Ireland

"Our parent company would be based in Holland because of that country’s attractive tax environment. An Irish company would hold boo’s intellectual property rights, while a string of companies in France, Germany, Sweden, the US and Britain would hold our assets in each of those countries. Patrik loved this sort of work, but Kajsa"

"eyeglasses. It had decided to diversify on several fronts to escape from a very competitive market. On one hand, it was betting on the contact lens business, to which it had added a division for hearing aids and one for hair loss solutions: sectors that had no synergy with the optics industry, a choice that fragmented commitments and investments making its glasses less competitive. It no longer had true direct control over the making of its products, which had been outsourced: the frames and semi-finished products were produced in Ireland and San Antonio. The lenses, on the other hand, were made in Hong Kong. Finally, the glasses were assembled again in Texas, in a factory with a very high turnover of workers, without specialized operators, far from the managers who stayed at the headquarters."

"In 1961 Rupert moved into the former Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyassaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi), where he had to operate via Britain because of South African exchange-control regulations. That same year he formed a partnership company in Malaysia. Two years later be bought Sullana in Switzerland and formed a partnership in Ireland, which became the largest factory in that country. In the Netherlands he obtained a share in Schimmelpenninck cigars."