From the worlds largest furniture salesman, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, to the personal brandpower of Oprah Winfrey, this book explores the lives and achievements of 36 disruptive individuals whose heroic visions and indomitable spirits are redefining the economic and social structures of our world.
[...]... listens to his young designers and he listens to the people who are in touch with the customers And "his ability to synthesize the most complex ideas as though they were really simple is an extraordinary quality" Second, Inditex maintains total, yet innovative, control of the entire process from sourcing fabrics, through design and manufacturing to distribution and sale: all the way from "loom to shop... in modern megacities And the final nine are change-makers who have begun the Herculean task of bridging the gap between the haves and have-nots of the developed and developing worlds How do they do it? What makes them tick? Are they all different, or are there vital shared characteristics that give them the unique ability to create innovative global enterprises and transform human societies? We think... emergence of new manufacturing and service economies in India, China and Africa during the 1980s By introducing innovative technologies and practices to industries and sectors already comfortably established in the West, they created pharmaceutical, agricultural and telecommunication enterprises that are transforming the developing world And then, back in the West, came the standard bearers of vast new... Smålanders have always had to work harder, adapt their ideas and do things differently" Ingvar Kamprad is the prototypical example Kamprad's grandfather emigrated from Germany to Småland with his wife and three children in 1894, and established a farm near the village of Agunnaryd Three years later, faced with a hefty mortgage and a scarcely viable farm, he took his own life, leaving Kamprad's grandmother... technological, some personal and some societal All of them, to our delight, are being successfully tackled by extraordinary individuals And, furthermore, as we delved into their characters and achievements, we found answers to all of our questions We look forward to sharing them with you Peter Andrews and Fiona Wood ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS WE WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE OUR debt to the authors and journalists whose interviews... Europe, and finally set up a chain of stores selling duty-free spirits to any American civilian willing and able to take a day trip across the border into Canada It was a lucrative business, made more so by the fact that there was never any need to invest capital in stock They simply collected deposits, arranged for delivery from the country of origin to the customer's home in the United States, and banked... cost to the firm If they buy the garment, large quantities of fresh stock are manufactured and delivered to stores within days Which is why Zara stores around the globe were all stocked up and ready to go when Kate stepped out of Buckingham Palace in her little blue dress Inditex went public in 2001, with Amancio Ortega retaining 59% of the stock, then valued at $6.6 billion dollars His co-founder and. .. store in Stockholm, followed by others across Scandinavia in the 1960s, Europe and the Far East in the 1970s, and the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s By 2012, there were over 150,000 employees and more than 300 stores throughout the developed world Total sales turnover reached €27.5 billion, driven by 200 million catalogues in 20 different languages and more than 1 billion visits to IKEA... their vital characteristics and assess the extent to which they are made or born To the extent that they are made, we review the impact of government policies, parental supervision and training programs on the quality and quantity of their creation And to the extent that they are born, we explore how best we can identify and nurture their talents Part I BIG BUSINESS THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 2008... Japanese tourists visiting Hawaii would come in groups led by professional tour guides, and that all of them would be obliged by the culture of omiyage to buy gifts for family and colleagues at home, Feeney made the move that would form the basis for the remarkable subsequent growth of DFS: he offered Japanese tour guides and their parent travel agencies a flat fee for every customer they brought to his store . intentionally left blank ÜBERPRENEURS How to Create Innovative Global Businesses and Transform Human Societies PETER ANDREWS FIONA WOOD © Peter Andrews and Fiona Wood 2014 All rights reserved characteristics that give them the unique ability to create innovative global enterprises and transform human societies? We think there are. As we explored the lives and achievements of our übercast we. individuals. And, furthermore, as we delved into their characters and achievements, we found answers to all of our questions. We look forward to sharing them with you. Peter Andrews and Fiona