Problems That Epiphone Faced
1.1 The competition with Gibson and the failure of recording guitars
Epiphone had introduced the recording series of guitars at the height of banjo boom in 1928. Although the market was certainly ripe, the recording guitars were not successful accepted by the market because the recoding guitars was lack of celebrity endorsement and the volume of recording guitars was too small and arguably too ornate if compared to the mighty size and volume of the Gibson L-5. Epiphone took the concept of the Gibson L-5 as the inspiration of the new product, Masterbilt Series, but Masterbilts had their own identities. Their intention was to destroy it but not to imitate the Master Model. After that, Gibson returned fire by increasing the body width of its existing models and introducing the king-size Super 400. Once Epiphone launched out a new product, Gibson would introduce another product to counterattack.
We found that Apple Inc also faced the same problem with Epiphone. At the time Apple Inc launched out the iPhone 4S, it enjoyed to become the foreground of the public attention. Many people discussed about the iPhone 4S and awaited it imported into their country. However, the introduction of Samsung Galaxy S3 brought a danger to iPhone 4S’s sales. In order to protect the market share, Apple Inc kept on improving and a new product, iPhone 5 produced.
There is a phenomenon that once the news of Apple’s new product is announced, the sales of Samsung’s product will become flat. Thus, Samsung and Apple keep launching new models of smart phone to keep the reputation and sales of their products. (CNET News, 2012)
1.2 The rise of foreign-made guitars The early to mid-1960s were the boom time for Epiphone. However, the rise of foreign-made guitars had given a heavy strike to the US industry. It had caused the market share of the Epiphone/ Gibson decreased by 40% and many companies which couldn’t deal with this problem had closed down entirely. In addition to the fall in sales,
Epiphone had introduced the recording series of guitars at the height of banjo boom in 1928. Although the market was certainly ripe, the recording guitars were not successful accepted by the market because the recoding guitars was lack of celebrity endorsement and the volume of recording guitars was too small and arguably too ornate if compared to the mighty size and volume of the Gibson L-5. Epiphone took the concept of the Gibson L-5 as the inspiration of the new product, Masterbilt Series, but Masterbilts had their own identities. Their intention was to destroy it but not to imitate the Master Model. After that, Gibson returned fire by increasing the body width of its existing models and introducing the king-size Super 400. Once Epiphone launched out a new product, Gibson would introduce another product to counterattack.
We found that Apple Inc also faced the same problem with Epiphone. At the time Apple Inc launched out the iPhone 4S, it enjoyed to become the foreground of the public attention. Many people discussed about the iPhone 4S and awaited it imported into their country. However, the introduction of Samsung Galaxy S3 brought a danger to iPhone 4S’s sales. In order to protect the market share, Apple Inc kept on improving and a new product, iPhone 5 produced.
There is a phenomenon that once the news of Apple’s new product is announced, the sales of Samsung’s product will become flat. Thus, Samsung and Apple keep launching new models of smart phone to keep the reputation and sales of their products. (CNET News, 2012)
1.2 The rise of foreign-made guitars The early to mid-1960s were the boom time for Epiphone. However, the rise of foreign-made guitars had given a heavy strike to the US industry. It had caused the market share of the Epiphone/ Gibson decreased by 40% and many companies which couldn’t deal with this problem had closed down entirely. In addition to the fall in sales,