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Hidden champions are relatively small but highly successful companies that are concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility, and sometimes secrecy. The term "Hidden Champions" was coined by Hermann Simon. He first used the term as a title of a publication in a scientific German management journal.〔Simon, Hermann: ''Hidden Champions: Speerspitze der deutschen Wirtschaft.'' Wiesbaden: Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft (ZfB) 60(1990)9, P. 876〕 According to his definition, a company must meet three criteria to be considered a hidden champion:〔Simon, Hermann: ''Hidden Champions of the 21st Century : Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders.'' London: Springer, 2009.- ISBN 978-0-387-98147-5. P. 15.〕 * Number one, two, or three in the global market, or number one on the company's continent, determined by market share. * Revenue below $4 billion * Low level of public awareness. == Discovering hidden champions == The first English book about hidden champions was ''Hermann Simon's'' ''Hidden champions : lessons from 500 of the world's best unknown companies''.〔Simon, Hermann: ''Hidden champions : lessons from 500 of the world's best unknown companies.'' Boston (Mass.): Harvard Business School Press, 1996.- ISBN 0-87584-652-1. The earlier version, published in German: Simon, Hermann: ''Die heimlichen Gewinner : die Erfolgsstrategien unbekannter Weltmarktführer.'' Frankfurt a. M.: Campus, 1996. - ISBN 3-593-35460-8.〕 In this book, the question is discussed of how Germany, a relatively small European country, has for many years sustained the position of number one exporter in the world. Germany's few giant, highly visible corporations like Volkswagen, Siemens, BASF, Bosch, and others are not substantially different from organisations like Ford, GE, DuPont, or Visteon. Germany's export strength is clearly not wholly determined by these companies so there must be a large number of midsize firms who are strong exporters. These smaller companies are however normally known only in their own area, by customers and suppliers, but not to the wider public or business community. When these companies are very successful on the international markets, they are hidden champions. It was believed at first that such companies were mainly only to be found in German speaking countries. Searching for them there was quite successful. Hermann Simon concentrated detailed research on 500 of them and established a framework to describe them. With this framework in hand it was also found that there are hidden champions everywhere around the world, but they are the most frequent in German speaking countries. The framework was also able to identify the main differences and traits common to hidden champions. Simon declares the common traits as the success factors of these companies. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hidden champions」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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