Wilhelmus Gottfriedson, who recently graduated from university in Salzburg with a degree in music (but with a minor in business), has returned home to Linz to help his father run the family business, Heimatland Harpsichord Enterprise. Begun in 1703, the Heimatland Company has long since had a reputation for making the very finest in home and performance harpsichords. These keyboard instruments, usually used by chamber music performers, are typically crafted with decorative details that represent mythic creatures like trolls and gnomes and animals such as elk, swans, and reebok.
The first thing Wilhelmus (Willi) did upon reporting for work was to apply his business training to an analysis of the firm's financial records. He was surprised to learn that, during the last ten years, there had been a dramatic decline in sales of the company's in-home line. When he asked his father about this, the elder Gottfriedson replied, "Gee, son, I don't really know why that's happening. Our instruments are the very best that can be bought. We’re still making them exactly the same way we have for the last three hundred years, using the same designs and with the same materials. I can't really understand why sales are off so badly. But I have taken steps to do something about it. Just last month, I hired a young man to go out and try and find us some new customers. We really do have to do something to try and increase sales volume."
Willi was now disturbed. He knew his father believed he had done the right thing, but Willi thought that more needed to be done. His thinking was that the company needed to look more carefully at the marketplace. He felt that Heimatland Harpsichord had lost touch with its customers and with harpsichord styles. Though he hesitated to do it, he felt that he had to suggest to his father that they invest in some research to find out what was happening in harpsichord “looks” and to adapt their products to what was currently popular. He though it might even be possible that the firm would find it desirable to expand or even change the nature of their product line. Perhaps pianos, organs, or even electronic harpsichords could be a possibility.