Price is not, in itself, the problem, there are saxophones more expensive than a Selmer, the problems is the size of the company and the scale of its economy.
Selmer is a giant. They could either reduce their size trying to stay alive producing within a market niche or try to broaden the market base.
They are responding to the shrinking of their market ( which they think is due to price and the fact that they are the largest company occupying only the top segment) byt broadening their possible base.
That was one of the two possible strategies to solve the problems that they are in, the other one would have been to reduce size to a much leaner and smaller high end only company.
Perhaps these comments I made some time ago have escaped the attentions of most because they were in another thread.
Selmer has entered since 29 January 2013 an extraordinary period which will end soon, now is the time for some choices and this new trend appears to be their response to this.
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29 janvier 2013
Sécurisation de l’emploi : Michel Sapin visite l’entreprise SELMER
Michel Sapin, ministre du Travail, de l’emploi, de la formation professionnelle et du dialogue social a visité, lundi 28 janvier 2013, l’entreprise SELMER, à Mantes la Ville, sur le thème de la sécurisation de l’emploi.
Ce fût l’occasion d’échanger avec la direction et les partenaires sociaux de l’articulation des enjeux de compétitivité et de sécurité de l’emploi au sein de cette entreprise, et notamment du recours à l’activité partielle (ou chômage partiel). Dispositif permettant aux entreprises de réduire ou de suspendre temporairement l’activité de tout ou partie de leurs salariés en cas de baisse d’activité, il a permis d’éviter des licenciements, et même la fermeture de l’entreprise.
Le ministre a salué l’accord interprofessionnel du 11 janvier dernier qui prévoit entre autres une simplification et une amélioration du recours à l’activité partielle. Les partenaires sociaux signataires de cet accord se sont engagés à ouvrir dans les deux semaines suivant cette signature, une négociation sur l’activité partielle, en incluant l’Etat sur les champs relevant de sa compétence, visant à mettre en œuvre un nouveau régime d’activité partielle. Un nouveau dispositif unifié et plus efficace sera mise en place en fusionnant les deux allocations actuelles, en simplifiant les modalités de calcul, en incitant à se former pendant les périodes chômées et en prévoyant des engagements modulés de l’entreprise avec le recours au dispositif.
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The “ partenaires sociaux signataires de cet accord ” are the unions and the association of the employers , The “ Social Partners” whom signed this accord.
“ activité partielle ou chômage partiel” means ( partial activity or partial unemployment).
They are talking about a mechanism ( which the government agreed upon last January) for which it is possible, for a company, to reduce the working hours of a group of workers (in order to pay them less in times of crisis and save their jobs) but compensating them as if they were unemployed ( for that amount of hours) through the mechanism of the jobless allowances or unemployment benefit for the amount of hours that they haven’t worked (and haven’t been paid for from the company).
This is an extraordinary measure limited in the amount of time and the amount of hours (normally a maximum of 1000 hours) and implemented only if a company has too little orders to keep the work force in permanent work.
http://www.emploi.gouv.fr/dispositif/activite-partielle
Selmer has had permission to reduce the working week hence saving cost because they don’t have enough work to keep all the people busy all the time and pay them a full salary. So it cannot be used if there are enough orders and stops immediately when the economy improves.
In practice the workers get paid less but keep the job and get the difference with their normal salary paid by the state for a maximum of 1000 hours.
This doesn’t fall under the definition of State help, in the EU. These are the stringent controls to insure that no state help is carried out in the EU.
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/overview/state_aid_procedures_en.html
That would make sense to me as well. There's no excuse for a lineup of professional horns that goes from very expensive to extremely expensive to super-expensive. ..........
Why would there be no excuse in producing only luxury, top of the line instruments?
There are many examples of small companies ( In the music business or even more in the automotive business) thriving doing exactly that! The thing is that they are SMALL, lean and mean. Nothing like Selmer.
Selmer wants to do something that they have never done in their whole history and they are attempting this in times of market shrinkage and crisis ( which is nowhere near being over!).
