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November 14, 2019
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| He happened to find this book at the discount box at a book store. It was a business book about the new economy. As the book was published about six years ago -- in this rapidly changing world -- maybe this was why the book was sold at a 50 percent discount, he thought. The introduction on the cover read that the author was the author of, 'The Long Tail'. He knew it was a famous bestselling book. He hadn't bought it, but he knew that the book discussed about how the internet shopping world works. For example, Amazon had a large selection of real books as well as e-books. If it was a book store, they wouldn't have books that hardly sold because the store's book shelves are limited, and it would take extra costs. But Amazon's website doesn't have shelves and there is no cost to add many rare books to the list. Because of this, rare things would have more chances to be bought in the internet world. The author gave a metaphor of a 'long tail' of a dinosaur to describe his theory. If there is a graph that has sales in the X axis, and a list of goods lining by its sales in the Y axis, the items that had very few purchases would last a very long time. He bought this book as he wanted to know whether this famous author's economical predictions had fit reality or not after six years. He read the book's outline, it was like this: New technology enabled machines for factories to be cheaper. The internet enabled anybody to access any company.  Because of this new business model, start-ups to be a "Maker" became easier than ever before. Because of this there would be a new "Makers" in the world. Actually, in China, there were a lot of new makers starting. He also mentioned that because reasonable priced, well-made 3D printers had appeared, it would allow amateurs a big chance to become a "Maker" themselves. It reminded him of the time that electric cars had started. At that time, charging points were equipped in many places. Some said that this could be a crisis for the traditional car makers and major companies in the world. Their notion was like this: Cars are very complex products. Cars are said to be built with about ten thousand parts. This is a gasoline car. Gasoline is very dangerous. An engine gets its energy from the explosion of gasoline, so engines need very precise and are complicated. As an engine becomes very hot, cooler system is needed, which is heavy. Because the engine and cooler are heavy, the car needs a good braking system because of gravity. The car's body should also be strong. On the other hand, electric cars run by its motor. They are like toys, their parts are said to be one tenth of a gasoline car. And, because of the simplicity of electric cars, there would be many car makers entering the market, and they would threaten the existing big car makers. He believed this notion because it sounded logical. But it didn't happen, at least so far. He wasn't an economist but now he was able to explain why it hasn't happened from two experiences of his: One: a couple years ago he bought an electric assist bike at a cheap cost from a foreign country. It seemed like a good purchase because it ran good, and the electric assist power was strong. He enjoyed riding it for 6 months, and then the bike broke. He asked the company to repair it by mail because the bike was sent from the company's country directly, and there was no support office in this country. But the company didn't respond accordingly. Eventually he gave up on the bike. Before it finally broke, the bike had to be fixed many times. First the stand bent, he had to change it to a new one. His hands became black because the handle bars rubber was cheap, he replaced them. He changed the brake lever because it broke when he fell. Then he found that the tires didn't have any more tread. That was only in six months of use. Now he rode on a normal bike. This normal bike was several times as reliable as the electric one. The maker must have chosen every part carefully from their long time of experience; while the electric bike's maker must have chosen their parts only for the sole reason that they were cheap. Two: He recently bought a pair of gloves for bike riding. It was the third time in three years. The first two were worn out easily. They were cheap, although they had a good appearance. As the old saying goes: Buy cheap, get cheap. This time he bought a pair of gloves that were about five times as much as the first two. He knew the name of the maker of this product. He chose this one believing in the brand name. Maybe his car makers would still make good cars, whether traditional engine cars or electric cars. Their cars must be safer, more luxurious, comfortable, quieter, better design, easier to maintain, etc. The reliable and steadiness of their cars must be proof of their long term experience. So his conclusion was that the current big makers would remain big as long as they continually thought about the needs and wants of consumers. |
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*tread :タイヤの溝
*sole :底
*reliable :信頼性のある
*steadiness :確かさ
*needs :ニーズ
*wants :要求