Excerpt from LE DEAL
by J. Byrne Murphy
Chapter 32
Breaking Barriers
Pg. 280 — I chose Paris because I didn’t know any better.
I chose Paris because I was in a rush to launch our new company and, like most Americans, I was naïve about the world beyond our borders. I thought France presented a number of attributes that would support a start-up company focused on carefully distributing excess stock from well-known brand names. France offered its wide array of famous brands and its superb highway network that could whisk shoppers out to bucolic locations to find those brands at reduced prices. What I hadn’t understood is the extent to which the economy of France is dominated by the government, whether obviously or subtly. I hadn’t realized that the French economy is structured for large and established companies such as Peugeot and Credit Agricole. I hadn’t understood that in France the emphasis is always on job preservation, and not job creation. I also hadn’t understood the extent to which elected officials push or pull macro-and microeconomic levers to preserve that status quo, levers which elsewhere are left to market forces. In other words, I hadn’t understood the context into which I had so hastily parachuted.
What I discovered was the obvious: Context matters. A lot.
Pg. 285 — I responded in France in a way that I think many Americans would have done: when faced with a problem, however daunting, I set out to solve it. If one approach didn’t work, I’d try another. Initially I perceived the problem as primarily economic, and tried solving it along strictly commercial lines. When I realized it was essentially a political problem, I worked first on a local level, then on a regional level, and finally on a national scale until I found the combination required to break down the barriers that stood in my way. I never would have guessed that ultimately I would have to stand up to directives emanating from the prime minister himself, and then even beyond him to the Supreme Court of France. I just took it one step at a time and became more determined with each one.
In the end, people do what they think really to do. I needed to see it thought in France.
Excerpted from Le Deal by Murphy, J. Byrne Copyright © 2008 by Murphy, J. Byrne. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.