In the 1990s, J. Byrne Murphy was hired to create outlet malls in numerous venues in Europe. It made sense, in a way; after all, many of the brands sold at North American outlet malls originated in Europe, and one might readily think European customers would be delighted to find these brands and others available at deep-discount clearance and outlet centers.
Le Deal is the story of his trials and tribulations along the way to creating 11 such malls in the EEC. This review from the WSJ (via Eva; link expires soon) highlights many of the problems he faced. For example,
Politicians cause Mr. Murphy the biggest headaches. They put one obstacle after another in his way. It takes years for him to get a green light for his first big retail center -- in Troyes, about 90 miles southeast of Paris. "In France," Mr. Murphy writes, "the emphasis is always on job preservation, and not job creation." [EE: sounds quite typical of views in North America when Wal-Mart tries to move into a community.]
In short, it is more rational, from the French politician's point of view, to protect small retailers or established guilds than to open up opportunities. After all, the potential workers at new stores -- let alone would-be customers -- aren't organized. They are not about to march in the streets or kill off re-election hopes. And yet when the mall in Troyes finally opens -- what do you know? -- it's a success. The French, it turns out, are not that different from Americans: For a bargain, they will travel long distances and stand in line for hours.
In Germany, Mr. Murphy faces similar resistance from the political class. He meets the premier of Lower Saxony, a certain Gerhard Schroeder (the future German chancellor), who studies MacArthurGlen's plans for an outlet center. Over cigars, Mr. Schroeder tells Mr. Murphy and his American colleagues: "I'll kill it. I will have to." He persuades them to withdraw a pending bid for a mall site by promising, privately, that he'll back them after he gets through an upcoming election. But after the election, naturally, he reneges. In Italy, Mr. Murphy finds the challenge to be no less difficult though of a slightly different character: He must maneuver around mafia-types and Italy's nonfunctional state to get a shopping center open.
Comments