DZ BUSINESS ALLIANCES:
SKYDIVING'S NEWEST FRONTLINE DEFENSE
We skydivers share a special kinship that extends to the drop zones where we are all "family" in pursuing our freefall addiction. I wanted to know how well this kinship serves us in the actual practice of regional DZ alliances. I hoped to reveal a "model" for cooperation between neighboring DZs (parachuting drop zones). What I found is that the positive results of sharing resources and ideas across drop zone boundaries seem to override any apprehensions DZ owners have about competing with each other.
I interviewed in person and by phone every USPA DZ operator in Northern California, and came away convinced that the "intentional community of freefall" I found is good business practice. Alliances between these DZs strengthen the sport. Their symbiotic relationships are similar to the business alliances that operate through extended networks of relationships between companies in Japan. The Japanese bank-centered "enterprise group"--about which much has been written in contemporary business literature--is an example. They appear to operate in much the same way as business alliances between parachuting centers in USPA's Pacific Region.
Not only do alliances promote camaraderie between DZs, they also describe a new form of "on-ground skydiving" [sidebar]. Explaining how alliances work reveals how DZs can realign their "competitive priorities" to capitalize more profitably on the public's interest in action sports such as ours.
Many of the events that affect a DZ originate outside its boundaries, usually in the form of federal, state, and local government regulations meant to control skydiving enterprises. In any given year, as many as 250,000 bills intended to control the organizations that operate within their jurisdiction are introduced for debate in state legislatures. An additional 35,000 regulations are adopted. The federal government wields its influence on skydiving through the FAA. Court decisions can expose parachuting businesses to criminal charges. (Richard L. Daft, Management, 2nd. Ed., The Dryden Press, 1991) County, city, and airport authorities restrict parachuting activities, forcing skydiving enterprises to battle for access to airports and landing zones. The resulting legal-political environment creates uncertainty.
In skydiving, as in other industries, techniques for addressing the problems of an uncertain legal-political environment include community and public relations, political activism, participation in trade associations, and joining business alliances. Unfortunately, more often than not these techniques are under utilized by skydiving enterprises. When skydiving enterprises fail to unite their efforts to influence their common external environments, it puts the privilege to skydive at peril for all of us. But by uniting our political power, we strengthen our numbers and give ourselves a more powerful public voice without which we stand to lose our air space and our landing areas are increasingly endangered.
Interviews of our sport's leaders at first upheld the notion that parachute centers generally do feud. The PIA members, USPA directors, DZ owner/operators, DZ employees, skydiving publishers, and other experienced jumpers I talked to said that chest-beating of the sort described above does exist. Seven out of the first eight I interviewed (88%) reported they knew of DZs that defame or "bad-mouth" others.
But bad-mouthing is not the real message. Rather, it's how alliances benefit skydiving.
It should be obvious that allowing politics and hassles to direct the business strategy of our skydiving centers is disempowering to all concerned. Feuds are destructive, especially when DZ owner/operators feel compelled to use questionable tactics in a misguided competitive spirit. Many of us believe that airing the sport's "dirty laundry" in the press gives force to those who desire to capture our air space and restrict our landing areas. This kind of maligning is extraneous background "noise", more like static on the radio. Although it has little to do with the purpose of the broadcaster, the noise of backbiting can mask the real broadcast signal.
Within any group of family or friends there will be petty clashes which are less important than the whole of the family itself. The manifestations of chest-beating have little to do with the true purposes of skydiving and DZ operations. Individually and collectively--as constituents of the DZs at which we skydive--the sport gains from DZ alliances and suffers from the actions of quarreling DZs.
Two different models for DZ alliances reveal the current state of "on-the-ground" DZ camaraderie. One is a DZ-as-"hub" model; the other demonstrates intentional interconnectivity. Both are valid models for DZ alliances; both types are practiced by DZs in Northern California.
In this model the sharing tends to be one-way--from the larger entity out to the smaller ones. A visit to SkyDance SkyDiving's impressive operation in Davis, Calif., illustrates the hub concept. SkyDance SkyDiving is a big DZ supporting surrounding smaller DZs with services. To validate what SkyDance owner-operators Ray Ferrell, Dan O'Brien and Alisdar Boyd told me about their "hub DZ," I visited or called seven other DZs in the northern California and adjacent area. In response to the question "Do you receive support of any kind from another DZ, and if so, which one?" all (100%) reported receiving support from another skydiving enterprise. Five of the seven DZs (71%) told me they received support from SkyDance SkyDiving. Three of the seven (43%) reported support from The Parachute Center at Lodi, Calif. More than two-thrids (71%) named other area DZs from which they got support.
