acdole09 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Hi everyone, My name is Andrew Dole. I am a senior Economics major at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. I am currently taking a course entitled "The Theory of International Trade." My professor has assigned a 20-40 page final term paper on the topic of our choice. Being a musician, I thought it would be interesting to investigate the international market for guitars. My professor suggested keeping the scope of the paper limited to trade between the U.S. and one other country, such as England. He also suggested I contact the guitar manufacturers to try and get some data and information on the international market for guitars. I searched Gibson's website to see if there was a contact that might be able to help. The best I could do was the Customer Service line, which I was not confident would be able to help me. I called both of them anyway and was politely rejected. "We don't release that information," they said. I don't like to take "No" for an answer, so I thought I would turn here and see if there might be someone on this board that might be able to help me out in some capacity or if they might be able to point me in a direction that would be more helpful than Customer Service. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any help that you might be able to provide. My email address is acdole09@holycross.edu if you would prefer to email me. Thank you, Andrew Dole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myspace.com/jessenoah Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanner1994 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 lol you posted the same thing on fender forums... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myspace.com/jessenoah Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 thats cuz henry juskavich;laeidflaseudfhiweughf,skuf hangs out over therre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clance Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 lol you posted the same thing on fender forums... How would you know what goes on there? Traitor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicchaos Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 How would you know what goes on there? Traitor! He's a spy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tanner is a fender/gibson guy like me. But im a Fender/Gibson/b.c.rich/parker/wasuburn(old ones not the the new ones)/ibanez/PRS(only some of them they arent all good). But i only post on the gibson fourm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmonicchaos Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tanner is a fender/gibson guy like me. But im a Fender/Gibson/b.c.rich/parker/wasuburn(old ones not the the new ones)/ibanez/PRS(only some of them they arent all good). But i only post on the gibson fourm! I'm a Gibson/Ampeg/gretsch/rickenbacker/fender person Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar slinger Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I'm straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Excuse me guys, can I interupt this private conversation to get back to the TOPIC. We have someone here that actually asked a question that requires thought, insight, and knowledge, something that seems way beyond these boards lately. Obviously none of you guys has ever had to write a college thesis. acdole09, Gibson (in particular) seems to think that their "super secret marketing strategy" is so great that even they don't know what it is. I don't know much about their international trade policies, but I can tell you that their domestic policies have crushed a lot of "mom & pop" shops that used to be the core of their retail business before the advent of GC, MF, AMS and the like. The other thing we hear on these boards is that our British members are hard pressed to find anything Gibson in the UK right now, seems they have a "distributor" problem. The problem is most likely that the UK distributor won't play by Gibson's rules. If you want write a paper on marketing sucesses look into the marketing history of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Their story has not only been well documented in the press and other published materials, but it has also been the subject of college business classes. They went from within a few days of bankruptcy, to the most successful retailer of heavyweight motorcycles and accessories in the world. I'd even bet they will talk to you about your project. I was involved with the company back in the eighties but no longer have any current contacts. Try calling 1-800-258-2464, I'll bet they'll be glad to talk to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdole09 Posted March 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 L5Larry, thank you for your post. The Harley-Davidson idea sounds pretty cool. It will probably be easier if they are a more "college-friendly" company. Tanner is right, I posted the same thing on the forum on Fender's website, and on one other message board I frequent. I figure the more people that see it the better chance I would have at getting what I need. I spent today doing a bit of investigating, and I got a few names, but I am waiting to hear back from a friend who has some contacts at both Gibson and Fender to see if he can help me out. I'm not quite ready to give up on the guitar topic yet, though a short summary of my paper was due last Friday. I think if by tomorrow I still have gotten nowhere I will throw in the towl and switch to the motorcycle idea. Thanks again for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyH Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 A few of things: 1) Learn to use white space. 2) Any information you get here will be simple hearsay. 3) You cannot get accurate numbers without manufacturer data. Without that, your paper has a high coefficient of fiction and you undermine your own efforts. I've had to read papers based on such premises. They get bad grades. I suggest you find another topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.