The Swatch Group and Cultural Uniqueness Questions Read the case and answer the questions below.1. With the Hayek family controlling nearly 40 percent of T

The Swatch Group and Cultural Uniqueness Questions Read the case and answer the questions below.1. With the Hayek family controlling nearly 40 percent of The Swatch Group, how do you think the family influence impacts the type of corporate culture in the company? What about the company’s international culture being impacted by the Hayek family?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?3. Swatch wants you to create your own unique way of accessorizing by the use of a Swatch watch. A person can showcase his or her individualized Swatch use by tagging #MySwatch. 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?4. According to the company, “Swatch is an attitude, an approach to life, a way of seeing. The sight of a Swatch excites emotion. Wearing one is a way to communicate, to speak without speaking. Heart to heart.” Do you buy this overarching “branding” of a Swatch watch as a cultural icon? Read the case and answer the questions that follow.
The Swatch Group (swatchgroup.com) with its headquarters 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
Allgemeine 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 diverse. In fact, everything that Swatch
engages in is based on diversity and culture. This cultural diversity is
embedded 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 such as Patek Philippe, Rolex,
Jaeger-LeCoultre) and the unexpected appearance of an affordable plastic
watch that turned the watch world upside down.
Suddenly, a watch was more than a way to measure time. It was a new
individualized culture, a new language, and a way to speak from the heart
without words. By definition, “swatch” means a sample of material or color,
oftentimes referring to a small piece of fabric. It is remarkable how Swatch has
been able to develop culturally unique watches while also building the fabric
for a globally integrated world by its watch making.
The Swatch Group’s brands go far beyond the iconic Swatch watches,
though. They also include top Swiss brands like Blancpain, Breguet, and
Omega along with unique and classic products such as Balmain, Calvin Klein
watches and jewelry, Certina, Flik Flak, Glashütte, Hamilton, Harry Winston,
Jaquet Droz, Léon Hatot, Longines, Mido, Original, Rado, Tissot, Tourbillon,
and Union Glashütte. These brands form the “art” of Swatch—a focus that is
almost always emphasized upfront in the company’s annual report and
something the Swatch Group nurtures in various ways, such as via its
Instagram account.
On Swatch’s Instagram (instagram.com/swatch), the storyline is clear. Swatch
wants you to create your own unique way of accessorizing by the use of a
Swatch watch. A person can showcase his or her individualized Swatch use
by tagging #MySwatch. The new line of “Skin” watches also helps users
“dance with the unknown,” break down barriers, and make #YourMove with
Skin. The product is minimalist in style but unique, stylish, yet culturally
diverse—much like Swatch has created its cultural uniqueness for decades in
the global marketplace. Swatch’s own description of its brand captures this
cultural uniqueness:
“Everyone knows a Swatch when they see one. There’s clearly something that
makes Swatch different from every other watch brand. What is it? The look,
the colors, the plastic? The design, perhaps, or the fact that it’s Swiss made
and versatile enough to be worn with almost anything. There are Swatch
watches for people of all ages, and a Swatch for every occasion. But there’s
more to Swatch than market coverage. Swatch is an attitude, an approach to
life, a way of seeing. The sight of a Swatch excites emotion. Wearing one is a
way to communicate, to speak without speaking. Heart to heart.”
The Swatch Group is not just about being culturally diverse or a company
marketing products globally to customers of different cultures. In many
respects the company is actually creating the values, beliefs, norms, and
artifacts that form a globally unique culture worldwide. So, Swatch’s largescale production of watches and jewelry is used to help create individually and
culturally based customer uniqueness.

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