ing to Mick Sims, manager of customer support and marketing development of rival firm John Deere, will be vitally important (John Deere programà, 2001). Currently there is an across-the-board shortage of good, trained technicians and skilled techs are being enticed to stay with their current employer with compensation package increases. JCB, like John Deere, would be well advised to make training programs available to potential technicians; for dealership managers, this may well be the number one human resources challenge of the next decade.
Another issue that JCB and other heavy equipment dealership managers must face is ensuring ongoing profitability. Kirk Landers (1998) reported that marketers of heavy equipment of the type produced by JCB are being challenged by firms that specialize in rentals of such equipment. These firms buy equipment directly from companies like JCB (often at deep discounts), and then keep the equipment for a period of two to three years (the period regarded as least likely to result in service problems or performance deficits). Once the equipment reaches a predetermined age point, it is sold as used and replaced with new equipment. As Landers (1998) suggests, th
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