As a "hub" DZ, SkyDance SkyDiving provides their instructor and student syllabus to any USPA-member DZ that requests it. Regional DZs who have include Madera, Skydiving West, Skydive Hollister, and Skydive Oregon. SkyDance has also developed, with input from Madera, the first skydiving specific parachute center Flight Department Procedure which is used by a DZs operations as a supplement to appropriate FAA regulations. These are standard operating procedures (SOPs) complete with manuals, training syllabus, and recurrency requirements which were presented at the 1993 Parachute Industry Association Symposium. They are available to other DZs on written request. Bay Area Skydiving reported receiving help from both SkyDance-Davis and The Parachute Center at Lodi, while Skydiving West works more closely with SkyDance.
As I spoke with these DZ operators, evidence of a more complicated mutual support network emerged. One that was totally unexpected and not previously reported. It is a model for interconnected yet independent parachute centers, i.e. an intentional DZ community that benefits all participants.
Strategic alliances among West Coast DZs apparently came about as each sought market development and reduced operating costs. Sharing of aircraft, sharing of tandem rigs and instructors, employing common instruction techniques, and even sharing landing areas on windy days are a common pattern in USPA's Pacific Region.
Such alliances are common in Japan (kigyo shudan) where cooperating groups of companies (not always in the same general business) are one of the most significant features of Japanese business society. These cooperative groups, or alliances, are the basis of complex and long-term ownership and trading relationships. This special dimension of business strategy is explained by Professor Michael Gerlach of the University of California: "They are organized around identifiable groupings and are bound together in durable relationships based on long term reciprocity." (M. Gerlach, Business Alliances and the Strategy of the Japanese Firm, Calif., Management Review, 1987.)
I believe America's skydiving industry would benefit from following this model for long term reciprocity, or community. Skydiving will always compete with other action adventure sports, e.g. skiing, scuba, white water rafting, surfing, motorcycling, etc., for the public's leisure dollar. Alliances allow DZs to enhance their service offerings, because the cost of strategic resources such as aircraft, instruction, even equipment, can be "shared" among members of the enterprise group. "Interconnected" DZ enterprise groups in Northern California are not formal organizations but rather, they are extended networks of relationships between parachute centers (Table 2). One of their benefits is in the quality of exchange. In short, alliances among DZs and related parachuting businesses create an environment of mutual benefit; that is, they help "keep each other warm."
Here's what Alisdar Boyd, Chief Instructor at SkyDance SkyDiving said about DZ alliances: "Yes, there is definitely a better feeling this year than ever before. Until recently, DZs didn't get along. Now there are signs we're becoming allied. This is a pleasant trend--a cross fertilization of ideas and friends."
J.R. "JR" Taylor, who owns and operates Skydiving West in Mendota, Calif., agrees. JR, a friendly guy, is pleased to talk about sharing resources and ideas: "We work real close (with SkyDance SkyDiving) including sharing aircraft, equipment, tandem gear, instructors, training syllabus, and big events. It's important ...(for DZs to)... find out about each other's instructor course ... so if I get a student from (some specific) DZ, then I feel comfortable in taking them on. Also, we call in out-of-area referrals and in-area students referral to convenient DZs."
Madera Parachute Center's Nita Gilbert sees DZs as ubitiquious as convenience stores, "There are 21 Drop Zones in California. Five of them are within a three-hour drive from us." Nevertheless there is a lot of inter-DZ sharing. "We help with staff, rigging, and when other DZs aircraft break down.
