Picture this: Three flag manufacturers in a city in Canada. One is located across the street from another, and that one is next door to another.
Along comes the biggest flag-sales event in...well, the last four years (since the last World Cup soccer tournament).
The result? Here's a snipet from the amusing sales article in the Globe and Mail:
To Ramy Jaber, manager of Flags International, where the stock covers more than 400 countries, reducing competition would mean losing the game. "I don't know how we all make money," he says. "We are selling the same things and sometimes to the same people."
But for all the bickering and grandstanding -- each says he was first on the block and each boasts he has the best-quality flags at the best price -- the 2006 World Cup has been very good to them.
You can read the whole article here.
A few points came to mind when I read the article. First, competition is not always a bad thing. These guys make each other better through competition, no doubt. Second, each one believes in their products...and believes that they're better than the other guy! Third, a "normal" flag sales month is $50,000. That astounds me...I don't know why...afterall, lots of people like flags and want to own one. But is there really that big of a market for national flags around the world, with all of the different flag companies out there competing for a very small, niche market?
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