Case Study - The Ski-Doo

1. First Major Question: "What are we going to produce?": J. Armand Bombardier built motorized snow vehicles at the age of 15, ending the isolation imposed by winter. It was from his son's death that pushed him to work even harder, and succeeded in inventing a vehicle that could be used in snow-bound emergencies (found in 3rd paragraph -page 1 of the article). In 1980 and 1990s, the company now produces not only the Ski-Doo but also the Sea-Doo (a marine vehicle for performance and leisure cruising) (found in 3rd paragraph - page 2 of the article). Bombardier produces rapid-transit vehicles, rail vehicles, shuttle-train vehicles for the English Chunnel (found in 2nd paragraph - page 3 of the article). Second Major Question: "How is it to be produced?: J. Armand Bombardier was the employer in Valcourt by the mid 1940s. He hired 100 workers and the company was earning profits of nearly $1 million every year! These workers have put in significant amount of efforts and contributed much to the production of snow vehicles (found in 4th paragraph - page 1 of the article). Third Major Question: "Who receives how much?": Bombardier's vehicles had achieved a global reputation and were widely used throughout North American wherever there was snow or difficult terrain (found in 1st paragraph - page 2 of the article).

He introduced the first individual snowmobile, the Ski-Doo in 1959. Over 16000 Ski-Doos were on the market in the year of his death (1964). By 1974, the company had sold over one million snowmobiles (found in 1st paragraph - page 2 of the article). 2. Features of the Mixed Market Economy appear in this case study i. Competition It was in the mid 1970s that other manufacturers had moved into the snowmobile market. New names such as Skiroule, Skee-horse, Snojet - proliferated. This fierce competition caused the decline in the sales of Ski-Doo. ii. Profit By mid-1940s, the Bombardier company was earning profits of nearly $1 million a year. On the other hand, it was in the mid-1990s that Bombardier had grown into a multinational corporation employing over 32 000 people in nine countries with sales well over $3 billion a year. iii. Private property rights Bombardier's acquisitions in the aerospace industry have included the following: Canadair (the leading Canadian manufacturer of aircraft) in 1986; Northern Ireland's Short Brothers PLC (a producer of small and medium sized business jets) and Toronto-based de Havilland Inc. (the producer of the Dash 8 turboprop aircraft) in 1990. In transportation equipment, Bombardier acquired a major European rail designer and

manufacturer, the Belgian company BN Construction Ferroviaires et Metalliques, in 1988; ANF-Industrie in 1989; Procor Engineering Ltd in 1990; UTDC in 1992; and Constructadena Nacional de Carros de Ferrocarril in 1992 as well.