Rmclachlan and TodDaniel – Completely agree with both of you. I always saw B&O as a non-mass market and low volume product. For me it was between professional and consumer. A category called Prosumer (for example some high end DSLRs like the D60 are Prosumer).
Folkdeejay – The beolab 6000/8000 and Beosound 1 are fairly new products compared to the ones I mentioned. People were comparing 80s/90s prices for LX/MX TVs and new Plasma and LED tvs so I compared 90s Ouverture to a Beosound 3200 as an example that price hadn't gone up that much especially compared to inflation for that particular design in a 10 year period.
Exactly because the issues you talk about our out of B&Os control is the reason they should not outsource to China. It is essentially giving up control over their workforce. I am not an affluent 27 year old, I have been unemployed for over a year (hopefully to change soon) and have only bought used B&O products in the past, mostly 90/00s ones that I adore so much (with the exception of the Beosound 2 with earphones which I bought new for $500 in 2006 which I thought was an amazing deal at B&O in San Francisco). If I had the money I would buy new B&O products which I like but with the way it's currently going it won't be cool anymore to say that you own B&O as everyone will have something of theirs and it will get annoying for me personally.
I agree that most buyers are not like me, especially in places like America where you have a throwaway culture and everyone is fairly cheap. I'm sure the Play products will be a success and that the share prices will keep rising. This is only good for shareholders, not for the employees in China, and not for consumers who have to buy the products that are made there. I'm not a big fan of companies going public myself, it seems that so many do in order to raise capital and once they have done that they outsource even more to raise more because eventually it will get stagnant. Higher profit and more people buying = more popularity = higher share prices through people buying more shares, etc... It doesn't even matter what a company makes these days as long as the share prices go up and the boardmembers, execs and shareholders make money out of it. It's sad to think that companies that don't have shareprices sky rocketing are considered as doing badly in this world. A company even B&O was making a profit as it was paying everyone (including the execs who got millions) profit! They will never give up their millions and are forced to satisfy their shareholders and boardmembers more than anyone else unfortunately.
Puncher – There are craftsman in China as there are in Denmark and every other country in the world, however the attention to detail paid to certain items in certain countries is higher. Denmark has been known for decades as a cornerstone for audio equipment design, engineering and manufacture, hence why so many high quality audio companies are located there. China does not have this history, nor the apprenticeship schemes. If a group of Chinese craftsman would come to Struer, get trained under the workers there for a year or two, then go back to China under a factory owned and operated by B&O and under their supervision with the same tools and same quality of materials also manufactured in Struer, then it will perhaps be possible to make it close to the same quality but for 1/5 of the cost or less. However, nobody is willing to do this. As many have commented on the forum China is good at mass manufacturing, not hand assembly and low production that is needed for the quality and attention to detail of professional and higher end goods!
Burantek – A developed country is a country where the majority of the population don't live below the poverty line as in China. Where as in China the human development index is not nearly as low as it is. Just because a few engineers in China, probably thanks to the Soviet Unions help, had managed to develop a space program in China thanks to government funding, does not mean the country is not developing. One thing has NOTHING to do with the other. Most people in China still live in absolute poverty, that is exactly why they are willing to work for miniscule wages in slave like conditions. A developing country is one where there are practically no labour unions or laws, where the country is FAR from joining the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). A developing country is one where the life expectancy rate is extremely low. There are many many many things that define a developing country and China meets nearly all of the criteria!
Nickyg63 – As far as I have read all Bentleys are handbuilt in Crewe, England. The VW engines might be made in Germany but the car itself is not. I may be wrong about this and if I am, I can say that German labour cost is above those of England so unless the process has become more mechanized I don't see how they are saving money on this move. Either way Germany is world renowned in manufacturing quality and not exactly outsourcing to China, and since VW owns Bentley, it would mean they are making the car in their own factory and not outsourcing at all.
Lotus Cars has always been in financial trouble but Lotus makes most of its money in consulting work. There is a statistic that states that 85% of cars on the road today use something that Lotus developed. Yes they use components from other cars but that is how they keep the car from costing $150,000 and costing only $50,000... However, they don't need to outsource production of the car to do so. I have yet to see a western car made in China for the western market...
Symmes – One cannot compare China's development to that of Japan's. Yes Japan did make bad quality products a little after the war but their economy was not built up on outsourcing and most companies did not make their products in Japan. In fact Japan was built up due to their own companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Denon, Nikon, Canon, Mamiya, etc... They created the fastest railway in the world, some of the most advanced robots and computers, they became internationally competitive by the 1970s and by the 1980s were producing some of the best camera's and some of the most innovative inventions. This is NOT the case with China's manufacturing where over 90% of their exports are actually designed and engineered by western companies and marketed as western products. China's way of development is not sustainable and only goes to widen the separation between rich and poor. Japan has perhaps the most middle class society with some of the best build quality in the world today and have had for the past few decades, China is the complete opposite.
