Blog: Even 'Parasitic' Manufacturers Help Industry Growth

As the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association trade show was winding down on Friday afternoon, a prominent fitness equipment manufacturer laid out his plans for legal action against several new competitors whose wares were displayed elsewhere in the hall. He had expected the heightened competition; his business is thriving, and as the clear leader in a popular equipment category, he knew that other companies would pop up in an attempt to grab pieces of the pie that, he said pointedly, his company had baked.

Struck by his determination to knock off these purveyors of knock-offs, I recounted the conversation to an architect friend whose booth was nearby. When I mentioned that the manufacturer had called his newest competitors "parasites," my friend snorted. "If it wasn't for parasites," he said, "there wouldn't even be a fitness industry."

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