The reflection of the case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The reflection of the - Case Study Example This is one of the dilemmas facing Kamen and Segway entering into the market, and what the early investors in Credit Suisse and Perkins were also facing, investing close to $37 million each and for that getting only about seven percent of total equity. That meant they were valuing Segway very highly, while allowing Kamen to hold majority shares of the firm. It was an educated gamble and entails a lot of risk. The risk mitigation measures, such as the undertaking of formal and rigorous market research, were essentially not present in this case. The investors, and Kamen, had to go on faith that Kamen’s intuitions are correct. One can argue that from the perspective of the market, there are many other unknowns too that make the Segway venture more complicated. There are the laws on the use of the Segway in public streets and the way they are to be regulated or not that add to the uncertainty of the success of the product. Moreover, there are unknowns too with regard to whether th ere are going to be oppositions from vested interests who may be adversely affected by the success of the Segway, including the traditional car manufacturers, and even the oil companies, whose sales and profits will be affected by the success of the new machine. One can expect that these vested interests will not take the introduction of the Segway and the threat to their livelihoods sitting down. Of course if the threat is real they have the motivation to block its success, by lobbying for the Segway’s regulation for instance, and making it difficult for the Segway to gain access to roads. These and other vested interests will surely put up a fight. Then too, as the article notes, it is not clear at that point whether the market will warm up to the new vehicle, given that the American love affair with automobiles is deeply entrenched in the culture and is part of the American psyche, immortalized in art, in popular culture, in the movies, and in