"If I were Leica's CEO..." - just for fun

maybe it's a good idea to send all our management recommendations to

the bankruptcy court so they take it easy on unsecured creditors,

namely Leica warranty holders.. :)

 

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8 things i would do:

 

get rid of any overhead supporting the R8, R9

get rid of all special edition M's

lose the compact film line (CM zooms etc..)

phase out the a la carte program, what a marketing gimmick

focus on the digilux line

focus on a digital srl, the current R digital module is just

cumbersome in my opinion, too mach money for the benefit

continue focusing on optics, develop AE for M lenses

I'd make lenses for Canon and Nikon bodies.

1. swallow my pride and give Mr. Kobayashi a call and ask for help in saving Leica M mount cameras/lens

 

2. strength the partnership with Panasonic and using the 4/3 sensor produce a Digilux3/LC2 with a large RAW buffer and improved lens ring 'feel' - LC1 to my hands needs more positive feedback... it's currently to vague..

 

3.???

skip chapter 11 and go to chapter 12

Downsize everybody but Werner and Klaus, and set them up in a beautiful workshop. Have

them repair existing Leicas until the parts run out; and sell even more expensive ala-carte

editions. Milk the brand by licensing its name only to Panasonic's digital lenses. But don't

dilute it any further. Drop the digitals, compacts, and SLRs once the inventory is depleted.

 

In other words, obtain maximum profit with the least overhead. Leica's sweet spot is

having a handful of German perfectionists making the best 35mm cameras in the world.

 

Most of these other suggestions are only wistful thinking...

LOL, Travis. Maybe he should just skip to the back and see how this book ends...

. . . I'd start looking for a more-secure job.

Lower prices / add incentives or deals.

HP's CEO post is up for grabs..

I'd sell the rights and all manufacturing equipment and staff for the R-series, and contact my lens manufacturers, have them design a time machine using Einstein's theory about light and time travel and all that, and then catapult myself back to 1953, enjoy the moment of M, then catapult myself forwards in time to when they introduced the R, kill the people who wanted to develop it, and invest all the money they poured into it into Microsoft - or should it be Apple? Just a thought.

Drop the R line. Buy a D70, take it apart, find out what makes it work, simplify it, put it in

a new, much less expensive M body (it only has to hold up 2-3 years max.), produce it in

Thailand and then bring out some fast super wide M lenses. <p>

Shoot anyone in the company who says the words "heritage", "tradition" or "glow".

Leica's "magic moment" has indeed arrived.

" Subject: "If I were Leica's CEO..." - just for fun "

 

It doesn't sound too much like fun to be Leica's CEO right about now. In fact I'll bet Hans-Peter Cohn is counting his lucky stars he's out of there and won't be known as the one who was at the helm when the good ship Leica sank. Quite honestly I will be surprised if it isn't these announcements and the internet-fueled panic that'll kill Leica even before they can reshuffle their financing. Surely a percentage of new Leica sales will be lost as a result of customers not wanting to get stuck with a product that might be unrepairable in the near future. Especially the DMR, R8/9 and M7 which nobody outside of Leica works on.

 

Perhaps the same thing will happen that happened with Rolleiflex, a company will buy the tooling for the MP, and produce it in limited quantities for an outrageous price. Perhaps in conjunction with Franklin Mint, as a once-a-year commemorative.

 

It seems to me that any and all of the other proposed "solutions" (making a digital M, making lenses in other mounts, etc.) all have two things in common: they will take time, they will take money. Neither of which Leica seems to have.

 

I've alluded to it before but I'll state it outright: I don't believe Hermes or the other major investor in Leica were blindsided by this latest development, and certainly Hermes could bail Leica out themselves if they wanted to. There is some plan afoot here, and eventually it will play out.

Hire Al and Grant as co-CEO's and stand behind them .... waaaaay behind them.

If I were Leica's CEO, I'd apologize and disembowel myself.

Built a time machine (built of course to Leica standards, without any of those silly bells and whistles) for another chance at the past 15/20 years.

 

And while you're redirecting investment strategy, please build a couple Leica Hexar AFs priced around $1200, one with a 35 mm lens and the other with a 70-80 lens.

<i>If I were Leica's CEO, I'd apologize and disembowel myself.</i>

<p>LOL

Wait 4-6 months to see what happens. The new CEO had to know what he was getting into. This ostrich still thinks it`ll be ok.

 

I`ll have $250,000 of collectables or $10,000 in garbage. Wait and see.

The M7 can fixed like any other M, the mechanical parts can by made by reverse engineering a working one, the electronics can be reengineered (I am sure Leica didn't make custom cmos chips) for a few dollars.

 

I agree about the R line however dump it or at least don't develope anything new for it.

Get rid of the MP. Return the M6 to production, with the MP finder, keeping the price under $1800. Wipe that awful <b>M7</b> off the front of the M7. Drop the M7 price under $2000. Support the R line with lenses, even if the bodies don't stay in production. I'd like to see another mechanical R, though. Make a dedicated digital R for a decent price. Make a digital M, under $2400. Drop the a la carte. It's too expensive. Maybe offer a couple of finish variations on the M, like choice of black chrome or a durable black paint, not designed to fall off. Emphasize photographic excellence, not prestige/cosmetics.

 

Consider letting Kyocera make more of the Leica lenses, to contain the cost, just like Zeiss does.

"I`ll have $250,000 of collectables or $10,000 in garbage."

 

Ronald, which one will it be if Leica goes under and which if they survive?

Sell th whole nine yards to Zeiss for enought to bail out the stock holders, with the proviso that the Leica name be kept in circulation for a top line of cameras with Contax for another top quality entry level line. Continue the R lenses with adapters for Nikon, Contax, etc. <p> That would restore Zeiss's production capacity that they lost when they crashed back in the 70's. Zeiss's management combined with theirs and Leicas lens technology would be unbeatable. Outsource bodies and assembly to Portugal but keep Lenses in Germany. Leave it to Zeiss to decide digital future. <P> OTOH, What a lot of horsefeathers! What has happened is what was going to happen. What happens at any one instant in time is the resultant of all the compomonent forces in opration at that time. You can't change them after the fact. If you could change one, it would affect the effects of all. As the linebacker told the running back in "Semi Tough", "WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, DID!". <p> So, as far as Leica is concerned, WHAT CAN HAPPEN, WILL!

Sell the whole nine yards to Zeiss for enought to bail out the stock holders, with the proviso that the Leica name be kept in circulation for a top line of cameras with Contax for another top quality entry level line. Continue the R lenses with adapters for Nikon, Contax, etc. <p> That would restore Zeiss's production capacity that they lost when they crashed back in the 70's. Zeiss's management combined with theirs and Leicas lens technology would be unbeatable. Outsource bodies and assembly to Portugal but keep Lenses in Germany. Leave it to Zeiss to decide digital future. <P> OTOH, What a lot of horsefeathers! What has happened is what was going to happen. What happens at any one instant in time is the resultant of all the compomonent forces in opration at that time. You can't change them after the fact. If you could change one, it would affect the effects of all. As the linebacker told the running back in "Semi Tough", "WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, DID!". <p> So, as far as Leica is concerned, WHAT CAN HAPPEN, WILL!

Hire me!

Ship all production and assembly to China, lower prices by a factor of 4 and hope there are enough Leica fanatics out there to keep buying cameras just because they have "Leica" stamped on them.

 

If China can't handle the optics part, try the Ukraine.