Last year when somebody said to me “Write about US market conditions” it was easy. You could think of the US, Japan and Europe as distinct markets and approach the trends in each accordingly. But overcapacity and the slowing of growth have made that harder, and the interdependence of the three markets has become much more obvious. Let’s at least start in the US at the Transworld industry conference in Vail. We’ll see More…
Archive for 1996
US Market Conditions and the Globalization of Snowboarding
Monday, December 23rd, 1996Minding Your Own Business; How’s Your Shop Doing?
Saturday, September 14th, 1996Last month in this space I suggested a simple system for tracking your financial results with the goals of having better control and being able to react to surprises. If you use it for, say, six months, you are going to have some good information that will have helped you manage your shop. The next step, which this article addresses, is to use the information collected over a period of time to More…
Selling Your Business How to Get Ready and What to Expect
Tuesday, August 13th, 1996At some point, every business owner considers selling their company. Most that don’t go out of business are sold at some time in their history. But between considering it and selling are a host of issues, surprises, conundrums, and general confusions for the business owner who has never been through the process before. I have spoken with or heard of sellers who are minimizing the chances of making a good deal by · Requiring More…
SIA 1996; It’s Just Business
Tuesday, August 13th, 1996Business. It was all business. Well, maybe not quite all. The ladies and gentlemen at Mervin Manufacturing were dressed in all white outfits (they claimed not to be angels) and Mike Olsen was shooting money out of a cannon at irregular intervals. But the snowboard side of this year’s SIA show in Las Vegas showed that the industry is maturing. There were the usual crowds and noise and excitement. But there was also, More…
Hard Choice Time; Strategies for Success in the Snowboard Industry
Tuesday, March 12th, 1996It all kind of came together for me at the industry conference at Banff, though I couldn’t say if it was on the lift, in the spa or at the bar. Probably at the bar. The time is over when a small or medium sized independent player in this industry can just focus on getting from one year to the next. If all you think about are tactics and operations, chances are that More…
