Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms The troubleshooter visits MMC

Indeed they did, and the reason they have survived is precisely because they understand their changing customers and the changing market place into which they are selling their products.

When you boil it down, a company can only be one of three basic types. You can be commodity-led, where you sell on the basis of your product being cheaper than the competition. You can be product led, where people are prepared to pay a premium because your product is better than those of the competition, or you can be Image-led, where people are prepared to pay more because of the nature of the relationship between customer and provider.

Morgan will never be cheaper or better than competing alternatives, but they know very well indeed how to appeal to something much deeper in their customer's emotions. Their challenge is to keep their products with sufficient financial range to give people a reasonable chance of being able to turn their dreams into reality - hence the ongoing investment in technology to reduce production cost. Everything they are doing at the moment to my mind demonstrates that they have this very well under control.

I'm both cheaper than my competitors,and in my opinion my products/ and support are better.

But I helped build the image of my major competitor when I worked there ...

Where does that leave me?

Simon @ Sifab.co.uk
sifabtemporary@gmail.com

Or as my old sales director used to say.

You can sell escorts to hundreds of people and companies.
You can sell dozens of BMW's to business people.
You can sell a couple of Bentley's a year to well-to-do people.

Among them you will find lovely people and rascals in all three groups.
The rules of the trade remain the same.
All do the job.

His words - I have done all three but I like to sell BMW's, enough volume that you are not dependant on one or two deals but enough time to breathe in between deals and stay on top of things. I did however have more fun when I was selling escorts.

Tim, I think I was contemplating the possible affects on society relative to the evolution in business practices, and I guess following on from that, the distribution of wealth to end up where it might be today, and logically(?) the price our society might have to pay for such outcomes... Part of your reply contained this line of thought :-

"I don't think anyone over the age of about 40 really understands, we were all born into an age where you went to school, got qualifications, and got a job which used those qualifications."

I can neither speak for those under forty over even those over forty in large numbers as my experience of the populace is somewhat limited, and I guess my impression is that the young seem not to have the degree of opportunity that my/our generation was able to enjoy.... Be those the guys/girls at the MMC or any of the many industries that have suffered in any variety of ways one cares to think of as their jobs were contracted out, or worse still were off shored in search of increasing profits, and for who`s benefit..?

I guess having left school at age 15 with next to no qualifications, I ever thought I was just to dumb to understand the ways of politicians and bankers and paid little attention to their practices, keeping my head down and trying to make the best of that which became available to me over a very fortunate fifty years in full employment. T`was only in later years that when I lifted my head up that I began to look around and ask WHY are we where we are..? That question has caused me to to think that rather a large degree of trust has been unbelievbly abused. and in so many ways..

ME..? I have done far better than I could have ever imagined possible, I have nothing to complain about on my own behalf, though I suspect that today a dumb kid as was I, will have little to no chance of the opportunity to follow in my footsteps, which seems a real pity..that`s all.

You can't do anything about the image of your competitors, but you can improve your own through advertising and the use of social media. Why not stick a short monthly 'Look what I made' video up on all the various Facebook Morgan /Classic Car groups for example? The pictures you post up on here are a brilliant example of your expertise, and people love looking at stuff like this..

If I was still doing business consultancy, I'd get you to also have a think about your value-generation capacity. One client I talked to was perpetually busy doing low-value stuff for walk-in customers leaving him with no time to spend doing the high-value high-margin work that he really wanted to do. I suggested subbing out the simple stuff, leaving him to focus on the more challenging work.

"Morgan will never be cheaper or better than competing alternatives"

Interestingly, many years ago they were both these things. That was the period during which they gained their amazing reputation.
I know Peter Morgan used to actively keep production below demand and the company did very well.
Could it be said that the desire to expand causes the problems for a company offering a bespoke item like a Mog?

Take the 3 wheeler. The originals sold because they were cheap to buy, economical to run and outperformed the competition.
The latest ones are expensive to buy, expensive to run and don't outperform anything.

So the company has changed the product and it's target buyer completely. Did it have to?

Nick

An interesting question. But to my mind this would have meant them being able to produce a better car than the MX-5 for less money. The 1989 MX-5 cost the equivalent of £8500 when launched, at which time the 4/4 list price was not too far ahead, I think the original price of my 1986 4/4 was about the same.

I would argue that MX-5 was already objectively better than a 4/4 and was already cheaper.

So I would answer your question as a firm 'Yes'. There's no way MMC could have continued to compete with its low technology. high-labour approach.

In the apparel retail world the desire and shareholder pressure to expand is the killer to many a business.