Critical Thinking – The Swatch Group and Cultural Uniqueness

 

Please read Case 4: “The Swatch Group and Cultural Uniqueness” available in your e-book

(International business: Competing in the global marketplace (13th ed.), at page no.630, and

answer the following questions:

Assignment Question(s):

1. With the Hayek family controlling nearly 40 percent of The Swatch Group, how do you

think the family’s influence impacts the corporate culture in the company? What about

the company’s international culture being impacted by the Hayek family? Explain.

 

(Mark:2)

 

2. Many of the Swatch brands have become cultural icons among a strong core following of

customers in the global marketplace. Some even talk about the “Swatch Revolution” that

began when Nicolas Hayek founded the company. Why do you think Swatch has such a

strong cultural following? Give logic in support of your answer.

 

(Mark:2)

 

3. As mentioned, Swatch wants you to create your own unique way of accessorizing

through its Swatch watch. Is a watch a way to show who a person is culturally? Does a

watch get embedded into a person’s culture? Can a watch create a cultural image?

Discuss. (Mark:6)

 

The Swatch Group (swatchgroup.com) with its headquar-

ters in Biel, Switzerland (Europe), is a manufacturer of

 

watches and jewelry. The company was founded in 1983 by

 

Lebanese-born Nicolas Hayek from the merging of Allge-

meine Gesellschaft der Schweizerischen Uhrenindustrie

 

and Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère. It is now the

world’s biggest watchmaker.

Nicolas’s daughter, Nayla Hayek, has been chair of the

board of directors of the Swatch Group since her father’s

death in 2010, and she is also CEO of the luxury jeweler

Harry Winston Inc., which was acquired by the Swatch

Group in 2013. Georges Nicolas “Nick” Hayek Jr. has been

the CEO and president of the Swatch Group since 2003.

Today, the Hayek family controls nearly 40 percent of the

company.

Swatch and its 37 global subsidiaries employ about

37,000 people, and the company’s revenue is about 9 billion

Swiss francs (CHF), or about $9 billion in U.S. dollars. The

company’s headquarters in Biel sits on the language

border between French- and German-speaking parts of

 

Switzerland and is, by design, bilingual and culturally di-

verse. In fact, everything that Swatch engages in is based

 

on diversity and culture. This cultural diversity is embed-

ded in its overall brand and global strategizing.

 

For example, many of the Swatch brands have become

cultural icons among a strong core following of customers

in the global marketplace. Some even talk about the

“Swatch Revolution” that began when Nicolas Hayek

founded the company. It was the combination of legendary

Swiss watch making (with the Swiss being famous for

watch brands like Patek Philippe, Rolex, Jaeger-LeCoultre,

e.g.) and the unexpected appearance of an affordable

plastic watch that turned the watch world upside down.