It’s music to the ears…
I’m a keen concert goer and enjoy listening to all types of music. In my opinion one of the most pleasing sounds on the ear is that of a piano.
Last month, Kemble and Co., the only remaining large scale UK piano manufacturer stopped production in the UK. Its main shareholder Yamaha transferred operations to Asia.
Whilst there is a debate amongst music aficionados around the world as to whether the sound of instruments is different depending on where it was manufactured, what is interesting from a strategy paper point of view is to think about why Yamaha made the decision to transfer production to Asia. There could well be a question in the exam involving relocating production to another country. So why did Yamaha move the production location?
The reason is clearly due to cost savings due to economies of scale, synergies and utilising spare capacity at some of their other production facilities in Asia.
In 2 years time, Kemble is due to celebrate its 100th birthday. It will still celebrate its birthday but they will be blowing out the candles on the cake in Asia and not the UK.
