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Author Topic: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies  (Read 2549 times)

mainzer

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Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« on: April 09, 2010, 04:26:35 AM »
What are your thoughts between big and small Companies?

Do you think big Companies like Storm, 900 Global, Brunswick, and Ebonite do better equipment than smaller companies like Legends, VBP, Seismic, AMF, and Motiv? Is their a Difference in how hard gear hits, how much it hooks, how well it carries when the two groups are compared?

Lets face it a company like Lane1 even though alot of people dont like to admit it is making equipment that can at least compare with Storm or other big companies.

My thoughts are like this. Small Companies can be competitve with larger companies by making gear that stands out. or is a little different. I.E. Legends covers going all the way to the core. Lets face it MoRich is just a little different cause of the guy running it. Seismic has wild colors, and cores that are carry machines, Motive stands out cause of the different covers they use.

While larger companies are sticking more with the tried and true while still advancing forward.

Just my thoughts how about yours?

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charlest

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2010, 01:16:22 PM »
When I think of small companies, I think of people like Visionary, Lanemasters MoRich, and Seismic.

While technically, Track, AMF, Roto-Grip, AZO, and Columbia are now "small" companies, they are only small by virtue of a managment decision of the owning companies: Storm, Ebonite, & 900Global. I think the decision was to try to "attack", market in a small niche.

Even though, financially speaking, it is, I tend not to think of Lane#1 as a small company, because they produce such a large number of balls.

In my mind, true small companies try to meet actual customer demand and realize that one ball, if properly designed, can supply many "apparent" customer needs via surface and drilling options. I think Lanemasters, Visionary have proven that over their lifetime. I think Seismic is trying to prove that. Also these companies tend to keep balls around for a long time because they are so versatile and the coverstocks seem to last.

In most cases,  I think smaller companies' balls seem to do the job better because more went into their development, especially customer needs and wants.  For larger companies, I think they rarely take into consideration customer needs and wants until something affects their sales.
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kidlost2000

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2010, 01:28:00 PM »
Isn't AMF part of the 900 Global family?

Anyway I enjoy products from either. Where I tend to get more is from Brunswick and Morich who usually have better prices on balls on ebay and bowlingball.com

Especially when it is something that is recently discontinued. There are very few companies that put out a bad product. The main reason is that if you do that very much you go out of business quickly.
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charlest

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2010, 02:26:57 PM »
quote:
Isn't AMF part of the 900 Global family?


In my view, kind of like RotoGrip is part of Storm, and Track is part of Ebonite.

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six pack

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2010, 02:49:43 PM »
No company is really better then another but I think the large manufactures can asorb a poor release more then a small company can. the key to selling bowling balls seems to be by not how good they are but how many times you can reinvent the same thing and sell it to the public.you can still get an Ogre solid and that ball was released in '06!
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mainzer

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2010, 03:18:05 PM »
quote:
I prefer companies that manufacture in the USA.  Big, small it doesn't matter.  A ball has to match up with the bowler.

There should be a special tariff placed on balls made in Mexico!
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That again. You do understand that 90% of the stuff you use every day isn't made in this country right?
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Brickguy221

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2010, 03:27:29 PM »
When I think of small companies, I think of people like Lane 1, Visionary, Lanemasters MoRich, and Motive. I think they all produce balls every bit as good as larger companies like Brunswick, Ebonite, and Storm.

The difference for me between these smaller companies and the larger companies is the customer service. From my own personal experience, the smaller companies seem to go out of their way to take care of the customer if he has a problem, whereas with some of the large companies, it is more difficult to get a problem taken care of, if at all sometimes.
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Steven

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2010, 03:37:36 PM »
quote:
That again. You do understand that 90% of the stuff you use every day isn't made in this country right?
 


mainzer: And I hope you understand that for 90% of 'everyday stuff', you don't have a choice. For right now the majority of bowling balls available are manufactured in the USA. So unlike most commodity consumer items where there isn't a choice, for bowling balls, there still is.

