Me: I need a trumpet, a xylophone, full drum kit, an electric guitar, a full PA system and a grand piano for my jazz show
Yamaha: I got you
Me: I also need a motorcycle to get there and a set of golf clubs for Sunday
Yamaha: I gotchu there too
Me: I want to play games until I get fat
Konami: yo, there you go
Me: damn, that was a bad idea, I need to go work out in a gym
Konami: I’m way ahead of you
Bally: What if we offered the same thing, but also with casinos and crappy sports channels?
you can lose weight AND money in the same day, what a deal! /s
Ok, now can you replace the motor in the personal massager with…
I’ve just got really deep knots.
And can I have a twin sequential turbocharger for the best car of the century? “You are not gonna believe this”
Me: Hmm, about time I bought a phone
Siemens: I gotchu
Me: a laptop would be nice to apply for jobs
Siemens: Gotchu there too
Me: Just got a City Planner job, wonder who I can buy some trains from
Siemens: Gotchu again bro
Me: Nuclear power plant to power the trains?
Siemens: We don’t sell those anymore, we’ve gotchu with steam and solar power plants though
Me: Just bought a house, need some kitchen appliances…
Siemens: Gotchu bro
Mitsubishi has entered the chat.
Me: I need to get rid of the whole Uchiha clan
Hitachi:
These weird combinations look fun but they’re generally the result of having conglomerates, companies that have gobbled up a bunch of smaller, unrelated companies.
Conglomerates are tricky to pull off because managing a lot of disparate business lines. A CEO who knows all about how to market construction equipment is likely to miss that one of their other products became an iconic sex toy years ago. The big problem is that more focused companies can typically outmaneuver you in their area of focus.
Theoretically, there might be synergies that make your company more effective but normally, conglomeration is drag on the risk-adjusted rate of return on your company. It’s much easier to pull off when your government has strong protectionist policies or if there are officials you can bribe to keep out the competition.
Why would a company do something that’s generally bad for the company? It’s generally good for the CEO. A CEO often has a very concentrated investment portfolio. Changes in the value of the company they’re running can have a huge impact on their personal wealth. Conglomeration allows a single company to be a diversified asset. It does it in a way that’s objectively worse for shareholders but better for the CEO.
Don’t forget the Hitachi UltraStar hard drives
This reminds me of around 2000, when I had a Daewoo television, and then my mind was blown one day when I saw a Daewoo car. Who makes televisions and cars? Daewoo apparently.
Hey, I need a new high-end, innovative Phablet.
Samsung; sure, knock yourself out
I’m also interested in constructing the largest building in the world
Samsung; say no more
That one is especially messed up with the ownership controversy between Samsung Electronics and Samsung Engineering.
Me: I need a flute for my orchestra performance
Yamaha: No problem, here’s our 800W Series.
Me: You wouldn’t happen to know where I can
get a heavy 600 cc sport bike with the stop speed of 260km would you?
Yamaha: You’re not gonna believe thisSamsung though: phones, tanks, healthcare equipment
You can do similar with mitsubishi, yamaha, bugatti, samsung (especially samsung. They make a ton of things. Ships, phones, hospital equipment, clothing and you can even live at their hotel
The record player I grew up with is a freaking Mitsubishi
We have learn’t nothing from ‘too big to fail’.
