Hidden Champions: Strategies for Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises producing sports equipment to innovate and compete successfully on the world market
In the new global economy, there is no place for companies to hide from foreign competitors - all companies need to plan for growth and survival in a world of global competition. This research is focused on identifying the abilities and strategies of ‘Hidden Champions’ located in Sweden – with some of them producing sports equipment – to successfully innovative and compete in the world market. The results from this exploratory study indicate that their long-term success is rooted in their focused strategy with soft diversification, continuous innovation through close relationship with customers and employees, providing superior quality and customized services compared to their competitors and by not following management fads. Swedish hidden champions are not afraid of low price competitors from developing countries such as China and India, which is a challenge and threat for most of the companies in developed economies. Hidden champions across the industries investigated are successful due to their excellent innovation governance, and they posses many lessons for other companies for how to govern innovation.