Battery-powered quartz technology of Japan created a significant impact on the Swiss watch industry in the early 1980s as the industry failed to adapt this new innovation. A watch company that had been out of the business since 1961, Blancpain, was purchased by Jean-Claude Biver in 1982. Blancpain had once made the mechanical watches for $16,000.
Blancpain, after a decade of this successful acquisition sold the business to the Chairman of the Swatch Group, Nicolas G. Hayek for $43 million. Hayek gave the responsibility to Biver to uplift the once venerable, but ailing, watch company Omega. The revenue of Omega from $350 million in 1995 jumped to $900 million in 1999 under Biver’s leadership.
However, such turnarounds by Biver ensured that he might be the next CEO of Swatch Group but in the early 2000 he started to realize that it does not seem possible after the retirement of Hayek. Biver needed to decide that whether it would be better for him to leave the Swatch Group and retire himself, or possibly take the reins of a small but the struggling watch company, Hublot.
The case follows the choice taken by the Biver to uplift Blancpain and Omega, and how his enthusiasm took the Swiss watch industry to a leading position again. The harsh behavior to his employees made the Biver a complex leader, but whose struggles and efforts raised the loyalty from his colleagues.
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