Product Quality versus Product Sales

In late 1980s and early 1990s, Eastern European countries under communist governments began to open up and convert from central-planned to free-market economy.  Western businessmen and analysts were able to travel extensively and look deep into all aspects of Eastern European industries.  I saw, on CBS's "60 minutes" show, someone who put out a few points on what he found.

[1] These countries still possess top-tiered knowledge in many areas of industries, from materials science to chemistry, etc.,
[2] They knew how to apply these knowledge to manufacture the best products, BUT
[3] They did not have the market to sell the products, as the market was limited to only among countries with communist governments.  Also, since the quality was good, the products had a longer life, thereby canibalizing the sales volume.  The person saw a plant which was running only 3-4 months every year because it produced too many good products that did not need frequent replacements.

This story came to play...

A few years later I accepted a job offer and moved to a new region.  One day while driving I noticed a store-closing sale was going on.  It was a small hardware store.  I had never been to that store before as it sold mostly building materials with a small retail room.  I was not a home builder, nor was I familiar with these items.  But with my experiences of plowing through store-closing sales there MIGHT be some good bargains.  So I went there a few days later and stepped into the store.


It was no surprise that most of the store's items could be found in other hardware stores.  But I saw one thing that was totally new to me.  The store sold boxes of incandescent light bulbs with an unremarkable package design: white with orange background and black letters.  It seemed to be designed by a college art student, content to get it out and move on.  It was not a brand name I knew: GE, Sylvania, etc..  It did however, state that it was made in Hungary.

The "60 Minutes" report from a few years back resurfaced in my mind.  How come I found Hungarian-made light bulbs in a small American hardware store?  Were they trying to export to western countries to increase sales?  How about the quality?  How did they convince the small hardware store's buyer that this would be a good product?  These questions quickly ran through my mind.  I seldom had such a puzzle to piece together.

Moments later I made up my mind: I would give this light bulb a shot.  Its price was, after the discount, a bit better than what I would spend elsewhere.  After all it was just a light bulb and did not cost a lot.  If it was bad I could just write it off as a little bad investment.  If it was good I would have a story to tell (to my guests and to my children).  I had very little to lose.

I bought several boxes.  Our home's bedrooms all have ceiling fans and multi-bulb lighting fixtures.  I put one of the Hungarian-made light bulb in each of my kid's bedroom ceiling fan light set.  As a comparison I put in bulbs from other brands in the same set.  Over the years, as the kids turned on their bedroom light to read, play or chat, light bulbs from other brands kept burning out and getting replaced, but NEVER from those Hungarian-made light bulbs.  They had grown to know that we had a couple of light bulbs that needed no replacements.

Now comes the hard, or heart-breaking part.  Over the years I had tried to search for that brand over Internet to see if any stores still carry the products.  The answer: NOT FOUND.