A business I knew in the early 1970s started a Japanese motor dealership outside Dublin. On the face of it, all was sound. They had a local businessman already successful in export trading and retailing as the active head of the business. Locally recruited people filled in the positions for service mechanics, motor electricians, accounts clerk, etc. A new showroom was built and dealerships for two major Japanese car marques obtained. A plug article in the regional paper provided the publicity and much was made of the fact that Japanese cars were very fuel-efficient.
Six month later another local man related to the businessman obtained a county-wide franchise from a national distributor of oils, i.e. petrol, diesel, heating oil and engine lubricants. This business was operated by the second man and directed by the two men. It was run from the same site as the motor dealership, i.e. there were pumps and underground storage tanks at the front of the showroom and within it a separate office for the oils business.
The motor dealership failed in about two years from its launch. Its MD was in serious trouble with regard to creditors and lost the dealerships. However the oil distributorship remained going, expanded and thrived in the following 30 years of hard work by the second businessman.
Despite trumpeting the names of the two businesses in newspaper plugs, "congratulatory" ads in the paper beside other events, sponsorhips to sporting events, etc, I can find no record of either of the two business names in CRO records before the demise of the dealership. I checked older companies in the CRO records just in case their records didn't go back to the early 70s. But I had no trouble getting 1960s incorporated companies/proprietorships.
I found business name and incorporation records for the name of the oils business but these were for a year and two years after the demise of the motor business.
My tentative conclusion is that the motor dealership was not incorporated under its public name. More likely it was made a part of the owner's other businesses. The downfall was likely affected by supply and demand issues related to the oil crisis and Yom Kippur fallout that year. These would also have affected the owner's export trading business. Peter may have been robbed to pay Paul and vice versa, leading to the collapse of his affairs.
My question is how could someone obtain a motor dealership without clear evidence of incorporation of the business, let alone trade for two years in its absence using invoices with a non-existent company/business name printed on them ?
Can such things occur today ?
Six month later another local man related to the businessman obtained a county-wide franchise from a national distributor of oils, i.e. petrol, diesel, heating oil and engine lubricants. This business was operated by the second man and directed by the two men. It was run from the same site as the motor dealership, i.e. there were pumps and underground storage tanks at the front of the showroom and within it a separate office for the oils business.
The motor dealership failed in about two years from its launch. Its MD was in serious trouble with regard to creditors and lost the dealerships. However the oil distributorship remained going, expanded and thrived in the following 30 years of hard work by the second businessman.
Despite trumpeting the names of the two businesses in newspaper plugs, "congratulatory" ads in the paper beside other events, sponsorhips to sporting events, etc, I can find no record of either of the two business names in CRO records before the demise of the dealership. I checked older companies in the CRO records just in case their records didn't go back to the early 70s. But I had no trouble getting 1960s incorporated companies/proprietorships.
I found business name and incorporation records for the name of the oils business but these were for a year and two years after the demise of the motor business.
My tentative conclusion is that the motor dealership was not incorporated under its public name. More likely it was made a part of the owner's other businesses. The downfall was likely affected by supply and demand issues related to the oil crisis and Yom Kippur fallout that year. These would also have affected the owner's export trading business. Peter may have been robbed to pay Paul and vice versa, leading to the collapse of his affairs.
My question is how could someone obtain a motor dealership without clear evidence of incorporation of the business, let alone trade for two years in its absence using invoices with a non-existent company/business name printed on them ?
Can such things occur today ?
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