Who should Leica hire as their new CEO?

whitecat said:
How about Mr. Kobayashi? He might even lower the prices and give us an M9 with a spot meter and frame lines for all lenses!
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Lowering prices has its cost: shorter lifespan.
 
Who should Leica hire as their new CEO?

As long as we're selling Leica, how about a new company controlled by Eastman Kodak, Leica's sensor expert, with 34%, Panasonic, with 33 % and Kaufmann, with 33%...

[Their percentages would later be reduced slightly to sell small percentages to company directors, with Kodak continuing as majority owner]

Kodak could market the camera, Panasonic could build it and Leica Wetzlar could make the lenses...

It could be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in addition to the Frankfurt exchange.

Assuming there are no anti-trust issues with this selection, you could invite such people to join the board of directors as
Steve Jobs of Apple; Pete Peterson, now of Blackstone [the Wall Street house] and one-time major camera innovator; someone from AT&T or Verizon, Mr. Kobayashi of Cosina, and someone from the Leica dealer community, like Stephen Gandy... Each would be offered an opportunity to buy shares in the new company up to, say 2 to 4.9% at an insider price...

A German-U.S. Wall Street firm, would jump at the chance to underwrite such a deal [that is, sell the stock to the public]

Kaufmann could be chairman of the board...Someone at Kodak would be chief executive officer [but with majority ownership could not be fired by Kaufmann on his own...]
 
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Bill Belichick. He knows how to dress down, which should appease those critical of Leica's snob appeal. He's a winner. And more importantly, he knows how to spy on his competitors.
 
I think they should sell out...Meaning create a cheaper more widely usable product for today’s society, culture, whatever. It worked wonders for Porsche. Porsche like Leica have a very loyal following with all their cars, especially as far as their 911's are concerned. When there was word that they were going to release an SUV. Many owners were not happy. It was Mostly due to the fact that the company was making the exclusive name more accessible to the masses. (I pull up to a light in my C4S and next to me pulls up a Cayenne with a stressed out soccer mom with 10 kids in the back and bumper stickers on the tailgate. Waste of engineering if you ask me.) But, today the company is doing extremely well, making enough profits to continue creating the more expensive/impractical cars that certain people buy. Same could be true for Leica if they produce a product that millions will buy, instead of the current few hundred thousand. They will be fine, and still be able to produce M's, Digital and film. By the way I am not sure of Leica's current production/sales numbers so excuse the guestimates.
 
The need a CEO with a proven track record.

The problem is that Leica is a small company and most of the great CEOs demand salaries far in excess of what Leica can pony up.
 
Alm3000 said:
I think they should sell out...Meaning create a cheaper more widely usable product for today’s society, culture, whatever. It worked wonders for Porsche. Porsche like Leica have a very loyal following with all their cars, especially as far as their 911's are concerned. When there was word that they were going to release an SUV. Many owners were not happy. It was Mostly due to the fact that the company was making the exclusive name more accessible to the masses. (I pull up to a light in my C4S and next to me pulls up a Cayenne with a stressed out soccer mom with 10 kids in the back and bumper stickers on the tailgate. Waste of engineering if you ask me.) But, today the company is doing extremely well, making enough profits to continue creating the more expensive/impractical cars that certain people buy. Same could be true for Leica if they produce a product that millions will buy, instead of the current few hundred thousand. They will be fine, and still be able to produce M's, Digital and film. By the way I am not sure of Leica's current production/sales numbers so excuse the guestimates.
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What we really need to see is a Leica equivalent to the old Porsche 914.
 
Al Patterson said:
What we really need to see is a Leica equivalent to the old Porsche 914.
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I think the Boxster is a more apt comparison. It's actually a Porsche and not a rebadged Volkswagen.

The Digilux is the 914 of Leica.
 
May I second the idea that Kobyashi San be nominated to run Leica. He is probably the only executive out there uniquely qualified to set the grand old Dame of Solms back on an even keel.
 
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