Monopoly, or one stop shop.

With the rumours of fin companies under the same roof what do the rest of you think of Surf hardware Int buying up the other areas of the surf industry?

With SHI buying out Eskimo foam, and from what I hear they have a major stake in a resin and composites company, (please correct me if I am wrong) are we looking at a wonderful one stop shop or a terrible monopoly that will drive the prices through the roof once they destroy the other smaller companies, and all from the safety of the far east.

I also like conspiracy theories.

cheers

Daren

I think if you do something good and run with it, put your passion into it and go for it . . . it will be good. Dependent on what their reason / intent is . . .

Lots of people think the Far East is undefeatable . . . Their cavalry swift and strong, with archers that strike from afar, accurate enough to split a hair on a babe’s head without so much as breeze on the babe’s face. Their long sword like spears can pierce or slit the hardest and thickest armor, their war hammers can render base stones of a cliff face to powder. They have exotic beasts: their oliphant’s trumpets can rout a whole wing of horses, their rhinos can smash through phalanx lines, their demi creatures half man and half beast can rip a man asunder. Their troops number in the millions, drinking rivers dry and spreading dust clouds to the heavens. The earth thunders when they march, their spears made of hardest metals unknown. Their swords bright razor enough to cut the very wind itself, and arrows so numerous they block out the sun. Their skill born of years of sweat, of strange oriental arts of war . . . Supplied by over a 1000 nations.

They say: Give up, for the horde is kind. The horde will take you in. You will have riches. You will be made lords of your lands. But you must kneel and submit to the will of the horde. You will serve and be rewarded richly.

But what of it . . .

Their opponents . . . raised in the very heat of battle itself. Attuned to their body, making spear, shield and sword a part of themselves as much as their beating hearts. They fight for their lofty ideas, nay even put their trust in providence will guide them as they hold fast to their laws. They fight for their very lands, whilist their opponents fight far from home. For themselves and those close to them who cannot fight. They actually test themselves, going into the waters, baptised in the waves. The currents of the battlefield are theirs, they can feel it in their senses. The saltied air, the cry of gulls unhappy as they feast on bloated carrion in the sea. For they know their land, they know their breaks. For they fight for themselves, their very physical existence, their right to live as they choose. To surf as they want, not what is the top WCT move. But their enemy fights for greed, power, and control.

They say:

We will funnel them trough the hot gates. There, their numbers account for nothing. Wave after wave will smash against Spartan shields. They will incur many losses, so much that they will have to abandon their campaign.

translation: if you have passion, understanding of your field, if you care about what you do . . . you can win if what your up against does not have the same . . . if they are only hired to do so, or seeking gold and plunder, at the crack of their master’s whip.

Quote:

With the rumours of fin companies under the same roof what do the rest of you think of Surf hardware Int buying up the other areas of the surf industry?

With SHI buying out Eskimo foam, and from what I hear they have a major stake in a resin and composites company, (please correct me if I am wrong) are we looking at a wonderful one stop shop or a terrible monopoly that will drive the prices through the roof once they destroy the other smaller companies, and all from the safety of the far east.

I also like conspiracy theories.

cheers

Daren

A small correction: When an producer controls virtually all of the resources needed to make and sell a product, from raw materials to distribution, it is called “vertical integration”. A monopoly is when an entity is virtually the only producer of a particular product, i.e., it has no competition (it is theoretically possible for a company to be both). Vertical integration generally makes good business sense and is not necessarily harmful to a market. A true monopoly usually relies directly or indirectly on government coercion (exclusive permitting, regulatory entry barriers etc.) to stifle competition.

-Samiam

correction duly noted.

thanks.

it doesnt matter…soon burton will own everything boardsports…they already own 1/4 of the snowboard industry and now channel islands…its only a matter of time…and you thought vermont was full of ben and jerrys eating, maple syrup chugging hippies

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it doesnt matter…soon burton will own everything boardsports…they already own 1/4 of the snowboard industry and now channel islands…its only a matter of time…and you thought vermont was full of ben and jerrys eating, maple syrup chugging hippies

It’s very rare that any company truly “owns everything” in the sense you seem to mean. I’ve worked with computers for 30 years, and seen 'em come and go, these companies that have a strategy that is guaranteed to buckle the competition. Even when a company has a truly superior product, cost structure, and marketing plan, the inescapable tendency is to get complacent and sloppy, which opens the door for competition again. IBM didn’t see DEC coming in the 70’s, DEC didn’t see PCs and Microsoft, and MS is completely blind to the next “big thing” (I don’t know what that is either at the moment, but there will be one, and they will not have a handle on it…) The only “customer lock-in strategy” that has historically proven effective over the long term is government, and a] I think that surfboard manufacture is probably near the end of the priority list of “things to co-opt” for most governments, and b] hopefully limited life span is an inevitability even for government monopolies.

-Samiam