So-called ‘big hit’ exports are rare. They represent less than 2% of all export spells, yet remarkably they account for over two-thirds of a country’s export growth. Most remarkably of all, big-hit makers are usually not one-hit wonders either. What’s their secret? asks Johan Fourie.
In 1922, a young and ambitious Belgian jam maker, Édouard Materne, acquired a small apple processing factory in the town of Boué on the French border. With his vision and determination, he steered the factory towards expansion, reaching markets in Paris and central France. His efforts bore fruit, and he soon found himself among the top five jam-makers in France.
But jam making was a competitive business. By the 1980s, consolidation was necessary. In 1989, the Danone group bought Materne’s company together with two other jam companies, including the Confipote brand, to create the fruit processing company Materne. Five years later, and with little prospects of further growth, the Danone group sold Materne to the British food group Hillsdown Holdings.
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