Business alliances have helped Crazy Creek (BiTron). According to Airport Manager Connie Indrebo, "When they're winded, they've dropped West Coast Skydiving (Colin Medalie in Petaluma) loads here. We just love it. It gives us activity here. Jim and I haven't been in this (DZ) business before so we need and appreciate help." BiTron's DZ operator, Steve Haley agrees and adds, "Yes, West Coast Skydivers brought another formation (of aircraft) over just last weekend (4-16-94). On other occasions, when we needed a camera man and tandem masters, they sent them over." Steve adds Byron (Jani Bango's Bay Area Skydiving) and The Parachute Center (Bill Dause in Lodi) as big helpers. " We've had a lot of support form other DZs, Bill Dause (Lodi) in particular", says Steve. "Bill Dause is always open to my needs and questions. He has done a lot of research. He has stopped whatever he's doing and set down and told me (what he's learned and made recommendations). This sort of thing has really helped everyone. It is a survival technique for small DZs which works."
Dave Stewart of Skydive Hollister says: "Greg Nardi and I strongly believe in maintaining good association with the other centers. We think very highly of them and they seem to feel the same of us. ... (camaraderie and sharing) is like the law of karma in that you get what you give, and it has worked well for us in running our DZ. We work closely with Ray and Dan (Yolo County Airport, Davis California, home of SkyDance SkyDive). We share instructors and aircraft, and we cooperate on special events such as the annual Balloon Festival at Laguna Seca."
Jani Bango of the Bay Area Skydivers is another proponent of business alliances. Jani said: "Bay Area Skydivers does do a lot of business with other DZs. And yes! we get a huge amount of cooperation. Bill Dause (Lodi) and Ray Ferrell (SkyDance) have helped out a lot. When we get winded we go to Lodi and drop our jumpers there."
Over at West Coast Skydivers in Petaluma, a phone talk with Colin Medalie yielded another good example: "Jani Bango (Bay Area Skydivers) has helped me a lot! I help them whenever I can."
At Skydive in Paradise (Calif.), James Schlernitzauer proffered: "At nine months old, we're the new kids on the block. We've gotten good support from Lodi Parachute Center for instructors and from SkyDance SkyDiving for rigging. If I have anything that requires a master rigger, I don't hesitate to call. They're bigger, but it comes both ways. Bill Dause at Lodi has gone out of his way to help with aircraft and equipment support. We just held a Jumpmaster Certification Course which helped them out, too."
So far, interfirm DZ relationships seem to be a California affair. There, as in the Japanese model, DZ business alliances are the key link between parachuting related firms and their environments. Since each operates as an independent entity, these business alliances retain the advantages of the corporate form of organization. But there is more to it than that. Alliances yield stable business relationships, reliable instructor labor markets, shared employment pools, and better information flow between DZs. Most significantly, alliances promote aggressive, long-term growth policies.
The strongest argument for this form of interfirm cooperation is that it promotes a willingness to experiment, to try new things, and to look outside and learn from others. While the spread of cooperative alliances in other parts of the country remains an open question, my examination of the Northern California DZ community shows that the most productive of all alliances are those between DZs and their respective jumping publics.
Strategic relationships between DZs, skydivers, and other businesses in the parachuting industry are changing. The fact that the drop zone landscape has moved from club-centered (run as a club, with officers, bylaws, etc.) to service-centered drop zones (run as a commercial business) helps explain why "natural competitors" choose to collaborate. Today's owners and operators are generally experienced and skilled professionals who, perhaps because of the specialized nature of their business, equipment, and skydiver-customers, have had to rely on each other for support when conditions require. Their interrelationships tend to reshape their business strategy as they share gear, equipment, and instructors.
They represent diverse concerns joined together in what seems more like a guild of sky-masons or an intentional community of freefall workers who place as much value on good relative work "on-the-ground" as on that which takes place in the air.
