Hank49:
Good points all Don. But as an example, Mercedes Benz bought into (or out) Chrysler. They were all quality and had (have) products that lasted 30 years. But even their niche had to succumb to the high flow, "new model glitz and glimmer" world auto market. How many new cars will they sell when they're product lasts forever? My point is, if I were the head of GUE I would be looking seriously into their strategy for the future. They ARE into it for money or they won't survive. And even though the quality of the "wally world" dive classes may not be as good, customers will still buy that product based on price and availability. And every time one does, if they (PADI) choose to pursue that niche, it's another loss for GUE.
Actually, I think Daimler saw an opportunity to broaden their base and bought a company to do it with. I do suspect the truck line was supporting the company more than they were saying.
The GUE strategy for the future seems to be to continue to upgrade training. If the money follows, so be it.
Each major agency diver is not a loss to GUE. He is a potential customer for services the major agency is unable to provide and may never be able to provide. No matter what the major agency calls the training, if the quality is not there, GUE has an answer.
In my opinion, the major agencies are too interested in "teaching the world to dive" to worry about quality of advanced instruction. They teach people to go to thirty feet and look at the pretty fishes one or two weeks a year and anything the instructors can do to above and beyond that is a random event beyond agency control. I think that is the way it should be. They teach people enough to keep them from getting killed on a reef.
There is a gaggle of agencies fighting over these divers and it is not a niche any more than retail gasoline is a niche. It is a commodity and is sold much like sand, by the pound with concern for quality shown by few.
There is a little mom & pop hardware store near me. In the last fifteen years or so, a Home Quarters, a Lowes, a Home Depot, and a Wal-Mart have opened within walking distance. The little hardware store is still there, not by going head to head with the big guys, but by providing services the big guys can not.
If Home Depot or Lowes (Home Quarters went under) could do it with their workforce, they would have pushed this little guy out. The big guys can not hold the people needed to do these things, so the little guy is still here.
Cave diving is not new. If a major agency thought there was gold within reach in those hills, every agency would be teaching a cave course.
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