Re: Commerce "focusing on quality rather than on price" I acknowledge and admire German goods -- which I admit are generally of higher quality -- but you may not be aware that German ads do not focus on or even mention price not only because of this quality but also because of German federal laws regulating advertising content. The law "against unfair competition" essentially allows competitors to sue if advertising "violates good manners". (Obviously, this is a stricter standard than libel or slander.) Essentially, by telling consumers that you can sell your product for less, that is perceived as an accusation that your competitor is overcharging, and that's not "good manners". If everyone claims they have "die beste Qualitaet", then no manufacturer feels disadvantaged and it's up to the consumer to do some research to figure out which product really has the best quality for the price. -----Original Message----- From: Adrian Jadic [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 9:40 AM To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: [USMA:10042] RE: American Automobiles I agree with John: One of my first shocks when I crossed the Atlantic in 1994 was the huge difference in product quality on the Canadian market as opposed to the German one. In addition to this, in Canada the TV ads are focussing only on price. In Germany you don't hear speaking of price it's only "Die beste Qualit�t". Of course, this becomes a slogan in many cases but overall one can notice the difference when the commerce focuses on quality rather than price. Now, I live in the US and the market as well as the ads are quite the same as in Canada, although, I could say that good products are a bit easier to find here than in Canada. Or, maybe my standards have changed. A. -----Original Message----- From: kilopascal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday 24 December 2000 00:48 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:10012] RE: American Automobiles 2000-12-24 Bill is correct. What you might be experiencing are the effects of reverse capitalism. One of the theories of capitalism is that competition promotes the improvement of goods and services at lower costs. But sometimes one reaches a saturation point where no more cost effective improvements can be made. As a result, manufacturers look for other ways to reduce cost and increase profits, such as using cheaper labour and/or components. When one company does it, others follow. In order to rake in huge profits and make their portfolios look good to shareholders, many companies have gone to great lengths to use the cheapest parts possible. As a result with normal use, your parts wears out faster. The Europeans and Japanese are just behind on adopting these methods. In addition some companies design in planned obsolescence. That is they want their product to fail after so many years. This forces you to either buy expensive spare parts to keep your product going or buy a whole brand new product. Either way, that company sold you something you could have done without for a few more years if it was designed to last. Products that are designed to last long carry a high price tag. American cars of today do last longer then they did years ago, but you pay 10 times more for the car then it cost the auto company to produce it. Some brands are even more. This reminds me of a visit to Taiwan in the early '90s. The company that represents the company I work for products in Taiwan also is an exporter of Taiwan products to the world. The president of the company once told me the differences between selling in the US and Europe. He used the example of tablecloths. Tablecloths sold in Germany required a 10 year guarantee under normal use. Tablecloths sold in the US required no guarantee. As a result, the good cloths went to Germany and were sold for considerably more money then the cheap ones that sold in the US. Looking at the table cloths, one could not tell the difference, but there was a difference in the type of material used. If one went shopping in Germany looking for tablecloths and then came to the US and saw the big difference in price, one would think the Germans are over charging. One would also think Americans are able to sell tablecloths cheaper. Which is not true. This extends out to other products as well. Americans tend to look for the cheapest stuff around and that is how products are designed for the US market. Others want more quality, and that is how things are designed for them. American cars don't export. Japanese and European do. European and Japanese companies aren't going to make a cheap version for the American market and a quality version for the rest of the world. So, you are experiencing in a Euro/Japanese car what the world expects as far as quality and in an American car what Americans expect. It all boils down to you get what you pay for. John Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrt�mlich glaubt frei zu sein. There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they are free! Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bill Potts Sent: Saturday, 2000-12-23 22:47 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:10010] RE: American Automobiles Hardly. The U.S. automobile industry has been metric for many years. Bill Potts, CMS San Jose, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of M R > Sent: December 23, 2000 19:26 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:10008] American Automobiles > > > Its a known fact that American cars, vans & trucks > have a slightly poor quality and resale value when > compared to the European and Japanese ones. > > Is it because Americans are designing at inch level of > accuracy while the foreigners are designing at > millimeter level. > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. > http://shopping.yahoo.com/ > >
