Strike Now — Pay Later

Abstract

C. Buchan (Marine) Ltd is a comparatively small subsidiary in an international engineering group. The long-established works are on Clydeside and used to produce marine pumps for the shipbuilding industry. However the decline of shipbuilding on the Clyde has forced them to seek out new products and markets, and since 1975 they have manufactured and marketed a range of outboard motors, essentially for inshore fishing and leisure craft. In a highly competitive market they have nevertheless managed to carve a niche for themselves. They have done so largely on the strength of the design of their machines which are particularly fuel-efficient and reliable in all sorts of weather conditions. For the first few years after the introduction of the Sea-Bee outboard motors the main problem was one of producing enough units to meet the demand, but those halcyon days are certainly over and during the past three years competitors in the United States and Japan have produced models matching Buchans in both quality and price. Buchans reckoned that they had captured 55% of the domestic market at one stage but this share has been substantially eroded since the introduction of the competing models.