:Nicolas Hayek
{{Short description|Swiss businessman (1928–2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Nicolas Hayek - Bibliothek am Guisanplatz.jpg
| name = Nicolas Hayek
| birth_date = {{birth date |1928|02|19|df=y}}
| birth_place = Beirut, French Lebanon
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|06|28|1928|02|19|df=y}}
| death_place = Biel/Bienne,{{cite news |url=http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz/standard/SwatchGruender-Nicolas-Hayek-82jaehrig-gestorben-/story/20250906 |title=Er starb am Schreibtisch |newspaper=Tages-Anzeiger |date=28 June 2013 |access-date=6 August 2013}} Switzerland
| occupation = Businessman
| title = Swatch Group, founder/chairman
| children = {{unbulleted list|Nick Hayek Jr.|Nayla Hayek}}
}}
Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928 – 28 June 2010) was a Swiss businessman of Lebanese descent, and the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of The Swatch Group.{{Cite news|url=http://www.prestigemag.co/2014/10/nicolas-g-hayek/|title=Nicolas G. Hayek – Prestige Magazine|date=29 October 2014|newspaper=Prestige Magazine|access-date=30 January 2017}}.
Early life and education
Hayek was born the second of three children to a Lebanese Greek Orthodox Christian family. His father trained as a dentist at Loyola University Chicago. He had an older sister, Mona,{{cite web|title=Joseph Philippe Karam|url=http://www.joseph-philippe-karam.com|access-date=6 August 2013}} and a younger brother, Sam.{{cite web |url=http://www.bilan.ch/economie-exclusif/la-longue-agonie-de-la-brasserie-cardinal-prend-fin |title=La longue agonie de la brasserie Cardinal prend fin |date=28 July 2011 |website=bilan.ch |access-date=6 August 2013 |archive-date=24 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224091152/http://www.bilan.ch/economie-exclusif/la-longue-agonie-de-la-brasserie-cardinal-prend-fin |url-status=dead }} Hayek studied at the University of Lyon.
Personal life
Hayek met Marianne Mezger, an au pair and the daughter of Swiss industrialist Eduard Mezger, in Beirut in 1950. 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 west of Zürich. Hayek lived there for the rest of his life.
In the year of his death, 2010, Hayek had an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion.{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank_10.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313061327/http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank_10.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2010 |title=The World's Billionaires |website=Forbes.com |access-date=6 August 2013 |date=3 October 2010}}
Early career
Hayek worked as an actuary for Swiss Re,[http://forums.watchuseek.com/f66/%93without-senior-hayek-there-would-not-swiss-watch-industry-anymore-%94-567890.html forums.watchuseek.com] before briefly managing his ailing father-in-law's engineering company.
Hayek Engineering
Hayek founded Hayek Engineering, a management consulting firm, in Zürich in 1963.{{cite web |url=http://www.hayek-group.com/cms2012/index.php/de/heag/hayek-engineering-ag/das-unternehmen |title=Das Unternehmen |website=hayek-group.com |access-date=6 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130806142510/http://www.hayek-group.com/cms2012/index.php/de/heag/hayek-engineering-ag/das-unternehmen |archive-date=6 August 2013 }}
Swatch Group
In the early 1980s a group of Swiss banks asked Hayek to oversee the liquidation of ASUAG and SSIH, two Swiss watch-making firms that were in turmoil due to competition from Japan. Hayek believed the Swiss watch manufacturing industry could be competitive and that restructuring operations and repositioning brands would help ASUAG/SSIH recover.Pope, Stephen. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/billions/2010/06/29/swatch-billionaire-nicolas-hayek-who-saved-the-swiss-watch-industry-dies/#3e83b9e14427 Swatch Billionaire Nicolas Hayek, Who Saved The Swiss Watch Industry, Dies], Forbes, 29 June 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
Hayek identified problems in products, policies, distribution, and leadership.{{cite book|last1=Howell|first1=John|title=Snapshots of Great Leadership|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-62482-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/snapshotsofgreat0000howe/page/114 114–120]|url=https://archive.org/details/snapshotsofgreat0000howe/page/114}} "ASUAG for example owned more than 100 separate companies – some big, some small, some modern, some backward. Most of these companies did their own marketing, R&D and assembly. It was crazy."{{cite journal|last1=Taylor|first1=William|title=Message and Muscle: An Interview with Swatch Titan Nicolas Hayek|url=https://hbr.org/1993/03/message-and-muscle-an-interview-with-swatch-titan-nicolas-hayek|journal=Harvard Business Review|date=March 1993|access-date=7 December 2015}}
He invested in automation and standardised parts and tooling. This produced economies of scale, improved quality, and allowed production to be centralized.{{cite web|last1=Bottger|first1=Preston|title=The Genius of Nicolas Hayek|url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/07/01/nicolas-hayek-swatch-swiss-leadership-managing-watch.html|work=Forbes|access-date=5 December 2015}}
The restructuring of the companies coincided with the invention of the Swatch watch. Its colorful appearance and marketing helped Switzerland regain a large share of the lower end of the watch market from Japanese makers. The design used almost half the number of parts of a traditional wristwatch to reduce cost without compromising on quality.{{cite web|last1=Potter|first1=Samantha|title=The History of Swatch|url=http://watchnews.nawcc.org/the-history-of-swatch.html|access-date=7 December 2015|website=Watch News|archive-date=9 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909023000/http://www.watchnews.nawcc.org/the-history-of-swatch.html|url-status=dead}}
After the reorganisation ASUAG and SSIH merged, initially becoming the Société Suisse de Microélectronique et d'Horlogerie.
