Jean Claude Biver A The Reemergence Of The Swiss Watch Industry Case Solution

1. Analysis of the Change Effort

2. What type of gap do you think Biver was trying to solve at Blancpain and Omega? Did Biver take a radical or incremental approach to transform Blancpain and Omega? 

Biver catered to the target market that all watchmakers neglected: the traditionalists who were not comfortable with adapting to the new quartz watches. He saw that since mechanical watches required more skill and time to produce, they could certainly be priced higher, as skilled craftsmanship was even more valuable in a world starting to rely on machines. No doubt he took a radical approach because he started transforming the companies with his new strategies as soon as he took hold of them, and was able to turn them around and disrupt the market with skyrocketing sales within a few years.

3. Describe the time and scope of the change at Blancpain and Omega. 

Biver turned around Blancpain in just a decade from a company that was worth a mere $16,000 to one worth a whopping $43 million! Within 10 years he was able to transform a company bankrupt due to its outdated product into one that made $94 million in annual revenue, with the same product positioned as an exclusive collectible. At Omega, he started putting in efforts for timeless brand ambassador campaigns from 1992. He managed to raise the revenue from $350 million in 1995 to $900 million in 1999, a phenomenal change of 257% in just five years. 

4. Describe the competitive environment of the Watch industry in the 1980s. How well did Biver’s new strategy fit with Omega’s structure and competitive environment?

In the 1980s, Japanese brands took over the watch market, as the Japanese had invested a lot in consumer electronics after WWII. Due to economies of scale, they brought down the prices of quartz watches by a factor of 100. Swiss watches remained highly expensive, also due to appreciation of the Swiss Franc, and their export volume decreased from 45% to 10% of watches produced internationally. 

Omega was a high-end brand, so the new strategy to position it as a brand permanently endorsed by celebrities, instead of one that hired them for temporary campaigns, fit Omega’s brand image perfectly. 

2. Analysis of the Leadership

1. Where did Biver’s vision come from? Is Biver a leader who just knows how to deliver an inspiring speech, or is he also a strategist who learned how to execute?

His vision came from his passion for the watchmaking tradition, and from preserving that tradition as something prestigious instead of leaving it behind as something outdated. He was certainly a man of words who knew how to motivate people, make them feel important, and make them work. People got the feeling that they worked with him, and not just for him.