Boat brands you miss

I am not saying you can manage a European facility the same as US. You don't manage any two countries the same. But the fact is that under the very same conditions there are successful boat builders in the UK and in Europe in general. Now your point of not managing a European facility the same as US may point to a larger problem. Maybe Brunswick failed to acknowledge that in their approach and tried to manage it the same. If so, that's a Brunswick mistake.

As to Sealine being an underperformer, Brunswick still did nothing with them. And it's not just Sealine you can say that about. Many of their acquisitions have deteriorated under their ownership while others might not have deteriorated but have failed to improve. I'm sure when they acquired Sealine they did it on the basis of plans they created showing improvement. Either those plans were poor and unreasonable or their performance in running the acquisition was. It's way too easy to blame all adverse events on circumstances beyond one's control.

That's not to say that some of the boat builders they've acquired haven't benefitted through their ownership.

I would also say this, while Brunswick hasn't worked out well for all acquisitions, there have been many worse owners of boat builders.

I wouldn't really cite GM as a good example. I admit I grade tougher based on my years in business.

Over the years, I'd give Brunswick a very mixed grade. Certainly better than AMF along the way. I think balancing their businesses was a good strategic move. I think the very aggressive move to protect Mercury Marine through the acquisition of boat companies and acquiring the two largest in Bayliner and Sea Ray was impressive. The fact they have both stayed on top these years is positive and couldn't have happened had Brunswick not had the diversity and balance. They've done well with their aluminum brands. On the other hand I'd downgrade them when they've acquired and managed boat lines outside their basic realm of family boats and aluminum with moderate price points. Yacht brands have not thrived under them. Nor have specialty high performance type boats. I'd give their overall performance a B+. But when it comes to yachts and high performance or anything outside the mass market boating arena I'd give them a D as their stewardship has allowed those brands to decline. Still that only brings their overall performance as a company to a B+. I think recognizing the areas that weren't their strength deserves credit too. It would have been easy to have held on to brands like Hatteras just for the prestige as opposed to fitting well in their business model.

As to the collapse of the industry and no one saw it coming, I only partially agree. Well run companies have contingency plans. It was unreasonable to expect the boom to continue upward forever. The well run boat builders are still here, in spite of the very tough times. They deserve a tremendous amount of credit. All struggled to some degree, had cutbacks and layoffs at various times, had bad years. But there are many who have persevered well. Brunswick is among those with the vast majority of their brands. My comments are not a criticism of Brunswick as a whole. But I do criticize their management of certain brands. Hatteras is the one I'd criticize most strongly. I hope they can regain their past position. But right now they have very limited offerings compared to Viking as an example.