Hayek's son Nick Jr. became the CEO of the Swatch Group in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.swatchgroup.com/en/group_profile/boards/executive_group_management_board/nick_hayek |title=Nick Hayek |website=swatchgroup.com |access-date=6 August 2013 |archive-date=25 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425002629/http://www.swatchgroup.com/en/group_profile/boards/executive_group_management_board/nick_hayek |url-status=dead }} His daughter Nayla succeeded him as chairperson.
Death
Hayek died of a cardiac arrest while working at the Swatch Group headquarters on 28 June 2010.{{cite web |url=http://www.swatchgroup.com/en/services/archive/2010/nicolas_g_hayek_1928_2010 |title=Nicolas G. Hayek 1928–2010 |website=swatchgroup.com}}
Press
- Harvard Business Review, March–April 1993. Message and Muscle: An Interview with Swatch Titan Nicolas Hayek{{cite journal |url=http://hbr.org/1993/03/message-and-muscle-an-interview-with-swatch-titan-nicolas-hayek/ar/1 |title=Message and Muscle: An Interview with Swatch Titan Nicolas Hayek |journal=Harvard Business Review |date=March 1993 |access-date=6 August 2013 |last1=Taylor |first1=Bill }}
- Wall Street Journal Interview, June 2010. Nicolas Hayek: Time Bandit{{cite web |url=http://magazine.wsj.com/gatherer/behind-the-brand/time-bandit/ |title=Time Bandit: Nicolas Hayek, CEO of Swatch Group |publisher=WSJ. Magazine |date=10 June 2010 |access-date=6 August 2013}}
Video
- Video (French), TSR Interview, 1988{{cite web |url=http://archives.tsr.ch/player/hayek-puce |title=Nicolas Hayek |publisher=TSR |date=12 July 1988 |access-date=6 August 2013 |archive-date=29 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929153729/http://archives.tsr.ch/player/hayek-puce |url-status=dead }}
- Video, CBC Interview from the 1990s, Part 1{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtHPiZGLTmE&feature=player_embedded |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/JtHPiZGLTmE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube |title=CBC Venture Hayek Interview Part 1|date=15 July 2008 }}{{cbignore}}
- Video, CBC Interview from the 1990s, Part 2{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtD_I6nbEso&feature=player_embedded |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/FtD_I6nbEso |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube |title=CBC Venture Hayek Interview Part 2|date=15 July 2008 }}{{cbignore}}
- Video (French), Q&A with L'Hebdo, May 2009{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msq4lTZ4oTg |publisher=YouTube |title=ForumTalks: Nicolas G. Hayek et l'internationale des entrepreneurs}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}
- Video (French), Pardonnez-moi, L'Interview de Darius Rochebin{{cite web |url=http://www.tsr.ch/video/emissions/pardonnez-moi/833479-nicolas-hayek.html#id=833479 |title=Nicolas Hayek |publisher=RTS |date=27 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724153744/http://www.tsr.ch/video/emissions/pardonnez-moi/833479-nicolas-hayek.html#id=833479 |archive-date=24 July 2010 }}
- Video (French), TSR News Report, June 2010{{cite web |url=http://www.tsr.ch/video/info/journal-19h30/2174675-deces-de-nicolas-hayek-commentaires-de-beatrice-jequier.html#id=2174663 |title=Décès de Nicolas Hayek: commentaires de Béatrice Jéquier |publisher=RTS |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703044044/http://www.tsr.ch/video/info/journal-19h30/2174675-deces-de-nicolas-hayek-commentaires-de-beatrice-jequier.html#id=2174663 |archive-date=3 July 2010 }}
References
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Category:Swiss watchmakers (people)
Category:Swiss businesspeople in fashion
Category:Lebanese businesspeople in fashion
Category:Lebanese billionaires
Category:20th-century Swiss businesspeople
Category:University of Lyon alumni
Category:People from Koura District
Category:People from Biel/Bienne
Category:Lebanese emigrants to Switzerland