Nicolas Hayek
Encyclopedia
Nicolas George Hayek was a Swiss-Lebanese
entrepreneur
, co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group, with principal headquarters in Biel/Bienne.
. His older sister Mona is the widow of the renowned Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam
. His younger brother Sam, also a Swiss citizen, is a former CEO of the Swiss group Sibra (Biere Cardinal).
In Beirut in 1950, Hayek met a young Swiss au pair, Marianne Mezger, daughter of the industrialist Eduard Mezger
. They married in 1951 and moved to Switzerland. They had two children, Nayla and G. Nicolas (Nick) Jr. In 1964, the family moved to Meisterschwanden
, a village 35 kilometers west of Zürich
. Hayek would live there for the rest of his life.
Hayek was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the Faculty of Beni Culturali of the University of Bologna
(Italy
) in June 1998, after being awarded doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the University of Neuchatel
(Switzerland
) in 1996.
In 2010, Hayek was ranked the world's 232nd richest person with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion.
Hayek died unexpectedly on 28 June 2010 of cardiac arrest
during work at the Swatch Group headquarters in Biel.
for a Swiss reinsurance company. He then assumed briefly the management of the engineering firm owned by his then ailing father-in-law, Eduard Mezger. He soon relinquished this position to search for an opportunity "to learn something new every day".
firm, the Zurich-based Hayek Engineering. Hayek made his mark quickly on the Swiss and European business scene by consulting and effecting successful turnarounds at several of the largest European multinationals. One of his management credos was: "The rarest resources are entrepreneurial types in top management." By 1979, Hayek Engineering had over 300 clients in 30 countries. Hayek was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Hayek Engineering from its founding until his death.
and Citizen Watch. Hayek believed that the Swiss watch manufacturing industry could remain competitive and that ASUAG/SSIH could recover after a restructuring of operations and a repositioning of the different brands.
The restructuring of the companies coincided with the invention of the Swatch watch which used far fewer parts than traditional watches and which was thus cheaper to manufacture. The Swatch watch helped the Swiss watch industry reconquer a large share of the lower end of the watch market which it had lost to Japanese makers. Although the colorful plastic watch became quickly known for its flamboyant marketing, Hayek always emphasized that the Swatch watch was first and foremost a technological breakthrough.
Having spearheaded the reorganization of ASUAG and SSIH for more than four years, finally bringing about their merger, Hayek, with a group of Swiss investors, took over a majority shareholding in the new group in 1985. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors
and Chief Executive Officer
in 1986. The merged company was initially named Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie, or SMH. It later changed its name to Swatch Group.
Hayek played a decisive role in the recovery of the Swatch Group with its watch brands Swatch
, Blancpain
, Omega
, Longines
, Rado
, Tissot
, Certina
, Mido
, Hamilton
, Pierre Balmain
, Calvin Klein
, Flik Flak, Breguet
and Lanco. The strategies he developed in the early 1980s led to the success of the entire Swiss watch industry and regained its leading position worldwide since 1984.
Hayek is also credited with having a fundamental role in the creation of the Smart Car
, a small European car created for inner city use by Mercedes Benz. Original names for the car revolved around the Swatch name — and even today aspects of the car such as its interchangeable body panels are clearly linked with the Swatch philosophy of individuality. The name 'Smart' was derived by adding the first letters of Swatch and Mercedes to the word 'art'.
In 1995, Hayek's daughter, Nayla Hayek joined the Board of Directors of the Swatch Group and in early 2010, she became co-Vice-Chairman of the Board. In 2003, his son, Nick Hayek, Jr.
became the CEO of the Swatch Group. Hayek remained Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group until his death. On 30 June 2010, two days after his passing, the Board elected Nayla to replace him as Chairman.
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group, with principal headquarters in Biel/Bienne.
