A Hidden Champion

Hidden champion is a term that was coined by a German business consultant, Hermann Simon. A hidden champion is a small to medium-sized company that is narrowly focused on a small, highly specialized market. Such companies are usually not well known yet are very profitable. One example of a hidden champion is the French company Essilor.

Staying the Course

Essilor manufactures ophthalmic lenses, which is the formal name for contact lenses and lenses for eyeglasses. Over the years, Essilor has reinforced its single focus and avoided branching out into eyeglass retailing. Instead, the company concentrated its effort on going global. Today, Essilor is the industry's leader. Besides staying specialized and having a clear strategy, Essilor kept innovations coming. For example, Essilor invented progressive lenses. These alternatives to bifocal lenses have a gradual change in correction power from top to bottom. Like most other hidden champions, Essilor invests a notable four to five percent of its annual sales on research and development. Other characteristics of hidden champions include tight financial management, superior customer service, and foresight.

How would you evaluate this hidden champion based on the 4 functions of business we learned in this lesson?