If someone wants to use domestic vs. foreign manufacturing as criteria, it seems to make sense. This isn't Mexico or China bashing, but acknowledgement of choice. It's up to each bowler to decide how important the factor is.
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Kinalyx

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2010, 03:41:16 PM »
I like both, ive had 1 motiv, im really looking at getting a seismic sometime, & as u can see from my sig, im not carrying any 1 brand....at least not anymore.

However, the problem with smaller companies is that no one outside of us "educated" people have any clue who they are, or at least have a lot less info.  My pro shop has 3 motiv's & i think a seismic sitting on his shelf, hes dropped the price 4 times on all of these & cant get rid of them because the average bowler doesnt know what they are.

I almost snatched up 1 of the motivs, but i decided to drill a 3.5 cause i just want to see what its all about.

Shawn
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In the bag

Brunswick 3.5(pin over ring, mb 60º) light polish over OOB
Ebonite Mission(pin under bridge, MB 70º, low weight hole) polish over OOB
Storm Fast(pin under bridge, low weight hole)
Storm Natural(pin over ring)

Coming soon
high scores??
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nmbr1sun99

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2010, 03:48:07 PM »
I think the big companies can put out a crap product and get away with it. Over the years I have tried Brunswick with lots of success, Ebonite with no success and a bunch of boat anchors, Columbia with some success, Track was eh, Storm was by far the best of the big name companies for me.

But now, I am throwing Motiv equipment and I am loving every day. For such a small company they know what they are doing and have introduced some great balls during the 2009 - 2010 season.
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Graaille

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2010, 03:59:01 PM »
quote:
Isn't AMF part of the 900 Global family?


Actually I think that 900 Global is part of the AMF family.
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lenstanles703

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2010, 04:02:11 PM »
I like the small companies. I am currently using Visionary with great results. I like that I can call and talk to one of the owners when I have a question about a ball i''m thinking of buying. Used some of the big companies stuff with mixed results, always liked the mid-price Brunswick stuff, X-Factor from Storm. No luck with the Big One from Ebonite or the Arsenal Agressive from Track. Too much ball of the month for me. I like it when a company makes a ball for more than six months.
Len

Edited on 4/9/2010 4:08 PM
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kidlost2000

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2010, 04:13:34 PM »
Some people seem to hate Brunswick because they no longer make their bowling balls in the U.S. and to each his own.

Me personally, I have had a lot of success with Brunswick, Morich and others.

Over the years I have also had really really good customer service from large companies such as Brunswick and Ebonite. That is always a huge factor with any product and those companies that give great customer service will have me as a customer for a long time to come.


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kidlost2000

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2010, 04:16:37 PM »
The problem for smaller companies and many proshops is the amount of product there is to stock and the cost to do so.

Just to stock
Ebonite/Track/Columbia/Hammer alone is a ton of bowling balls.

Then add Storm/Roto Grip and Brunswick and you have a lot of inventory to stock and sell.

You then need all the new releases because you don''t always know at first what will sell big and what won''t. That makes it really hard to try an add more companies and equipment.

Lets just guess on the number of balls you may have from each company
Ebonite 5, Track 3, Hammer 5, Columbia 5, Brunswick 5, Storm 5, Roto Grip 5

So that is 33 balls not counting any plastic, and knowing with almost all of them it could be easily 6+ per company. Then what all weight besides 15s will you have of each.

That gets tough as a shop and for customers. I see it with our local shop all the time. It then becomes hard to test the waters on new companies when there is so much out there as a company and a consumer.
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Edited on 4/9/2010 4:17 PM
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Steven

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Re: Your thoughts: Big Companies VS Small Companies
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2010, 04:20:47 PM »
To the original question, I have a mix of large and small company equipment. But I like smaller companies because they at least give the illusion of listening to their customers. I find that to be a value added. In any case, both big and small generally provide high quality equipment.

ugot2bkiddin: Take some meds and chill out. There are too many holes in your statements to make any attempt at corrections, so I'll leave it at that.

Try to get some rest............
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