07-22-2011, 12:23 PM
[quote name='Klaus' timestamp='1311337024' post='10199']
I'm sometimes really wondering whether this is all worth it - I mean the outsourcing of just everything to different countries. The labor costs share in high end products should be rather small. If this last percentage point does really matter there something substantially wrong somewhere anyway.
If you can sell a watch made in Switzerland or a Mercedes made in Germany it should be possible to sell high end photo stuff made in Japan. Whether such a mass production item like a DSLR costs 500EUR or 550EUR doesn't really make a difference in the final marketplace and for the peace of mind it feels better to buy a product from a first world country at least every once in while. Well, I reckon I'm just naive and only money talks.
[/quote]
I don't think this has much to do with money, more with Japan being one big earth quake zone. The high(er) end DSLR plant was hit hard with last tsunami.. Moving the production from that plant to Malaysia makes sense in that respect.
I'm sometimes really wondering whether this is all worth it - I mean the outsourcing of just everything to different countries. The labor costs share in high end products should be rather small. If this last percentage point does really matter there something substantially wrong somewhere anyway.
If you can sell a watch made in Switzerland or a Mercedes made in Germany it should be possible to sell high end photo stuff made in Japan. Whether such a mass production item like a DSLR costs 500EUR or 550EUR doesn't really make a difference in the final marketplace and for the peace of mind it feels better to buy a product from a first world country at least every once in while. Well, I reckon I'm just naive and only money talks.
[/quote]
I don't think this has much to do with money, more with Japan being one big earth quake zone. The high(er) end DSLR plant was hit hard with last tsunami.. Moving the production from that plant to Malaysia makes sense in that respect.