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Toro Buys Spartan Mowers

#1

M

MParr

The title says it. The link is attached.


#2

ILENGINE

ILENGINE

Between Kohler purchasing electric control systems for solar power systems, Toro purchasing their competition and expanding into construction equipment. Black and Decker purchasing MTD completely and Excel, and Arrowhead purchasing up aftermarket products in different fields, the parent company lineup is getting mighty narrow.


#3

B

bertsmobile1

Goes in cycles
Remember back in the 80's & 90's when all of the brands sold off their auxillary business in order to "Concentrate on our core business ".
Electroluxe flogging off Husqvarna being an example we are all familiar with .
This was the fashion back then and every time they sold off something their share price skyrocketed so the directors paid themselves massive bonuses.
Then the leaner , less capital intense company showed a higher profit to equity ratio , another method used to determine bonuses for executives & board members .
Then of course either they acquired their competitior so they paid themselves more bonuses or their nearest rival bought them out so they paid themselves massive redundency bonuses .
Are you seeing the common thread here, bigger bonuses , more often .

While the capitalists go on endlessly about the "value of competition" none of them believe in it and none attempt to practice it because in reality every capitalist market tends towards monopoly .
In theory a monopoly is the most efficient method of manufacture because it can envoke the highest level of common parts thus volume effiency .
The down side is it smothers innovation because money spent in research in profits is not available to shareholders
And profits to shareholders comes a close second to bonuses to executives in the priorities of management .
Big companies never innovate because of the cost of a market failure and the end result is "they are all made out of ticky tacky & they all look just the same "
And once again Husqvarna is the perfect example now offering 100 choices of the same thing in different colours and not a one of them anywhere near as good as they were before being gobbled up by Husqvarna and indeed their own brand name products dropping in quality like a stone .

Back when there really was 30 different mower factories you got products that actually worked and things like dedicated mulching decks or dedicated bagging decks
Now days you get universal decks that bag, mulch or throw, all the same ,,,,, badly because it is more profitable for the very large companies to make just one deck style .
So if you want a bagger that actually works then you have to buy a Walker or Grasshopper
Throwing decks used to have near 1" of overlap on their cutting circles so they never left rooster tails till the blades were worn so badly there was no flute left on the blades .
Now days if you get a year out of a set of blades before they start leaving rooster tails you are lucky and double cutting has become accepted .

All of this is share holder driven
and when I say shareholder, do not think about mom & pop's retirement nest egg.
We are talking about Shiek Yabooty looking for more profits from his petro dollars or Borris Yeltsen trying to find some way to wash is looted money from the Russian treasury , or some of the other trillionairs with more money in the bank than there are people on the planet .


#4

Scrubcadet10

Scrubcadet10

The family Tree isn't about to have very many forks :ROFLMAO:


#5

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

I think all these CEOs and board of director members all do lunch together and all decide to do the same stupid $hit at the same time. So glad i retired, i am my own boss and sometimes i do stupid $hit and i can gripe about the boss and not get chewed out.


#6

B

bertsmobile1

Don't know about lunching together but there are dozens of clubs exclusively for CEO's
A friend needed an on line profile so I put myself in as CEO of my holding company on linked in so he could link to me
He was trying to get funding for a doco but you need 200 points from Linked in to even be considered.
The week after that probably 1000 or more supposed CEO's wanted to meet with me ( Old Boys Club ) and not long after that my holding company got a listing with Dunn & Bradstreet with an extimated turnover of $ 1,000,000 ( don't I wish ) .
I got invited to lot of do's so I polished up one of the old hire car Rollers and popped along to a few of them for the fun of it .

What they do have in common is an MBA
And all MBA courses use the same text book ( cook book really ) and preach the same BS so they turn out the same graduates who all look & think ( or rather don't think ) the same .
Basically it has not changer for 500 years , just keep on doing the same as every one else is doing so you can not be accused of doing it wrong .

I was wondering jusst how long Spartan would be tollerated for.
They were so ell made & such good value for money the big players could not leave them out there for too long lest customers start doing some proper shopping and asking questions .


#7

Hammermechanicman

Hammermechanicman

When i registered my business as an LLC suddenly my credit rating was so good i qualified for a $1M expansion loan. LOL. The local chamber of commerce invited me lunch. I guess i should have registered as a CEO instead of a sole proprietor. I would have gotten better treatment. ?


#8

M

mmoffitt

Goes in cycles
Remember back in the 80's & 90's when all of the brands sold off their auxillary business in order to "Concentrate on our core business ".
Electroluxe flogging off Husqvarna being an example we are all familiar with .
This was the fashion back then and every time they sold off something their share price skyrocketed so the directors paid themselves massive bonuses.
Then the leaner , less capital intense company showed a higher profit to equity ratio , another method used to determine bonuses for executives & board members .
Then of course either they acquired their competitior so they paid themselves more bonuses or their nearest rival bought them out so they paid themselves massive redundency bonuses .
Are you seeing the common thread here, bigger bonuses , more often .

While the capitalists go on endlessly about the "value of competition" none of them believe in it and none attempt to practice it because in reality every capitalist market tends towards monopoly .
In theory a monopoly is the most efficient method of manufacture because it can envoke the highest level of common parts thus volume effiency .
The down side is it smothers innovation because money spent in research in profits is not available to shareholders
And profits to shareholders comes a close second to bonuses to executives in the priorities of management .
Big companies never innovate because of the cost of a market failure and the end result is "they are all made out of ticky tacky & they all look just the same "
And once again Husqvarna is the perfect example now offering 100 choices of the same thing in different colours and not a one of them anywhere near as good as they were before being gobbled up by Husqvarna and indeed their own brand name products dropping in quality like a stone .

