The Parable of the Toy Soldier: How a Small Gaming Business Became a Victim of their Own Success.

Posted by ronika under Strategy
From http://www.montrealfinancial.ca 4811 days ago
Made Hot by: Big Business Boogaloo on February 14, 2011 12:49 pm

This story has all the ingredients of a great novel - drama, intrigue, the Chinese, hostile takeovers and a guy named Lonnie. It has shaken the world of miniature gaming, where excitement is usually imagined rather than real. And, although the details are murky, it is an excellent case study that demonstrates how mistakes made by business owners can result in severe and unintended consequences.

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Comments

Written by ShawnHessinger
4810 days ago

Hi Ronika,

Great post on the dangers of growing too fast. Of course, the roles should have been reversed with the innovative team behind the product calling the shots and the manufacturing and distribution arm handling support. But then, happily, the reason innovation continues to occur is that larger companies continue to forget the importance of innovation in their products, replacing it with an obsession for volume of sales and giving the next wave of entrepreneurs the opportunity.

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Written by ronika
4809 days ago

Thank you, Shawn. These guys are(were) actually lower cost competitors to a another company (Games Workshop) that has slowly been doing exactly what you described - sacrificing innovation and quality in an effort to improve their bottom line.

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Written by saraib820
4811 days ago

Ronika,

I agree. This is incredible interesting and a great case-study on screwing things up!

Rivkah

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Written by ronika
4811 days ago

Thank you, Rivkah!

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Written by yoni67
4811 days ago

Ronika,

This is an absolutely FASCINATING post!

Wow,

I can't fathom how many blunders took place. Losing orders and having to contact customers to verify orders??? It will take a lot of damage control to set things right.

On the other hand, I'm wondering how the delay and backlog might go in the way of making the product even more desirable among consumers?

Awesome post...it looks like you put a lot of research into this and it really paid off! What a drama!!!

Yoni

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Written by ronika
4811 days ago

This was brought to my attention by my boyfriend, who is a big fan of their product. I had to piece together what happened from a variety of sources (message boards, website, facebook) etc. We contacted the previous owner-managers for some clarity, but due to legal complexities they were unable to comment.

Their predicament is an extreme example of consequences that can arise from what appears to be a lack of experience, a situation that many small busineess owners find themselves facing. It is very sad as it seems like they had a great product and community.

Good point about the increased desirability of the product - it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Thank you, Yoni. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

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