问答题
France"s tradition of making exquisite luxuries dates back at least to the court of Louis XIV.
16 The sun king financed ebenistes (cabinet-makers), tapisseurs (upholsterers), menuisiers (carpenters) and other artisans who made beautiful and largely useless things for the court of Versailles.
Bernard Arnault might be his heir.
Mr. Amault is the chairman, chief executive and controlling shareholder of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the world"s largest luxury group.
17 Over the past quarter-century he has transformed a small, nearly defunct clothing manufacturer into a conglomerate that controls more than 60 luxury brands.
Credit Suisse, a bank, predicts that LVMH"s combined sales will reach
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27 billion ($33 billion) this year. Its profits in 2011 were
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3.5 billion and its market capitalization is a cork-popping
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62 billion. LVMH is more profitable than other luxury groups.
"LVMH is like a mini Germany," boasts an insider. Like that country"s Mittelstand, it has built a reputation for craftsmanship and quality that people are happy to pay extra for.
18 The difference is, the Mittelstand makes unsexy things such as machine tools and shaving brushes, whereas LVMH makes champagne hand-bags and other objects of desire.
Also like the Mittelstand, LVMH energetically pursues opportunities abroad.
19 After years of hard marketing, it has persuaded much of Asia"s new middle class that its wares confer a whiff of European sophistication.
Sales in Asia (Japan except) accounted for 27% of the total in 2011, up from 17% in 2001. In Japan, which generated 15% of the group"s sales a decade ago, a startling 85% of women now own a Louis Vuitton product. It takes a rare talent to be ubiquitous and yet retain an air of exclusivity.
A final similarity is that, like the Mittelstand, LVMH is made up of lots of family firms. The difference is that the ones that make up LVMH have been swallowed by a hungry conglomerate.
Some didn"t object. Last year LVMH bought Bulgari, an Italian jeweler, for
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4.3 billion. The Bulgari family were happy to take the cash.
20 Their business had hit a rough patch after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and they thought Mr. Arnault would make a good sugar daddy for their brand.