 Cross your heart: Do you know who owns the factory that produced your dining room table or your love seat? Maybe you recall the manufacturers behind these items, but for the most part, we rarely know who stands behind the many products we purchase daily. There are books that seek to disentangle the conundrum of global capital and often interesting details emerge. In the last few years the trend of big corporations buying smaller companies has increased, and we can hear about so called take-overs almost on a daily basis. I would not be surprised if the term “take-over candidate” will become designated as the Word of the Year.
Most recently this tendency also reached the piano industry, and it was just a little earlier this year when the renowned piano manufacturer Boesendorfer was “snatched up” by the Japanese musical instruments builder Yamaha. It was a very common transaction and even in this tiny industry of piano builders it was not the first purchase of its kind; some were shocked by the news, but only a few surprised. Noteworthy is that the take-over of Bosendorfer did not launch an industry wide trend. The reasons that led to the sale of Bosendorfer were rather home-made and Yamaha simply used the opportunity. Given the alternative choices, I believe in the long run, that this purchase will provide advantages for both companies.
This though, is not today’s topic. I am more interested in the structures and dynamics underlying such transactions in our industry. Is it of any importance if a piano company is owned by an individual entrepreneur or if it is part of an industrial conglomerate? What changes are there in a small piano manufacturing company when its independence is compromised? Does the consumer care about such changes? What happens with the instruments? Today’s economy has (mostly) abolished person centered product marketing. The packaging in your local food store usually does not indicate a person or an address to turn to. While in former times the proud business owner put her name and her picture on her products, today one gets the subliminal message that the manufacturer would rather stay anonymous. There is the occasional exception with Aunt Becky praising her guaranteed home made noodles but then consumers suspect behind such claims shrewd and deceptive marketing practices; and for the most part they are right. But then there is also the exception: a German TV ad features Mr. Claus Hipp who warrants his product with his own good name or the owner of Germany’s biggest apparel factory Trigema, Mr. Wolfgang Grupp, swears to not move his production facility overseas, then the public becomes attentive and takes note.
Taken at face value the logic is obvious: a product that has been manufactured by a family for many generations can not be all that bad. This thought evokes trust and a sort of guideline in an ever more complex world of products. Modern man is overchallenged to assess correctly the quality of each specific product and therefore he tries to shift the decision towards an area that he feels comfortable. Often that is the honest face of a salesman in the specialty store around the corner. Unfortunately, that criteria becomes ever so less reliable as the salesperson at the local home products store is mostly responsible to restock and to work the cashier machine. At an aggressive discount store, do not even bother looking for a salesperson- just pick up your items and hurry to the self-check out stand.
In the piano industry you will still find owners of smaller factories whose names are on the fallboard of the piano as well as depersonalized brand names that are owned by larger conglomerates. In some rare cases the new business owners retain a member of the family as the product’s and brand’s spokesperson. Of course the question rings: what differentiates these small companies from bigger conglomerates? What do they do right? Where do they err? Well, to start out with the obvious but very noteworthy, these small companies are very old - and a majority have been in business for almost 200 years. I know, by way of personal experience, that in these circles of owners one can find an astonishing resilience that in some cases borders on obsession. The families and owners of such companies have been in the past, and continue in present times, to stand by their business - despite suffering from financial shortages and foregoing more lucrative careers. There are examples in our industry where such dedication continued to the very end of economic viability.
On the other hand, these virtues have inspired small companies to make their brand known all over the world in a way that usually is only possible for powerful corporations with sheer unlimited advertising budgets. In some ways, it was the owners’ narcissistic and ardent desire to share with the world one’s own piano rather than a strategically devised marketing approach that led to public visibility. Often these small manufacturers would not consider the needs of the client, neither did they pay attention to unaddressed market opportunities, but rather devoted day and night to hovering over beams and rods and developing their instrument; the world, in their mind, was eagerly awaiting the arrival of their piano ready to embrace it as soon as it left the workshop floor. It is not far from the truth to say that to this very day my manufacturing colleagues (and admittedly, I myself, also suffer from such sentiment flashes from time to time) often are permanently disappointed by the world and almost offended, when an instrument is not instantaneously embraced and celebrated. Thus naturally, any failures in the market place are rarely associated to one’s own product or , per chance, ineffective sales methods but are squarely put on the shoulders of unthankful customers who are just not enlightened enough.
Any marketing expert would revolt against the somehow “neurotic” promotional approach of small piano builders, and most likely will remain in awe that such companies have not been swept off the market into oblivion. But every coin has two sides: the narcistic attitude of family owned piano companies (which sometimes and wrongfully so, is perceived as arrogance) has also its virtues. No automobile manufacturer produces a vehicle just because the chairmen of the board damn likes a particular design. Rather these corporations rely on scientific marketing studies in order to minimize any risk. And what is the consequence? Cars are more and more alike- and the character of the respective brand is steadily lost. The automobile’s public profile is not created on the street but rather communicated in expensive advertising spots. There you can see a cute little car majestically cruising through inspiring scenes of nature and wilderness. But would you notice it - let alone get excited about it - if it were parked just around the corner?
What a difference to the aforementioned family owned piano builders? They could care less about phony marketing strategies and target groups. They follow their dream to build the best upright or grand piano of the world and thus ensure that today there is a broad choice of real brands that are far superior to the corporate cookie cutter manufacturers. Mr. Grotrian, Sr. - from Grotrian Pianos- expressed it best when he told his sons: “Boys, build good pianos, the rest will all fall into place by itself!”
Some of you might find my words too romanticzing- and you may be right! Of course, today it takes more than just building a good piano in order to be successful in the global marketplace. But still, it seems that when a manufacturer puts her name on the fallboard of a piano, that very act creates for the owner something almost sacral. And thus it happens, that when you buy such an instrument you purchase a bit of that dream and essence of human longing for producing the finest. Don’t you think that this makes the music and piano world even more enticing!
Yours cordially,
C. Ulrich Sauter
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