[Towertalk] The Ham Radio Business

[Robert Shohet]

>  Chugging right along is one thing. Growth and profitability are something
> else. Look at the millions of dollars Kenwood has lost over the last
couple
> of years and the deficit the ARRL is running right now.

Steve,

While I have do doubt that broader economic issues are affecting Kenwood and
other manufacturers, perhaps two of the biggest determinants of their losses
have been and are directly within their control:

1) Consistently miserable customer service
2) Dubious quality

"Customer Service" at Kenwood has largely been an Oxymoron.  And since the
success of the TS930 and TS940 retread some 20 years ago, they have done
little to innovate much less make it easy to buy and maintain one of their
radios.

This is ironic given that In the 1970's they learned from the mistakes of
Yaesu which stagnated.  Kenwood then produced the TS930 and took market
share but then promptly forgot or misunderstood why they suddenly got so
popular.  Then Yaesu learned from Kenwood's success and mistakes and
produced the FT1000MP and other worthy radios many years later.

Seems like Kenwood forgot the lessons of 30 years ago, by punishing people
who bought their radios.  Eventually the Kenwood poor service and
competition from Yeasu made them pay.  Thank goodness for competition or
else who knows what radios we would be using today?

I know that you can't grow a business or be profitable unless you make your
customers and clients happy.  This means:

1) cheerfully supporting what you sold them, and
2) continuing to consistently innovate and create new, high quality products
that people are pleased to spend new money on.

Kenwood and some other manufacturers have failed miserably on both counts.
Eventually, you reap what you sow and bad business practices get punished.
The economic downturn and decline of radio popularity have only exacerbated
these "issues".

73

Bob KQ2M