Hillebrand, Brita, Hauni? Recognize any of these names? If not, don't feel bad because according to Hermann Simon these three companies are among the unknown 500 Hidden Champions.

This book's destiny was etched back in 1982 when Peters and Waterman penned their first cross-over best seller, In Search of Excellence. Where Peters and Waterman centered their research on the likes of Exxon, General Foods, McDonalds, General Electric, General Motors, and the IBMs of the world, Simon captured data on companies with sales under $1 billion, with low public visibility and with a world wide market share ranking of either first or second. Statistically, Simon's champions have annual revenues of $130 million, employ 735 people, are 67 years old (mature stage) and are family-owned. The results of this exhaustive project are contained in 280 pages filled with charts and graphs.

Simon argues convincingly that "buried deep below the headlines of sensational business successes and innovative breakthroughs lies a totally ignored source of management wisdom." Similar to hitting the Las Vegas jackpot, generations of business leaders have been turned on by the rags-to-riches, Horatio Algers stories of success. These stories purport that the large corporations should be the role model for companies. Journalists and academicians celebrate successful large enterprises and imply that smaller businesses should learn from and emulate these giants.

The well-known case study method used in many graduate business schools does nothing to dispel the notion that we learn best by vicariously walking in the shoes of a Jack Welch, a Lou Gerstner or a Mike Eisner. No doubt these business icons have much to offer, but the most valuable business education for leaders of small businesses may be to reverse the assumption that learning is top down.

Consultants, known for generating lists, commonly narrow success into a few bullet points that fit nicely onto an overhead chart. Simon's chart of success for hidden champions begins with the desire to obtain the market leadership position. Champions accomplish this goal by creating their own market, by expanding a narrow product focus to meet the needs of customers around the world, by avoiding outsourcing, diversification and strategic alliances, by staying close to their customers without having a marketing department, by achieving low employee turnover with a high continuity of leadership from executives that are both authoritarian and participate. Who can argue?

Simon highlights several noteworthy accomplishments of the champions to support his claims, such as comparing companies with the largest number of international patents. Siemens wins hands-down with 40,000 patents among 400,000 employees or, for comparison purposes, 10 patents per 100 employees. On the other hand, Fischerwerke, a hidden champion has obtained 5,500 patents with only 2,350 employees for a patent to 100 employee ratio of 234. From examples like this, Simon concludes that the global success of these champions is built largely on superior technological competence and innovativeness and is not a matter of luck or favorable circumstances.

Large, high profile successful companies will never go away but as Simon envisions, may become either big champions or clusters of hidden champions. Playing his trump card in the final chapter, Simon pulls a quote from Peter Drucker which supports his claim, "The advantages of smaller size are becoming very great. When you look at who is exporting, it is not the big companies. Yes, GE has done very well with aircraft engines, and Boeing with aircrafts, but other than that, practically all of the exporters of manufactured goods are medium-size companies, highly specialized. I don't think big companies will disappear. But I see more and more businesses where medium size is much better and where it simply diffuses results and destroys profitability to try to be big."

Unlike the "pop" books on management and the "how to" manuals for business managers, Hidden Champions offers something for the serious business leader. Normally, hard-core business books do not make ReLATIVELY Speaking's Book ReVIEW, but for family-owned businesses, Hidden Champions promises to make you pause and think about the way you may grow your business.

Oh yes, Hillebrand is the largest shipper of wines in the world, Brita enjoys an 85% global market share for point of use water filters and Hauni is the worlds market leader in cigarette machines and is the only supplier of complete systems for tobacco processing.