* * *
Table 1
The Hub Model:
Skydiving enterprises who receive support
from larger enterprises,
based on interviews with owner-operators
Skydiving Enterprise Receive support Receive Receive Receive any from SkyDance support support from support from
SkyDiving? from The enterprise any Parachute other than enterprise ? Center? these two ? 1. Skydive In yes yes yes yes Paradise 2. Crazy Creek no yes yes yes (BiTron) 3. West Coast no no yes yes Skydiving 4. Bay Area yes yes yes yes Skydiving 5. Skydive Hollister yes no no yes 6. Madera Parachute yes no yes yes Center 7. Skydiving West yes no no yes percent reporting 71% 43% 71% 100% support
copyright (c) 1994 by Pat Works
Table 2
Reciprocal Business Alliances among Skydiving Enterprises
based on multiple interviews with owner-operators
USPA Pacific Regioncopyright (c) 1994 by Pat Works
Provide Business
Receive Business
Skydiving Enterprise support TO:
Support FROM: 1. Skydive In SkyDance SkyDiving
The SkyDance Paradise Parachute Center SkyDiving
The Parachute Center 2. Crazy Creek West Coast Skydiving
West Coast (BiTron) Skydiving
The Parachute Center
Bay Area Skydiving 3. SkyDance SkyDiving Skydive in Skydive in Paradise
Crazy Paradise
Skydive Creek
Skydive Hollister
Skydiving Hollister
Bay Area West Skydiving
Skydiving West 4. West Coast Crazy Creek
Bay Area Crazy Creek
Bay Area Skydiving Skydiving Skydiving 5. Bay Area The Parachute SkyDance SkyDive
The Skydiving Center
West Coast Parachute Skydiving Center
West Coast Skydiving 6. The Parachute Skydive in Skydive in Center Paradise
Bay Area Paradise
Bay Area Skydiving
Skydiving Skydiving Reno-Stead 7. Skydive Hollister SkyDance Skydiving SkyDance Skydiving 8. Madera Parachute SkyDance Skydiving Center Skydive
Taft
CalCIty West
SkyDance Skydive 9. Skydiving West SkyDance SkyDiving SkyDance SkyDiving
This community of freefall Camaraderie is designed to place principles above personalities and the perfection of flight above all else.
In matters affecting parachuting as a whole, DZs must work together with genuine camaraderie. Except for that, each drop zone can and should be autonomous.
Each drop zone has but one primary purpose -- to carry the ecstasy and excitement of doing hot skydives to all, far and wide. Camaraderie enables that.
No man is all of himself: his friends are the rest of him.
Your next skydive starts on the ground.
To do any kind of skydive you must relate to others
in the air and
on the ground.
It is our sport. It is as good and fun as we allow it to be. Maximize the fun!
Person(s) Interviewed Enterprise Location
John Sherman The Jump Shack Florida
Mike Truffer Skydiving News Florida
Becky Livingstone USPA Region. Dir. Pacific Region
Robin Heid Instructor and journalist Colorado
Roger Nelson DZ owner Skydive Chicago Lake Whales Fl.
Steve Wilson Producer, Eye Contact Florida
Dan Poynter Publisher California
Ray Ferrell, Dan OBrien SkyDance SkyDive Yolo County Airport, Davis
and Alisdar Boyd CA (W. of Sacramento)
Skratch Garrison original sky dancer outer space
JR Taylor Skydiving West Mendota CA ( Hwy. 33 W. of
Fresno)
Dave Stewart and Greg Skydive Hollister Hollister Airport (Hwy. 156
and Patti Nardi near San Juan Bautista)
Kathy & Bill Dause The Parachute Center Lodi ( S. of Sacramento)
Colin Medalie West Cost Skydivers Petaluma CA (off 101 N. of
S.F.)
Jani Bango Bay Area Skydiving Byron Airport (E. of Stockton)
Nita Gilbert Madera Paracenter Madera Airport (NW of Fresno)
Connie and Jim Indrebo Crazy Creek BiTron (N. of Calistoga
and Steve Haley around Clear Lake)
James Schlernitzauer Skydive in Paradise Paradise, CA (NE of Chico)
Interview notes and descriptions of skydiving enterprises in the Pacific Region.
SkyDance SkyDiving is owned by Ray Ferrel and Dan OBrien. Both are long-time contributors and successful competitors. Their operation boasts a fleet consisting of a Twin Otter, King Air, and two Cessna 182s. Jumpers take off form 5,000 foot paved runway and climb out to the Drop Zone which is in a nearby field. With an annual operating budget of about one million dollars, SkyDance SkyDiving is a big business. Like most successful businesses, SkyDance SkyDiving graphs their operating statistics. As Ray Ferrel says," We track everything including number of jumps, students, tandems, graduates, how they heard about us, and more. We saw a spike in 1991-1992 , due in part to the movie "Point Break," and great weather. In 1993 we had a drop in business, partly due to the end of the drought which meant bad DZ weather, and a poor California economy."
