Nickname for less known but highly successful companies
Hidden champions are relatively small but highly successful companies that are concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility, and sometimes secrecy. The term was coined by Hermann Simon. He first used the term in 1990 as a title of a publication in a scientific German management journal, describing the small, highly specialized world-market leaders in Germany.[1] According to his definition, a company must meet three criteria to be considered a hidden champion:[2]
- Number one, two, or three in the global market, or number one on the company's continent, determined by market share
- Revenue below $5 billion
- Low level of public awareness
- ^ Simon, Hermann: Hidden Champions: Speerspitze der deutschen Wirtschaft. Wiesbaden: Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft (ZfB) 60(1990)9, P. 876
- ^ Simon, Hermann: Hidden Champions of the 21st Century : Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders. London: Springer, 2009.- ISBN 978-0-387-98147-5. P. 15.