart, with production being outsourced to the Pacific Rim, resulting in
Snapper mowers in name, only.
Like I said, it's a bullshit world.
Bud Osbourne
-----Original Message-----
From owner-spridgets at autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-spridgets@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of Jeff Boatright
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:16 PM
To: WFO Herb
Cc: Brad Fornal; Spridgets; Yahoo Spridget list
Subject: Re: Can't Make it Here Anymore
Relevant to this conversation:
http://www.fastcompany.com/subscr/102/open_snapper.html
You can make and sell consumer products here if you refuse to join
the race to the bottom.
--
_____________________________________________________________
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Associate Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis
mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
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