SkyDance SkyDiving example statistics
1992 42,000 jumps 2,800 Tandems 750 AFF first 120 graduates
jump (16%)
Students,
1993 37,000 jumps 2600 Tandems 470 AFF first 110 graduates
jump students (23%)
Ray started the Tandem program in California in 1984. According to Ray, "We have developed a thorough Tandem first jump course and I also have certified most Tandem Instructors in the area." Through a subsidiary of SkyDance SkyDiving, Ray has also established a sub-dealer network through many of the smaller DZs and trained many riggers as well. Both are proud of being a group member center of the USPA. Ray counts seven DZs in his market area. Both Dan and Ray believe that their biggest asset is their Staff. SkyDance SkyDiving has a staff of experienced instructors and jump masters. Ray characterizes his relationship with the community, airport, and neighbors as "good." However, relations with the county are "bad." SkyDance SkyDiving advertises in Magazines, Cable TV, direct Mail, yellow pages, and print media. The closest city to the SkyDance SkyDiving Operation is Sacramento. In addition, San Francisco is a short trip across the bridge.
209 673-2688 4130 'D' Aviation Dr. Madera CA 93637
Talked with Nita on 3/20--- 4/22/94 at home
"My major concern is coordination on event dates. (Each drop zone should) plan so events don't conflict. Make up a calendar and publish it!" [This point was also mentioned by Ray Ferrel who said, "Publish your event calendar. (1-a)"
" Outside visitors: Carry your USPA card in your log book."
2- Cessna 182s
1- Beech QueenAir
SL $140
Tandem $130 (10.5')
AFF level one $250
4/21/94 interview with Nita:
Madera is a family oriented, comfortable operation. Being smaller and very friendly, it is easy to get on loads. Madera Parachute Center is on the public airport where they enjoy good rapport with the airport management. Spacious and unpretentious, Madera offers a huge landing area centrally located in the San Joaquin Valley. Conveniently located just two minutes off of highway 99, they are just one and one-half hours from the mountains, Yosemite National Park or the Sequoia redwoods "which makes for a nice three-day trip," according to Nita. "There are 21 Drop Zones in California. Five of them are within a three-hour drive from us."
Nevertheless there is a lot of inter-DZ sharing. "We help with staff, rigging, and when other DZs aircraft break down. (Taft, California City, SkyDance SkyDive) We sent our aircraft over to other DZs and when ever we've asked to help we've gotten it. Now, our big need is getting AFF instructors. We frequently send packers to SkyDance SkyDive and they've always helped us out: we call them first."
Nita called back on 5/6/94 to say that she liked the paper a lot and to mention that "We are proud to be group members of the USPA and have been from the beginning."
655-3483 (validated and re interviewed on 3/11/94)
on 3/11/94 JR mentioned cross support with Madera and Paso Robles. JR has a 182. He characterizes his DZ as "Small, family-run, primarily student." According to JR, Skydiving West is unique because of their fine un-crowded airport facility. They are sole users of a 4,000 foot paved and lighted runway.
Dave Stewart says, " Greg and I strongly believe in maintaining good association with the other centers. We think very highly of them and they us they feel the same of us. To us, it (camaraderie and sharing) is like the law of karma (you get what you give) which has worked well for us running our DZ. We work closely with Ray and Dan (Yolo SkyDance SkyDive). We share instructors and aircraft and we cooperative on special events such as the annual Balloon Festival at Laguna Seca."
"Jani helped me a lot! I help when I can. The most important thing in insurance! Self- insurance is required. Price wars on students. The market here is tandem oriented. Tandem is same price as SL! SO, of course, SL is more profitable
510 634 7575
"I absolutely support Truffer (re. PR/Advt.) Why doesn't USPA do National advertising and PR like the soaring people do? Lets get a call in number (for info) USPA's 800#
Closed Mon./Tues. [ will send a News Letter ]
Tandem, AFF and some SL (last 3-yrs, only 30 SL)
Offer sales for everything. Jani is a Sr. Rigger.
The Bay Area's only skydiving center. Uses modern training methods and state of the art equipment. USPA rated staff.
Weekends and Wednesday through Friday by appointment
Tandem One Skydive $135
AFF $248
S/L $150
One Cessna 182. Tandem 1st jump; then AFF and S/L. Full time video on every student loads. Mid summer Boogie July 8-10 (Rebirth of the Chico Freako Follies). Core of regular jumpers plus students. Spectacular views of mount Lassen, Shasta, lakes and river canyons.
