I was enjoying reading this thread, but I’m beginning to just shake my head at it. There are a lot of people brighter than me on this forum, so please enlighten me.

Maybe I’m off base, but I just don’t understand everyone slamming Hobie for making a business decision. I can’t sit in my board meetings with a straight face and tell the other members that even though product line A is no longer selling and we’re loosing loads of money trying to keep the line open, I vote we should keep running it... I can’t show my wife the end-of-year numbers on my properties and tell her that this one over here is loosing money, but I really like the tenants there so I don’t want to sell it. It just doesn’t make any logical sense. If it’s loosing money, it’s time to look for other options. Is a company not allowed to evolve over time? Sorry, but a stagnant company is one that’s not going to be around for very long.

A company has to keep money coming in to keep the doors open. A garage hobbyist is different (provided they are not using their hobby for their main income, at that point, they’re no longer a hobbyist anyway), because they don’t have quite the same fixed costs as a business with employees and buildings, hey can handle a slow period in sales. They can just put the hobby on hold for a few months until they get their next order in. With a larger business, you have employees, those employees want to get paid and they don’t really care if sales are up or down, they want their paycheck (oh yeah, and lay-offs aren’t real popular option amongst hourly employees). The bank wants their money for the mortgage on your buildings. The utility company wants to get paid for providing you with lights and heat. Some of these costs are fixed whether you’re selling your product or not.

I don’t understand how everyone on the outside of Hobie thinks they know better than Hobie to make this decision. We’re not seeing their financial or sales reports. We don’t know the real numbers. Do you really think Hobie hasn’t looked at their processes in building this boat and tried to trim the fat? If they have any business sense at all, they’ve been doing that since the boat was first being designed and prototyped and have continued to try to save money in the build process since that day.

On the issue of Hobie abandoning their customers… that’s a whole different topic than why they’re closing a line. Don’t mix the two. Maybe they are abandoning their loyal customers, but I still think it’s their right to evolve in any direction they think will make them money and keep their business thriving. Isn’t it better for a company to close a product line and stay in business than to just slowly tailspin into bankruptcy? How can you fault anyone for making a business decision that will keep them profitable in the long run?

Obviously, just my opinion, blast away <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
Paul