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Hidden Champions
Down Under
Seven lessons on how to become a
hidden champion
Chris Petzoldt
www.simon-kucher.com
M any world market leaders around the world
are virtually unknown to the public. Even less
is known about their strategies. What is the secret
to their success and uniqueness? Professor
Hermann Simon founder of the strategy and
marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners -
has been researching and dissecting these so called
"Hidden Champions" and their strategies for over
20 years. Simons list of mid-sized, little-known
world market leaders contains about 2000 entries,
1200 of those are from Germany. While Germany's
huge export success is heavily backed by these
mid-sized world market leaders, there are also
Hidden Champions in Australia.
Hidden Champions
In fact these companies are Hidden Champions:
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ANCA's focus on technology and innovation was
already honoured by 25 industry awards,
recognizing its engineering excellence and export
achievements.
7 important lessons
1. Extremely Ambitious Targets
You dont become a world market leader by chance, but
by setting very ambitious targets and pursuing them with
never-ending perseverance. The targets of hidden
champions are aimed at growth and market leadership.
These companies have grown rapidly in the last decade,
nearly tripling their size. Across all Hidden Champions
market shares have skyrocketed. Ten years ago they were
on average 56% larger than their strongest competitor
worldwide today they are more than double this
amount.
3. Globalisation
Focus makes a market small, but globalization makes it
large. The hidden champions have their own subsidiaries
in all critical markets around the globe and practice direct
customer relationship management. They invest
continuously in markets of the future, like the CRI (China-
Russia-India) triad.
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4. Innovation
Hidden champions invest nearly twice as much revenue in
R&D as other companies. On average, patent intensity is
up to five times higher for the hidden champions. About
two-thirds of the hidden champions consider market and
technology to be equally important driving forces; only
19% of large corporations achieve this balance.
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7. Strong Leadership
At the head of hidden champion companies are strong
personalities who identify themselves completely with the
company. On average, CEOs of hidden champions remain
at the top for > 10 years. CEOs of stock market listed
companies, in contrast, average < 5 years. Younger
executives and women are also more present than in large
corporations.
Hidden Lesson
In summary, the hidden champions follow their own path
and do so with more decisiveness and success than ever
before. They do nearly everything different: they deviate
from management fads; they pay little heed to what other
large corporations are doing or what management gurus
proclaim. In essence, they apply common sense so
simple, and yet so difficult when it comes to
implementation. And this is perhaps the most important
lesson.
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Chris Petzoldt is the Managing Director of Simon-Kucher & Partners
Strategy & Marketing Consultants Australia - a world-market leading
consultancy in marketing and pricing across industries. He has more
than 11 years of consulting experience and conducted more than 60
projects on revenue management and pricing across the globe.
Sydney office
Level 40, Northpoint Tower, 100 Miller Street, North Sydney
NSW 2060, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9931 6802, Fax: +61 2 9931 6888
E-Mail: Chris.Petzoldt@Simon-Kucher.com
www.simon-kucher.com
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