Life and background
Hayek was born, the second of three children, to a Lebanese mother and a Lebanese-American father, both from well-regarded Greek-Orthodox Christian Lebanese families with deep roots in Lebanon's Northern Governorate of El-Koura. His father was trained as a dentist at Loyola University ChicagoLoyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
. His older sister Mona is the widow of the renowned Lebanese architect Joseph Philippe Karam
Joseph Philippe Karam
Joseph Philippe Karam was a Lebanese architect. In his thirty-year career, Karam was considered a leading figure of modern architecture in Lebanon...
. His younger brother Sam, also a Swiss citizen, is a former CEO of the Swiss group Sibra (Biere Cardinal).
In Beirut in 1950, Hayek met a young Swiss au pair, Marianne Mezger, daughter of the industrialist Eduard Mezger
Eduard Mezger
Friedrich Eduard Mezger was a Bavarian architect, painter, professor and a high civil officer of the royal buildings administration, called Oberbaurat .-Biography:...
. They married in 1951 and moved to Switzerland. They had two children, Nayla and G. Nicolas (Nick) Jr. In 1964, the family moved to Meisterschwanden
Meisterschwanden
Meisterschwanden is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-History:There were two neolithic lake side settlements, at Seerose and Erlenhölzli, near the modern Meisterschwanden. Both sites were discovered from archeological digs on the lake shote...
, a village 35 kilometers west of Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. Hayek would live there for the rest of his life.
Hayek was awarded the title of Doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the Faculty of Beni Culturali of the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
(Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) in June 1998, after being awarded doctor honoris causa of Law and Economics of the University of Neuchatel
University of Neuchâtel
The University of Neuchâtel is a French-speaking university in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The University has five faculties and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law, economics and theology. The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences is the largest...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) in 1996.
In 2010, Hayek was ranked the world's 232nd richest person with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion.
Hayek died unexpectedly on 28 June 2010 of cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
during work at the Swatch Group headquarters in Biel.
Early career
Hayek started his business career working as an actuaryActuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....
for a Swiss reinsurance company. He then assumed briefly the management of the engineering firm owned by his then ailing father-in-law, Eduard Mezger. He soon relinquished this position to search for an opportunity "to learn something new every day".
Hayek Engineering
In 1957, Hayek founded his own management consultingManagement consulting
Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....
firm, the Zurich-based Hayek Engineering. Hayek made his mark quickly on the Swiss and European business scene by consulting and effecting successful turnarounds at several of the largest European multinationals. One of his management credos was: "The rarest resources are entrepreneurial types in top management." By 1979, Hayek Engineering had over 300 clients in 30 countries. Hayek was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Hayek Engineering from its founding until his death.
Swatch Group
In the early 1980s, Hayek was asked by a group of Swiss bankers to oversee a liquidation of ASUAG and SSIH, two Swiss watch-making firms which were in turmoil due to heavy competition from Japanese watch manufacturers such as SeikoSeiko
, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company was founded in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the...
and Citizen Watch. Hayek believed that the Swiss watch manufacturing industry could remain competitive and that ASUAG/SSIH could recover after a restructuring of operations and a repositioning of the different brands.
The restructuring of the companies coincided with the invention of the Swatch watch which used far fewer parts than traditional watches and which was thus cheaper to manufacture. The Swatch watch helped the Swiss watch industry reconquer a large share of the lower end of the watch market which it had lost to Japanese makers. Although the colorful plastic watch became quickly known for its flamboyant marketing, Hayek always emphasized that the Swatch watch was first and foremost a technological breakthrough.
Having spearheaded the reorganization of ASUAG and SSIH for more than four years, finally bringing about their merger, Hayek, with a group of Swiss investors, took over a majority shareholding in the new group in 1985. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
and Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
in 1986. The merged company was initially named Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie, or SMH. It later changed its name to Swatch Group.
Hayek played a decisive role in the recovery of the Swatch Group with its watch brands Swatch
Swatch
Swatch is a brand name for a line of wrist watches from the Swatch Group, a Swiss conglomerate with vertical control of the production of Swiss watches and related products...
