Take yourself back to 1945-6-7. Bendix was out with an automatic before the war. You work for GE or GM and are an engineer. You're working hard on an excellent design
Six months after you launch the product at $350 or so, Beam comes out with an OEM which can be sold by Gambles (Western Auto, local department stores ...) for $279 and nine months or so later Whirlpool/Sears (clearly the big kahuna) comes out with one for $269 (albeit a bolt-down)
Remember, you're not working for KitchenAid, you work for a multi-line appliance company which needs the volume to make the business case work and keep all the returning servicemen employed in Dayton/Louisville
There was a crash "cheapening" effort in place. Had Beam not launched the cheap machine so soon (was it a soft-mount?) neither GM nor GE would have been forced to cheapen the machines so quickly, prices would have stayed high and
JL
Six months after you launch the product at $350 or so, Beam comes out with an OEM which can be sold by Gambles (Western Auto, local department stores ...) for $279 and nine months or so later Whirlpool/Sears (clearly the big kahuna) comes out with one for $269 (albeit a bolt-down)
Remember, you're not working for KitchenAid, you work for a multi-line appliance company which needs the volume to make the business case work and keep all the returning servicemen employed in Dayton/Louisville
There was a crash "cheapening" effort in place. Had Beam not launched the cheap machine so soon (was it a soft-mount?) neither GM nor GE would have been forced to cheapen the machines so quickly, prices would have stayed high and
JL
