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Business Despite Borders pp 77–88Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Leadership, Global Mindset and Internationalization of Sempertex: From One Country to Ninety-five Countries and Five Continents

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Abstract

This chapter highlights the relevance of leaders’ characteristics in the internationalization process of family firms. Specifically, it stresses the influence of the global mindset of a second-generation CEO who took Sempertex from a small local family firm in Colombia to a global competitor manufacturing high-quality latex balloons with a presence in almost ninety-five countries on five continents and an approximate 30 percent market share in the global market of high-quality latex balloons for professional use.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview with El Radar. Noticias Caracol. http://noticias.caracoltv.com/el-radar/este-barranquillero-conquisto-los-mercados-del-mundo-exportando-globos Accessed 24 April 2017.

  2. 2.

    D. Laueiro and H. Serna, “Sempertex, una empresa colombiana que vuela por el mundo”, Casos de Administración Universidad de los Andes, ISSN 1900-8791, Diciembre 1, 2008.

  3. 3.

    See: http://www.semana.com/edicion/1513 Accessed 24 April 2017.

  4. 4.

    See: https://www.elheraldo.co/economia/el-barranquillero-oswald-loewy-elegido-emprendedor-del-ano-ey-2015-226652 Accessed 24 April 2017.

  5. 5.

    See: http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2017/02/03/actualidad/1486119778_826587.html Accessed 25 April 2017.

  6. 6.

    D. Laueiro and H. Serna, “Sempertex, una empresa colombiana que vuela por el mundo”, Casos de Administración Universidad de los Andes, ISSN 1900-8791, Diciembre 1, 2008.

  7. 7.

    See: http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2017/02/03/actualidad/1486119778_826587.html Accessed 25 April 2017.

  8. 8.

    See: http://www.dinero.com/edicion-impresa/informe-especial/articulo/plantas-industriales-alto-desempeno-colombia/198889 Accessed 25 April 2017.

  9. 9.

    The discussion on this section takes into account personal opinions of Oswald Loewy expressed during a personal interview that I carried out on April 20, 2017.

  10. 10.

    O. Loewy , personal interview, April 20, 2017.

  11. 11.

    O. Loewy , personal interview, April 20, 2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESA Business School, Bogota, Colombia

    Henry Bradford Sicard

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  1. Henry Bradford Sicard
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Correspondence to Henry Bradford Sicard .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Empresa, Madrid, Spain

    Santiago Iñiguez de Onzoño

  2. Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuo Ichijo

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Bradford Sicard, H. (2018). Leadership, Global Mindset and Internationalization of Sempertex: From One Country to Ninety-five Countries and Five Continents. In: Iñiguez de Onzoño, S., Ichijo, K. (eds) Business Despite Borders. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76306-4_6

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