Hope the topic was clear enough.

I noticed that the Meng sponsors this site. Then I thought more. Has a newcomer firm money enough to start sponsor frequently large site, such as Kitmaker Network? Why the bigger companies aren't more in "publicity"?

The point: Several new companies have appeared in modelling business and most of them make very good models, where these companies get the money and their resources? From a private millionaire, like famous WNWs Peter Jackson?

Are some of the model companies subsidiaries?

I hope you understand the point and my english.

Capitalism's redeeming traits are most vivid in cottage industries like this. We can see innovation, the elan of youth, all these things clearly evinced in finely specialized industries like this. In my work I come across it now and then, a new company saunters in with something wonderful. A lot of it is due to not being bogged down by the business "machine" that comes with an established firm.

Surely the purist shouting for accuracy and detail at ICM can be more easily heard than the one at Revell or Tamiya. At those large firms I picture a medium sized office block filled with Human Resource specialists, accountants, web developers, managers, and designers is cubicles... On the other hand one imagine's ICM's headquarters being three Russian blokes in an industrial park in Moscow arguing loudly about Spitfires while watching bootleg Top Gear and eating Vindaloo.

And that is why ICM they make the best spitfires. (At least until Eduard gets around to it) Not because they are big, but because they are small. And the money goes to those who excel, and they can then afford to sponsor this website.

Some are subsidiaries and some are thought to be, although I think this has very little to do with your question.
As in any buiness venture, if a new company designs, finances and releases a model, they need to get their name and product known, and to start with, they need to advertise. Maybe they dont have the money to do it, but Im sure they have calculated the price of advertising along with tooling and molding time. Its part and parcel of any venture. What would be the point of producing something new, if nobody knows about it.
Considering the amount of registered members here, I dont think paying for advertisment in Armorama is that expensive. Bigger companies also advertise ... maybe not here ... but they do advertise in many shapes and forms.

Marketing on a website is far less expensive than taking out an ad in a major magazine title. Its also more direct to those you wish to reach to create awareness of your product.

It is also a necessary fact of business, advertising so you can attract customers to your product. Kind of like the chicken or the egg, one doesn't exist without the other.

Any business has to plan a marketing strategy and fund it as part of their initial start up costs. Far too many businesses neglect this.

Too many businesses also don't understand enough about how much it does cost to market themselves, in both time and money. The other issue with many business that come and go is they don't understand how to properly calculate the overhead to sustain their business and price their products accordingly.

Anyone can start a business, keeping it going takes more than some people can comprehend let alone facilitate. Then there are those in business who deemed successful but in reality they barely exist, working hard just to stay afloat because they mismanage their resources, cash flow and more importantly mistreatment of their customers.

Often they depend too heavily on one or a few lines to support their operations. When they can no longer be competitive, the loss of revenue from that single source will cause their business to collapse.

Hence the reason why many in the mainstream hobby industry are diversified into other industries and markets. Though you may have a niche product, you need to cross market it as much as possible so you are not relying on just one segment to survive.

Companies like Testors, their hobby products and sales is but a fraction of their business, so holds true with many others.

I don't normally do this, but I had to say; great post!

Cheers,
Jim