"At 9 months old, we are the new kids on the block. We've gotten good support from Lodi Parachute Center for instructors and from SkyDance SkyDive for rigging. If I have anything that requires a master rigger, I don't hesitate to call if I need something. Bill Dause at Lodi has gone out of his way to help with aircraft and equipment support. They're bigger but it comes both ways. We just held a Jump Master Certification Course which helped them out, too. For equipment, I work with specific manufacturers -- have since I was just a pup. My volume is still small; so I concentrate it with Jump Shack and Precision."
Tandem $125
Static line $185 w/ USPA membership
AFF $250 w/ USPA membership
206
Twin Beech
Porter
DC-3 (2)
S/L @ $130.00
Accelerated Free Fall $260.00
Introductory Parachute Jump (tandem equipment) $100 [ students continuing on after the Introductory Parachute Jump go into S/L, AFF, Tandem, or Tandem/AFF ]. For AFF, the Parachute center encourages students to take their concentrated course which goes through all the normal AFF progression in one week. The student's training is more concentrated over a shorter period and it's felt that there is more learning and less forgetting.
Lodi is friendly and high volume. Bill Dause characterizes the DZ as being a good country DZ.... "we're the country-club DZ without the club-part, a country club DZ." Lodi shares instructors, tandem masters and camera people occasionally with Jani Bango at Byron, and with Skydiving Reno-Stead (skydive in Stead) If things are "real busy" a phone call is made to see if someone can get sent over. "If they need something, we'll try and help them out." says Bill.
Interview with Steve Haley (Skydiving Operation) on 4/21/94
Crazy Creek
575 Middletown, Calif. 95461
707 987 9112
Crazy Creek is a glider port and a drop zone located on 600 acres. The view is spectacular, Connie says, " It's beautiful, open area with green grass and rolling hills. A real nice place to fly and jump. (from the air) you see for 100s of miles, Clear Lake, San Francisco, mount Shasta. . . We are the clearest county in the state.. . Bring your bike, bring a picnic, it is peaceful." Operating 7-day a week from 9 a.m. to sunset. (But call first). Crazy Creek offers glider rides and instruction. They have a 182.
S/L $135
Tandem $150
Yes business alliances have helped. According to Connie Indrebo, "When they're winded, they've dropped West Coast Skydiving (Colin Medalie) loads here. We just love it. It gives us activity here. West Coast Skydiving helped us out with tandem instructors when we needed help. Jim and I haven't been in this (DZ) business before so we need and appreciate help."
Aircraft -- Larry Hill in Arizona has lent us his Otter. Dan (SkyDance SkyDive) has since offered turbine aircraft support.
When we opened, Byron (Jani Bango, Bay Area Skydiving), flew our first load for us. I thought it was really decent of them to do this for us: a really fabulous thing for our "competition" to be doing.
"Petaluma (Colin Medalie's West Coast Skydivers) jumped in just for fun. It was real friendly and relaxed. They brought a formation (of aircraft) over last weekend (4-16-94). Everyone has a good time. On other occasions, when we needed a camera man and tandem masters, they sent them over. This sort of thing has really helped everyone. There is just no reason not to do things like this. We try to reciprocate. When they call up, we try to take off and just do whatever is need. It is a survival technique for small DZs which works."
"We had a perspective customer who lived close to Petaluma call us and ask about making a first jump. We told them that they were located closer to Petaluma but that either way (starting to jump there or here at Crazy Creek) they should go skydive and have fun!" We refer advanced students to both Lodi and SkyDance. . . I like to see them get up in a big aircraft. It creates a better skydiving environment for everyone.
"I get a lot of help from Lodi (the Parachute Center). Bill Dause is always open to my needs and questions. He has done a lot of research (about skydiving operations). When ever I have had a question, he has stopped whatever he's doing and set down and told me (what he's learned and made recommendations.) We do not get coastal or valley fog. When all the DZs are socked-in, we're clear. We have year-round sunshine. The mountain ranges offer a wind-block which allows us to jump when other DZs are winded.
We need to stop the cycle of DZs reinventing the wheel just to "be doing it differently" thereby introducing chaos. We must jointly recognize that our common goals are two fold:
1. Saving Lives while
2. Increasing the popularity of the sport.