Word: swiss
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...trendy timepiece that was embraced by everyone from K Mart shoppers to the owners of SoHo galleries. But in its country of origin, Switzerland, the Swatch represents nothing less than an amazing instrument of industrial rejuvenation. Before it came along, the Japanese had more or less usurped the Swiss as the heavyweight champions of the watch business by substituting their cheap and reliable digital technology for Switzerland's legendary craftsmanship. The question now is whether that industrial formula can work for -- of all things -- automobiles...
...Mercedes and Hayek's company, the Swiss Corp. for Microelectronics and Watchmaking Industries (SMH), the project is not just a technological challenge but also a huge marketing risk. After all, business-school casebooks are full of stories about fashionable companies that, in search of diversification, stretched their brand names past the breaking point. Swatch tried to extend its name to telephones, pager watches and sunglasses without great success. But Mercedes, whose sales have fallen 11% in the past three years, is eager to reach out to buyers who cannot afford its traditional cars. Already the company has unveiled plans...
Hayek may overestimate his reach -- "I am the creator of products, kingdoms and empires," he says -- but he does have expertise at taking a luxury product downscale while preserving its cachet. It was he who came up with the strategy that saved the prestigious Swiss watchmaking industry from succumbing to the Japanese hegemony in the quartz-watch business. In 1983, when he was approached for advice by a group of Swiss banks, the country had seen its share of the global watch market drop from 43% in 1974 to less than 15%. More than half the Swiss manufacturers had gone...
Hayek put up $102 million -- mostly his own money -- and led a group of investors in buying the two companies from the banks. He then merged them, effectively taking control of one-third of the Swiss watch industry, including such famous brands as Omega, Longines, Blancpain, Tissot, Rado and Hamilton. But his big coup was figuring out that a product invented before his arrival could be the high-quality, low-price, plastic quartz watch that would challenge the Japanese at the lower end of the market. The $35-to-$40 Swatch, which reduced by half the usual number of parts...
...leader of the largest and best-armed Iranian opposition force, the % People's Mujahedin, but he was the group's spokesman before the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights, where he was known for his vehement denunciations of the Tehran regime. "For years he tickled the tiger," says Swiss investigating judge Roland Chatelain. "In the end the tiger...