OK, kids, 1) Ants is right. Just listen to him. 2) I did not say this. You did not hear from me. I have no knowledge of any YY internal meeting. Why do you want to compete the market share in a saturated market? For example, in Asia, Yonex is about 75% to 80% of badminton market share. What is the cost of gaining the extra 5% of the market share in Asia? Let's turn around and ask, what is the population in N America playing badminton? If YY can make it popular in school, that is a lot of money to be make even if the evil empire just make extra 1% of people in US interested in badminton.
Yonex need to stop making such lame names such as Z-slash and arc sabers and zzzz Need to go back to the good old names like the armortecs and Ti's
it has to do with image, to be associated with a badminton powerhouse china and maybe a sprinkle of perceived china patriotism, that's what LN is riding on right now. China sent all the OG gold winners to HK for PR. U think that wouldnt have effect on HK badminton coaches?
japanese has strong affinity to their own brand, that's what behind their entry to WW2. On consumer products, just look at japan only market, we have extra quality music CDs made for japan market, distinct MP 90, MP 80, and certain model for JP market only.
I have to agree that the demise of Yonex is grossly premature at this point. LN still does not outsell FAKE Yonex globally let alone authentic Yonex
Mizuno used to be the largest sporting goods manufacturer (in terms of revenue) world wide some 10 or so years ago. They do have a VERY high loyalty especially in their niche markets.
What I said was why not use Yonex instead of Mizuno since Yonex is an established brand in badminton. I haven't seen yet any player sponsored by Mizuno. Even though they used Yonex racket (like Kenichi Tago) it has no Yonex logo on the string. In Indonesia Yonex sponsored PBSI players, and on their strings Yonex logo has to be there, I don't think Yonex sponsored player's racket without any logo on it.
You can tell by looking at the prominence of the sponsor's logo on sponsored players to get a rough idea of the amount of the sponsorship deal. If a player's shirt and racquet prominently display only one sponsor's logo, and if the player is a top player from a top country, then it is big bucks sponsorship. If he displays many sponsors logos on his shirt and strings then the one with the biggest logos obviously pay more. It is all about money and advertising.
Contrary to what most of us believe Yonex is not the biggest manufacturer of badminton racquets. However, it probably is still the biggest in terms of value but not quantity. Many independent Chinese manufacturers sell millions of racquets monthly, mostly low end racquets. Of course Yonex will not disappear. It will become more lean and more competitive because of a new pretender the upstart Li Ning. But there is one great disadvantage of being the biggest maker of top level racquets. It will not gain market share but continue to lose it. But it can make up for this ineivtable loss of market share by making the same qty or even more racquets, because the market is getting bigger. A loss of 5% market share is nothing to worry about if the sales are up vs the previous period.
in INA, it is a team sponsorship, that's why kido/setiawan want out of pbsi deal. In JP, sponsorship is more competitive, a player can be owned by different sponsors, for each particular area of their bodies or equips.
Im not old enough to say this, but i heard that Carlton was the market leader before YY overtook them in the 70s. Right or wrong YY has enjoyed so many years of domination and ofcourse $$$ so its about time market share to be really shared. I can see Badminton sponsorship to go to the tennis direction whereby players have different options to choose from. Im not againts the sponsorship of national team (especially if they play in national team comp) but players should have freedom about who they would like to be sponsored.
Carlton and Dunlop used to be the market leaders before Yonex. Besides from China, Korea and Indonesia, the three badminton strongholds, you can find most players from other countries, namely, Sweden, Denmark, Taiwan, Hong Kong, GB etc etc are sponsored by various manufacturers. Which is the way to go, I agree.
those are idealistic view. Team sponsorhisp benefit more players and while specific sponsorship reward only a few players. Who doesnt want to be like tiger wood and federer but fair is fair, they didnt milk gov't /taxpayers money to get where they r today. So, u r advocating gov't/taxpayers foot all the training, food, medical, accomdation, travel expense until a player become international pro and then let them cut own deal with sponsors? Ha, LOL Look at canada, US, yonex sponsored certain individual players. Wow, we are international badminton powerhouse lol. Oh look, team sponsorship for INA, KOR, china, MAS and look where they are btw, yonex makes most of their money from golf and tennis. Most of their badminton profit went into helping to foster badminton worldwide. I wouldn't say badminton is their core profit center. SH can correct me if i'm wrong but that's how i remember it.
Yonex core revenue streams is badminton. Tennis benefits more directly from this than their golf division. Yonex is a small player globally in tennis
In Europe and North America, tennis is subsidizing badminton because Tennis market is much bigger in these 2 markets for YY. In Asia, badminton is def subsidizing tennis because of reverse. The truth is, in Asia, Babolat and wilson took up more than 50% of tennis market share. Yonex use to have 25% of market share in late 80 and through out 90s. We are still waiting for the next Martina N. to be born... At the end, it is a wash out for each region on subsidizing.
Yes its a bit more tricky in badminton. Top players need to train with top players all the time to maintain/improve playing level. Often its also the case that joining the national team is the only way for national level player to improve and become best in pro. Lets take INA Pelatnas camp for example, its simply the ultimate holly ground for INA club players to aim for if they want to compete in the highest level. Club can only bring these player to a certain level and then they will be passed on to the Pelatnas (in a selection process) for the next level. Now does it mean that these players should be bound to any sponsorship contract written pior to their joining in? As a matter of fact shouldn't be the contract between YY and national team have a limitation to only when national team is performing? Shouldn't it also be that the greatest financial burden lies in the hand of PBSI/Govt it self? IMO, a country like INA depends too much on YY funding which as a result has limit INA player to receive bigger portion of the funding. PBSI is just too lazy to find other mean of income for the organisation.
To me, joining the national team is like signing a contract. The players are fully aware of the pro and cons before get their feet into the door. If they think they can deal with the cons, do not complain afterward. If they do not like it, do not join, train by yourself, and face the result like a man, do not whinning. To me, the worst kind is to try to sqeeze the better part of both, and think the world has to go around themselves. They take the taxpayers $$$, enjoy all the freebies, getting paid, even though 99% of them never really get to the ultimate stage. However, once they become somebody, they suddenly getting greedy, and cover their greediness with a fake mask of "freedom"... well, well, well... Be a man, choose your side, and face it. There's no perfect solution, and you are not going to be guaranteed to be on the better side each time.
