Jean-Pierre Jeannet

This open access book focuses on Switzerland-based medium-sized companies with a longstanding export tradition and a proven dominance in global niche markets. Based upon in-depth documentation and analysis of 36 Swiss companies over their entire history, an expert team of authors presents several parallels in the pathways and success factors which allowed these firms to become dominant and operate from a high-cost location such as Switzerland. The book enhances these insights by providing detailed company profiles documenting the company history, development, and how their relevant global niche positions were reached. Readers will benefit from these profiles as they compile a diverse selection of industries, mainly active within the B2B sector, with mostly mature companies (60 years to older than 100 years since founding) and different types of ownership structures including family firms. ‘Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship’ brings unique learning opportunities to owners and leaders of SMEs in Switzerland and elsewhere. Findings are based on detailed bottom-up research of 36 companies -- without any preconceived notions. The book is both conceptual and practical. It fosters understanding for different choices in development pathways and management practices. Matti Alahuhta, Chairman DevCo Partners, ex-CEO Kone, Board member of several global listed companies, Helsinki, FinlandStart-up entrepreneurs need proven models from industry which demonstrate the various paths to success. “Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship” provides deep insights highlighting these models and the important trade-offs entrepreneurial teams must consider when choosing the path of high growth or of maximum control, as they are often mutually exclusive.Gina Domanig, Managing Partner, Emerald Technology Ventures, Zurich

This open access book focuses on Switzerland-based medium-sized companies with a longstanding export tradition and a proven dominance in global niche markets. Based upon in-depth documentation and analysis of 36 Swiss companies over their entire history, an expert team of authors presents several parallels in the pathways and success factors which allowed these firms to become dominant and operate from a high-cost location such as Switzerland. The book enhances these insights by providing detailed company profiles documenting the company history, development, and how their relevant global niche positions were reached. Readers will benefit from these profiles as they compile a diverse selection of industries, mainly active within the B2B sector, with mostly mature companies (60 years to older than 100 years since founding) and different types of ownership structures including family firms. ‘Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship’ brings unique learning opportunities to owners and leaders of SMEs in Switzerland and elsewhere. Findings are based on detailed bottom-up research of 36 companies -- without any preconceived notions. The book is both conceptual and practical. It fosters understanding for different choices in development pathways and management practices. Matti Alahuhta, Chairman DevCo Partners, ex-CEO Kone, Board member of several global listed companies, Helsinki, FinlandStart-up entrepreneurs need proven models from industry which demonstrate the various paths to success. “Masterpieces of Swiss Entrepreneurship” provides deep insights highlighting these models and the important trade-offs entrepreneurial teams must consider when choosing the path of high growth or of maximum control, as they are often mutually exclusive.Gina Domanig, Managing Partner, Emerald Technology Ventures, Zurich

This book describes the 60-year history of the AO Foundation and its impact on the treatment of bone trauma. Originally founded by a group of Swiss surgeons, the AO has since established its osteosynthesis treatment approach to trauma, using surgery and implants, as the global standard. The AO successfully convinced the medical community that surgery of bone trauma was superior to the standard conservative treatment using plaster casts. This new technique meant that patients no longer had to spend long weeks at the hospital in traction, and prevented many disabilities. This book describes the struggle with the medical community, explains how the AO surgeons enlisted the support of an entire industry for their advanced tools and their research and teaching efforts, and details the AO’s evolution into a non-profit foundation that now trains more than 50,000 surgeons, on all continents, every year. The efforts of the AO’s affiliated surgeons, undertaken largely on a volunteer basis and with their own financial resources, serve as a stellar example of social entrepreneurship. Today the AO Foundation numbers over 20,000 surgeon members worldwide, and the industry that emerged to produce related implants and tools employs thousands of skilled staff. Professionals in consulting as well as in healthcare can use this book as a source of successful strategies, and as a blueprint for active social entrepreneurship.

This management book documents the remarkable transformation of DSM, first from a coal mining company to a commodity chemicals producer and then in the last two decades to the life sciences & materials sciences company it is today, with its strong focus on biotechnology. The book gives an inside view on the ‘strategic learning cycles’ that have driven this evolutionary transformation. It also discusses the company traits that have contributed to its ability to adapt, grow and prosper. Renowned business schools such as IMD and Babson have accompanied the second transformation of DSM through their executive education programs. The book documents this support and draws lessons for long-term collaboration between companies and the business school world.

This management book documents the remarkable transformation of DSM, first from a coal mining company to a commodity chemicals producer and then in the last two decades to the life sciences & materials sciences company it is today, with its strong focus on biotechnology. The book gives an inside view on the ‘strategic learning cycles’ that have driven this evolutionary transformation. It also discusses the company traits that have contributed to its ability to adapt, grow and prosper. Renowned business schools such as IMD and Babson have accompanied the second transformation of DSM through their executive education programs. The book documents this support and draws lessons for long-term collaboration between companies and the business school world.

This book aims to be what every marketing manager needs to know about marketing in today?s competitive markets. The idea was born out of repeated comments from IMD clients that there were gaps in the ?classic? literature where innovations in practice had moved ahead of the discipline at an academic level. Each chapter takes a subject that can be defined as being new or relatively new (for instance value chain marketing, marketing through collaboration with customers, and two-way brand building) and illustrates how new thinking has led to innovations in practice. The book is full of examples of real-world companies who have dealt effectively with the emerging issues, and others who have not. Each chapter ends with managerial highlights and actionable summaries.

If you buy a new BMW you may be surprised as much by the owner's manual as by the car itself. Thin, personalized, and containing information only on the features you have selected in the language you speak, it is the result of a year's collaboration with Xerox that has radically improved the product and decimated costs. It is just one example of the new organizational structures and processes being developed at leading companies to serve the global marketplace. As firms realize that dealing with global customers is not simply an extension of key account management, their most common response is to launch a formal global account management initiative. Done well this is powerful and effective; however without proper planning it can spell disaster. Drawing on widely accepted 'key success factors' for global account management as well as new elements revealed by their research, David Hennessy and Jean-Pierre Jeannet redefine the process global account management around the premise that sustainable value springs only from an expert understanding of the customer's industry, its structure and its strategy. The book covers all critical aspects of the topic (the planning process, account selection, team building, executive support, global IT requirements, compensation structures and more) and draws on interviews with top global account managers at leading companies including IBM, Cable and Wireless, Siemens, HP, Guinness, Cisco, and Procter & Gamble.