The Environment

Abstract

On Monday, January 13, 1992, the Danish business newspaper Børsen published a story about Samsonite’s new distribution system for its European market. Samsonite produces luggage in Belgium for the European market. In each European country it had sold its products through a national company that had exclusive rights to import Samsonite’s products. The national company then sold Samsonite products to stores. In Denmark, the firm Bon Goût had held the contract with Samsonite for twenty-three years, but Samsonite canceled the contract to sell directly to stores from its headquarters in Belgium. It developed an on-line order system that enabled it to sell to all countries in the European Union from Belgium, and allowed it to take advantage of changes within the new EU single market. Samsonite would also in a more direct way operate in different countries with different national cultures.