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Unfortunately most companies (and most people) value the short term over the long term. A reputable brand can reduce their quality and keep selling a lot of units for a while on momentum.
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Now China is certainly capable of producing quality goods, but companies that outsource production are usually not interested in paying enough to maintain quality.
Company changes hands too often and consequently the meaning of the brand change along with it. Each owner has its reason to purchase the brand. So, the meaning and the promise of the brand will change correspondingly.
Look at Duracell's history:
1964: Duracell brand started by
P.R. Mallory Company.
1978: P.R. Mallory was acquired by
Dart Industries.
1980: Dart acquired/merged with
Kraft. Kraft is better known for its cheese, beverages, and food. Kraft was not much of an electro-chemical industry powerhouse I would say.
1988:
KK&R Investment brought Duracell, took the company public in 1989.
1996: Duracell acquired by
Gillette. Gillette was best known for (disposable) razors, shaving supplies, and personal care products. I recall reading a business magazine article back then about the acquisition. The article speculated that rather like razors, batteries are use-and-dispose products. Thus, Gillette thought batteries fits their business model of throw away razors/blades.
2005:
P&G acquired Gillette thus becoming the parent company owning Duracell. P&G is (was) known for its consumer goods such as cleaning agents, personal care, hygienics stuff and (at the time) Pringles Potato Chip.
2014:
Berkshire Hathaway announced its intend to acquire Duracell. Berkshire Hathaway is an investment firm started/owned by the famous Warren Buffett. Deal completed 2015. 2016, Duracell (under Berkshire Hathaway) moved to Chicago, CEO replaced...
My interpretation of the events is: Mallory developed a good battery, Kraft kind of messed it up with a cheese mindset. KK&R Investment saw the opportunity, purchased Duracell from Kraft and made a better company out of it. That Duracell is
probably is the Duracell most identified with. KK&R (being an investment firm) cashed in and sold it to Gillette. Razors and batteries don't mix well. Now Berkshire Hathaway, another investment firm, will try to perhaps repeat what KK&R did. Or, it may just squeeze cost and vampire on it.
When Jaquar became Indian owned (2016), when Volvo became Chinese owned (2010), and when even RCA (Radio Corporation of
America) became
Chinese (for a while, but now a Sony owned brand)... I suppose a word of wisdom could be: before one trust a brand for what it was, make sure what was is what is.
Reference: Duracell history above is distilled from Wiki's Duracell page here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duracell