p>Ashok Som, Christian Blanckaert
The Road To Luxury
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Acknowledgments
I taught the course on strategy in the program of MBA in International Luxury Brand Management from 2004 to 2012 at ESSEC Business School. The idea of the book crystallized during my interactions with the participants of the program. Prompted by my students, I started to create assignments such as case studies, which the students from the program wrote under my supervision. Those teaching materials were used in the program with great success and were adapted worldwide in other universities and business schools. I am grateful to the participants in this program for their insights and feedback. My work environment in a French grande ecole provided and sustained my interest in French and Italian luxury businesses. I appreciate the efforts of my colleague Simon Nyeck to involve me in the program and my friend Michel Phan to discuss and debate the world of fashion and luxury trends. My sincere thanks to Esther Boinville, Anthea Davis, Armelle Leduc, Denis Morisset and other members of the team managing the MBA in International Luxury Brand Management program for the last two decades.
I acknowledge the support of all my students, especially Yu Cao, Arushi Chopra, Sushanta Das, Rashi Gupta, Hannes Gurzki, Naja Pape, Shiva Pappu, and Milan Rabold who supported me in my research while writing this book. My sincere thanks to my students, Manuela Brische, Lilly Liu, Deepak Yachamaneni, Boris Gbahoué, Geraldine Carter, Stephanie Masson, Misha Gupta, Karyn Bell, Anna Nolting, Fernanda Harger, Nora Kato, Raghavendra Sheshamurthy, Nonika Vyas, Tina Huang, Sid Shetty, Priscilla Mark, Mario Sanz del Castillo, Lynn Chou, Lan Wu, Leonardo Banegas, Pajaree Kasemsant, Salman Bukhari who spend their time revising and integrating my comments multiple times to make their work publishable. Also my appreciation goes to Ruchi Shangari Dsouza, Debjani Roy, Daniel Tobar-Richter, Clara Gonzalez Goicoechea, Valerie Flexor, Jisook Anh, Mo Cheng, Wenjing Wang, Meng Li, Erik Lobatom Kanika Holloway, Sophia Redford, Alessandro Cannata, Hui Xu and many others worked diligently in my course on Managing the Global Corporation. My most sincere appreciation goes to Nathalie Delforge for administration and logistics, to our Department assistants Christiane, Alexandra & Nathalie, and to my editor Tracy Donhardt, who helped me shape the manuscript.
I unhesitatingly acknowledge the support and encouragement of Françoise Rey, who motivated me to try new concepts and creative ways of managing programs. I express my sincere thanks to Jean-Michel Blanquer, Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi, Radu Vranceanu, Marie-Laure Djelic, Gilles van Wijk, and all my colleagues who supported me in this endeavor.
I acknowledge the companies such as Bavaria; British American Tobacco; BMW; DFS; Ganjam; the Leela Palaces, Hotels, and Resorts; Van Cleef and Arpels; Chaumet; Pernod Ricard; Krug; Baccarat: Raketa and many others who enhanced our knowledge about the different sectors of the luxury business. I acknowledge the strong support of Piyush Kumar Sinha from IIM Ahmedabad, India, who codirected the Advanced Management Program in Luxury for the past four years.
Despite the best efforts of the contributors, I remain responsible for any shortcomings. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of my seven-year-old daughter, Mekhala-Zoya, who regularly reminded me not to waste my time on browsing Facebook but to complete my part of the chapters before the ever-extending deadlines.
About the Authors
Ashok Som is Professor of Management Department at ESSEC Business School. Professor Som is one of the pioneering thought leaders in designing organizations and an expert in Global Strategy. His books Organization: Redesign and Innovative HRM was published by Oxford University Press (2008) and International Management: Managing the Global Corporation was published by McGrawHill, UK (2009). At ESSEC, he was the Founding Associate Dean of the full-time, one-year post experience, Global MBA program; the founder of the India Research Centre; and the founder and Director of the Global Management Programs on Luxury and Retail Management (in partnership with Indian Institute of Management [IIM] Ahmedabad). He received his PhD from IIM Ahmedabad; M.Sc and M.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; and bachelor's degree from Presidency College, Calcutta, India. He is passionate about case-based research and teaching. He was the winner of the EFMD Case Writing Competition 2008 in the Indian Management category. He won the Case Centre Award 2014 in the Entrepreneurship category. He is Adjunct Faculty at IIM Ahmedabad (India) and Mannheim Business School (Germany), and Visiting Professor at IIM Calcutta (India), Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand), Graduate School of Business, Keio University (Tokyo), and Tamkang University (Taiwan). His current research is on creative industries, focusing on luxury industry. He is a regular speaker in international conferences and consults with European and Indian multinationals.
Christian Blanckaert's resume establishes him as a global leader in luxury. He is currently
