Jim wrote:
> Wow, where to start here.
>
> My thinking is that Campagnolo went down hill after the old man died.
> Also, Mike Sinyard was for sure the largest seller of Campagnolo in the
> world when I went to work there in 1982. So the USA market was very
> important to Campi from the mid '70's.
There is no doubt that the US market was the single biggest and had the
single biggest individual distributors. It is also the most unstable, with
huge oscillations. This does more to damage a company than you can imagine.
The US market however never had the same market penetration as enjoyed by
Campagnolo in Europe. If you compare on a per capita basis, or per bike
basis, the US market has always been less important than most European
markets.
> I went to Italy many times in the '80's and got to meet with Valentino
> at the factory. I don't agree that Frank Berto gave Campagnolo their
> problems. Far from it, they needed someone to push them. One time I went
> to see the factory, I got to go everywhere. Two things stood out for me.
> 1) I saw no real R & D. I think Tulio was so strong no one else was
> allowed to follow him. Valentino did not have an easy time as his son.
> OK guy, but no passion. 2) No CNC machines at all. Brand new factory,
> but no modern tools. One fabrication detail that they were really proud
> of was how the pedals were put together. A big strong guy with a hammer
> and punch put the pedal side plates on by hitting the rivet! No way
> would Shimano even dream of doing this kind of thing.
I went to Vicenza for the first time in 1985, but was only able to really
get to see the insides of the company in the mid to late 90's. I have seen
all aspects of the production and had free access after hours. The company
has obviously changed completely since the time you were last there. There
is now quite a sizeable R & D section doing technical work and an even
bigger group of people doing engineering subcontracting. They still lag
behind Shimano in operations and robotics R & D. You are definitely correct
to say that there was a decline in the last years prior to Tullio's death.
This is however typical of all 'piccola industria veneta' where the company
came to be through the hard work and dedication of one single mover. In the
Veneto region, you see a huge number of very successful family-owned
companies. If they survive 5 years, they usually survive until a second
generation enters the company. This is generally when problems occur as the
first generation has usually been successful due to personal traits or
capacities that are not genetic factors. The second generation always starts
at a disadvantage. Add to this the autocratic character usually seen in the
first generation and you have further problems. The first generation is
feared and respected because of their knowledge, whereas it is common for
the second generation to be considered far less than an equal to the first.
Your comments about no CNC also shows the limitations that family-run
companies face. Tullio Campagnolo had seen so many fads go by that I expect
that as a septuagenarian, he had a right to believe that this too would
pass. Secondly, family-run companies operating in Italy did not have the
financial resources available to them that existed in Japan and America at
the same time. With small local banks and very high credit costs and
outrageous credit terms, it was nigh impossible to finance these exceedingly
expensive machines in Italy. Just to better allow you to understand this, in
Italy, it was unheard of 10 years ago to get a mortgage for more than
perhaps 50% of the value of a home. And the mortgage that you got was always
at variable rates (even to this day, this is true!) The collateral needed to
receive credit were also far more stringent that anything that an American
or Japanese businessman could ever imagine. Italian companies were therefore
almost required to auto-finance themselves. As Campagnolo needed to count on
sales contributions from highly volatile markets like the US, this made the
investment all that more difficult to justify. The new factory had already
likely drained a good portion of the available personal capital. After the
80's, with a new factory in place and largely paid for, newly available
capital could be destined for other uses. That is why in the 90's Campagnolo
made huge investments in machinery. With regards to Valentino, you are right
on the button. He is typical of the second generation of a successful
entrepreneurial family. He benefitted from the good life ensured by his
father's success, but never really learned about the suffering and
dedication needed to ensure the continuation thereof. The fact that he has
not had full respect of the cycling fraternity has not helped either.
> No, I think the attitude was of arrogance. When we (Specialized, their
> largest customer) gave some feedback about how something they made could
> be improved Campi just ignored the advice. "We are the center of the
> world and no one can tell us about the bicycle". Shimano at the time had
> maybe 200 top engineers in R & D. They did not have this kind of problem
> of not listening to the customer either.
Campagnolo as a company has never been arrogant in my experience. The
reality was more likely that they preferred their tried and true way of
testing all modifications and prototypes out in the field on the bikes of
pro racers. As is common knowledge, Campagnolo invariably would fieldtest
their new ideas out on the pros bikes prior to their launch. Coming from my
most recent job in the tennis field, I can assure you that we rarely took
any technical suggestions from our customers, preferring to depend on our
sponsored pros for technical suggestions. The customer's input was only
sought and respected when it came to price points, packaging and cosmetics.
I believe that this is common in most high end sporting goods. Campagnolo
has always used top-down marketing, whihc is just the opposite of what is
done in virtually all Japanese companies. Furthermore, your experience
dealing with both the Japanese and the Italians will demonstrate that to get
something approved in Japan, you need to discuss with a committee of people
always headed up by somebody who spoke English, whereas in Italy, you can
get something produced with the sayso of only one person. Unfortunately,
this person invariably only speaks dialect or dialect and a smattering of
Italian. In Japan with a language that is totally different form English,
you can survive in business with only English, but in Italy, it is my
opinion that you must speak Italian to be successful in business.
> Sure the NR/SR parts are the best for the time they were made. But they
> could have been improved. If Shimano had not pushed the envelope of road
> bike part design we would not have the wonderful parts both companies
> make today.
I almost fully agree with this statement. The sole change that I would make, would be to move away from it solely being Shimano doing the pushing. One of the directors at Campagnolo told me in about 1997 that neither Shimano nor Campagnolo were then leading in innovations anymore. He said it were mainly the small boutique component makers who were making the newest and the best use of technology. He also stated that whereas he then thought that their Record components were finally once again better than anything made by Shimano (He admitted that they fell very far behind for many years), Campagnolo struggled tremendously to differentiate between their difference ranges. Shimano, with their numerous production sites and large R & D budget also being used for robotics and operations were able to do this more ably.
Steven Maasland Moorestown, NJ
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