The Dawn of Swatch: Timeless Strategies in Business, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship - Softcover

Merlo, Dr. Omar; Theile, Dr. Konstantin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1637428723 ISBN 13: 9781637428726

Publisher: Business Expert Press, 2025

Synopsis

The Dawn of Swatch tells the remarkable story of how a simple plastic watch didn’t just save the Swiss watch industry—it reshaped how we think about branding, innovation, and disruption. In the 1980s, as Swiss watchmakers lost ground to Japanese quartz technology, Swatch broke every rule: bold, affordable, fashion-forward, and marketed with game-changing creativity.

Blending first-hand accounts with analysis, the authors reveal how strategic vision, unconventional thinking, and fearless marketing turned Swatch into a global success. More than a business case, this book offers timeless insights into brand strategy, innovation, product launches, entrepreneurship, and building iconic brands.

Ideal for business leaders, entrepreneurs, marketers, and anyone interested in strategy, it provides a blueprint for how bold decisions and visionary branding can redefine an industry.

About this title

About the Authors

Dr. Omar Merlo is Associate Professor of Marketing Strategy and Academic Director at Imperial Business School. He previously lectured at Cambridge University and the University of Melbourne--where he earned his PhD--and has been a visiting professor at institutions including Oxford, LSE, UCL, ETH, EPFL, Lausanne, Lugano, and Aalto. His research on marketing strategy, services, and branding has appeared in Journal of Marketing, JAMS, Journal of Service Research, MIT Sloan Management Review, and others. As an advisor, he has worked with many global firms, including McKinsey, Airbus, Unilever, Samsung, Audi, ABB, Barclays, and HSBC.

Dr. Konstantin Theile is a guest lecturer at Imperial Business School and several other universities. He was formerly Professor of International Marketing, Business Ethics and Entrepreneurship at ESB Business School, Reutlingen University, and Director at the Swiss Research Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen. After earning his doctorate in economics from St. Gallen, he worked at UBS and Hoffmann-La Roche. In 1982, he joined the watch industry to establish and lead the global marketing strategy for Swatch. He later founded several companies and now works as a business adviser.

Edition details

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1637428723
• ISBN 13: 9781637428726
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 196