The Evolution of Hidden Champions as Niche Entrepreneurs

Hidden champions are world-market leaders that emulate a niche strategy. In this research, we illustrate the hidden champions’ key business strategies and their evolution over space (geographical distribution) and time (technological change). While we describe their spatial distribution and argue how complementary institutional arrangements embed niche world-market leaders, our historical roadmap sketches the main milestones of how changes in technology and market structures came into existence. The emergence of niche markets is strongly tied to the evolution of technologies within both supplier and end-user markets. Tracing the evolution of niche markets, we derive three different eras of niche markets and exemplary hidden champions of their time: pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial. We rely on a few hidden champions that we present more in detail to illustrate their niche market emergence. Moreover, we investigate inventions and technology revolutions of the hidden champions’ main industries. Building on Hermann Simon’s key insights on hidden champions, we analyze how the academic discussion unfolded onwards after his first seminal contributions. We conclude through presenting fields of future research that will help to further evolve studies on hidden champions.