It's a phenomenon I call "Feeding the machine". I don't hold making money against any company. In fact, I enthusiastically support the concept, but success has it's downside. When a company first goes into business, most are driven by the philosophy of building a quality product, sold at a reasonable and fair price. This business model is often successful and before you know it, the little company starts to grow like a weed.
At some point a growing company has to face facts and shed some of its naivete and start adopting a business model based on making money more than making a quality product. In order to maintain growth and increase revenue these companies start looking at expanding their market. Look at Husky as an example. At first they produce a quality saw which gives their company a good reputation, then they expand by adding more models and different products. Then they expand their market, first by going national then international. At some point every economy takes a downturn. Sometimes not so bad, sometimes catastrophic. When that happens, the bottom line is affected and the brilliant people at the helm of the company look for ways to maintain growth. In Husky's case they branched out into a lot of other products and expanded the scope of their market, meaning they started servicing the homeowner via the mass market, (big box store). They also have to face facts and learn to cope with new marketing methods, such as the internet.
I do have to tip my hat to companies like Husky and Stihl. They have maintained their professional lines and do a reasonable job of looking out for their dealers. Homeowner saws are flying off the shelves because people think they're getting the same quality saw as a pro and a fraction of the price. Of course we know the truth, but if you're a Husky or Stihl, their is a lot of value in your brand name. They exploit it in order to keep the bottom line numbers from going down. In the end, that line of thinking usually causes a problem.