, Blancpain
Blancpain
Blancpain is a luxury Swiss watch manufacturer, founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jaques Blancpain. Blancpain went into bankruptcy and stopped production for a long period but was saved by Jean-Claude Biver, an executive with Omega. Blancpain is owned by the Swatch Group. Since 2002, Marc Hayek, the...
, Omega
Omega Watches
Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Omega is one of the most well-known and recognized watches in the world. Omega watch was the choice of NASA and the first watch on the Moon in 1969. Omega was the official timekeeping device of the Olympic Games. James Bond...
, Longines
Longines
Longines is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. The company was originally founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832 and it currently holds the oldest registered logo for a watch company . Longines is currently owned by the Swatch Group.Longines is known for its 'Aviators' watches...
, Rado
Rado (watch)
Rado is a Swiss luxury manufacturer of watches, with headquarters in Lengnau, Switzerland. It is noted for its use of scratch-proof materials, a field in which it is considered a pioneer...
, Tissot
Tissot
Tissot is a luxury Swiss watchmaker company founded in 1853 by Charles-Félicien Tissot and his son Charles-Émile Tissot who established the Tissot factory in the Swiss city of Le Locle, in the Neuchâtel area of the Jura Mountains....
, Certina
Certina
Certina Kurth Frères SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker company founded in Grenchen, 1888, by Adolf and Alfred Kurth, and currently an affiliate company of the Swatch Group.-History:...
, Mido
Mido (watch)
Mido is a luxury Swiss watchmaker company founded in 1918.-History:Mido was founded in 1918 by George G. Schaeren in Biel, Switzerland. Mido comes from the Spanish phrase Yo mido meaning I measure....
, Hamilton
Hamilton Watch Company
The Hamilton Watch Company was originally formed to produce high quality pocket watches and wristwatches mid-range and luxury. Hamilton would become a corporate conglomerate diversified in other operations...
, Pierre Balmain
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain was a French fashion designer. Known for sophistication and elegance, he once said that "dressmaking is the architecture of movement."...
, Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
, Flik Flak, Breguet
Breguet (watch)
Breguet is a manufacturer of luxury watches, founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Currently part of The Swatch Group, its timepieces are now produced in the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland...
and Lanco. The strategies he developed in the early 1980s led to the success of the entire Swiss watch industry and regained its leading position worldwide since 1984.
Hayek is also credited with having a fundamental role in the creation of the Smart Car
Smart car
Smart car may refer to:*Intelligent car, a car with artificial intelligence*Smart , the automobile brand...
, a small European car created for inner city use by Mercedes Benz. Original names for the car revolved around the Swatch name — and even today aspects of the car such as its interchangeable body panels are clearly linked with the Swatch philosophy of individuality. The name 'Smart' was derived by adding the first letters of Swatch and Mercedes to the word 'art'.
In 1995, Hayek's daughter, Nayla Hayek joined the Board of Directors of the Swatch Group and in early 2010, she became co-Vice-Chairman of the Board. In 2003, his son, Nick Hayek, Jr.
Nick Hayek, Jr.
Georges Nicolas Hayek, Jr born March 1954 is the son of Nicolas George Hayek the late co-founder of the Swatch Group. In 2003, Nick Hayek, Jr. became the CEO of the Swatch Group. Nick Jr. has a sister Nayla and 2 children ....
became the CEO of the Swatch Group. Hayek remained Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group until his death. On 30 June 2010, two days after his passing, the Board elected Nayla to replace him as Chairman.
Press
- Harvard Business ReviewHarvard Business ReviewHarvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...
, March–April 1993. Message and Muscle: An Interview with Swatch Titan Nicolas Hayek - Wall Street Journal Interview, June 2010. Nicolas Hayek: Time Bandit
Video
- Video (French), TSR Interview, 1988
- Video, CBC Interview from the 1990s, Part 1
- Video, CBC Interview from the 1990s, Part 2
- Video (French), Q&A with L'Hebdo, May 2009
- Video (French), Pardonnez-moi, L'Interview de Darius Rochebin
- Video (French), TSR News Report, June 2010