Competitive Intelligence

Gibson vs. Fender: Battle of the Axes

There was an interesting article on The Tennessean Web site about Gibson Guitar Corporation and its chief, Henry Juszkiewicz, who's ambitious goal is to "build the venerable brand, known for its high-end, handcrafted guitars, into a global, highly diversified manufacturer of musical instruments" with $3 billion in revenue.

While the article focused competitive perspective on the company Gibson hopes to benchmark itself with someday - that is, Yamaha, the world’s largest maker of musical instruments, as well as tennis rackets, snow-blowers, golf clubs, car interiors and motorcycles – Gibson’s $250 million in revenues pale in comparison with Yamaha’s $2.7 billion in musical instruments, and another $2.1 billion in other stuff.

The much more obvious direct competitor for Gibson is Fender, from whom Gibson is trying to differentiate itself with the "digital guitar", acclaimed by so many in the press, but with a more pragmatic reception from musicians. Likewise, diversification is part of where Gibson is headed – pianos and drums and bass guitars – alongside its traditional fare, which is also moving downscale with brands like the Chinese-made Epiphone in order to keep the Gibson brand the upscale $3k-plus axe musicians are used to.

Can Gibson grow 1,100% to scale up to meet Yamaha? I think they should focus on leapfrogging past Fender first.

- Arik