Abstract
In 1987, the famous Harvard Professor Ted Levitt asked me: “Why is Germany so successful in exports?” What a question! I discovered that this success is not due to the well-known large German corporations, but to medium-sized world market leaders that few people have ever heard of. These unknown leaders are the true spearhead of the German economy. I coined the term “Hidden Champions” to describe them, and that term has entered the global management vernacular. It has 1.75 million hits on Google. No country has more Hidden Champions than Germany. Many countries, above all China, are trying to copy the Hidden Champions strategies. This chapter reveals their secrets.
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Notes
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Krones had revenue of 3.7 billion Euros in 2018.
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- 3.
Business Week, January 26, 2004.
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The French senate (Sénat) is the upper chamber (chamber haute) of the French parliament. There is also a lower chamber (chambre basse), the national assembly.
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Stephan Guinchard writes: “Regarding the topic of Mittelstand in France, there is a lot of buzz being made around it, but actions are slow to follow,” e-mail from September 5, 2017.
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Accessed on February 16, 2021.
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Simon, H. (2021). The Secrets of the Hidden Champions. In: Many Worlds, One Life. Copernicus, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60758-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60758-6_10
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