Back when there really was 30 different mower factories you got products that actually worked and things like dedicated mulching decks or dedicated bagging decks
Now days you get universal decks that bag, mulch or throw, all the same ,,,,, badly because it is more profitable for the very large companies to make just one deck style .
So if you want a bagger that actually works then you have to buy a Walker or Grasshopper
Throwing decks used to have near 1" of overlap on their cutting circles so they never left rooster tails till the blades were worn so badly there was no flute left on the blades .
Now days if you get a year out of a set of blades before they start leaving rooster tails you are lucky and double cutting has become accepted .

All of this is share holder driven
and when I say shareholder, do not think about mom & pop's retirement nest egg.
We are talking about Shiek Yabooty looking for more profits from his petro dollars or Borris Yeltsen trying to find some way to wash is looted money from the Russian treasury , or some of the other trillionairs with more money in the bank than there are people on the planet .
Zappa lives!


#9

S

SHB

Goes in cycles
Remember back in the 80's & 90's when all of the brands sold off their auxillary business in order to "Concentrate on our core business ".
Electroluxe flogging off Husqvarna being an example we are all familiar with .
This was the fashion back then and every time they sold off something their share price skyrocketed so the directors paid themselves massive bonuses.
Then the leaner , less capital intense company showed a higher profit to equity ratio , another method used to determine bonuses for executives & board members .
Then of course either they acquired their competitior so they paid themselves more bonuses or their nearest rival bought them out so they paid themselves massive redundency bonuses .
Are you seeing the common thread here, bigger bonuses , more often .

While the capitalists go on endlessly about the "value of competition" none of them believe in it and none attempt to practice it because in reality every capitalist market tends towards monopoly .
In theory a monopoly is the most efficient method of manufacture because it can envoke the highest level of common parts thus volume effiency .
The down side is it smothers innovation because money spent in research in profits is not available to shareholders
And profits to shareholders comes a close second to bonuses to executives in the priorities of management .
Big companies never innovate because of the cost of a market failure and the end result is "they are all made out of ticky tacky & they all look just the same "
And once again Husqvarna is the perfect example now offering 100 choices of the same thing in different colours and not a one of them anywhere near as good as they were before being gobbled up by Husqvarna and indeed their own brand name products dropping in quality like a stone .

Back when there really was 30 different mower factories you got products that actually worked and things like dedicated mulching decks or dedicated bagging decks
Now days you get universal decks that bag, mulch or throw, all the same ,,,,, badly because it is more profitable for the very large companies to make just one deck style .
So if you want a bagger that actually works then you have to buy a Walker or Grasshopper
Throwing decks used to have near 1" of overlap on their cutting circles so they never left rooster tails till the blades were worn so badly there was no flute left on the blades .
Now days if you get a year out of a set of blades before they start leaving rooster tails you are lucky and double cutting has become accepted .

All of this is share holder driven
and when I say shareholder, do not think about mom & pop's retirement nest egg.
We are talking about Shiek Yabooty looking for more profits from his petro dollars or Borris Yeltsen trying to find some way to wash is looted money from the Russian treasury , or some of the other trillionairs with more money in the bank than there are people on the planet .
Innovation in terms of better products dies because there is no competitive pressure to improve. What innovation remains is focused on reducing costs to improve margins.


#10

B

bertsmobile1

Zappa lives!
The man was a lot smarter than most think & the music was probably the best most influencial ever .
He is the only artist whose whole catalogue has been in continious production since it was released, even the ones that got banned.
Despite the crude language, their is a lot of sound philosophy hidden in the lyrics


#11

B

bertsmobile1

Innovation in terms of better products dies because there is no competitive pressure to improve. What innovation remains is focused on reducing costs to improve margins.
Exactly
And people outside the particular industry have no idea how astronomical the costs of R & D can be
A lot more profitable not to do any then use that money to buy other peoples profits .
And that is what they teach MBA's to do , seek out innovative or improved then buy out the company and close it down.
At the very best you might use some of their IP, MTD's adoption of the Cub Cadet deck mounting is a prime example


#12

StarTech

StarTech

The old nag isn't what she used to be.... Oh well enough with the problems going out to play in the snow with Jack, George, and Jim. At least this time I got the milk.


#13

bkeller500

bkeller500

What we are talking about is a microcosm of what has been going on in our country. We are worried about getting well built, reliable, mower equipment and mower parts at a reasonable price. Bring back American ingenuity, engineering and American manufacturing would solve a lot of our lawn forum problems..........and a lot of our country's economic and political issues.


#14

B

bertsmobile1

What we are talking about is a microcosm of what has been going on in our country. We are worried about getting well built, reliable, mower equipment and mower parts at a reasonable price. Bring back American ingenuity, engineering and American manufacturing would solve a lot of our lawn forum problems..........and a lot of our country's economic and political issues.
The biggest problem with the USA is your very corrupt election system and until that is addressed then nothing will change because the parties are dependent upon the megga rich to fund the insane spending on election campains and of course they business & individuals do not give away all that money without demanding some form of pay back .
Unions need to become a lot stronger and get a seat on the boards as happens in most large German companies .
And finally anti trust laws need to be enforced to maintain a strongly competative market .

Now if you think any of this will happen peacefully with out blood on the streets you are the eternal optimumist .
It should happen at the ballot box but you saw what happened the first time in it's history the USA actually had an election which almost resembled being fair .


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