Ton Van: the hidden champion of shell buttons

Abstract

Mr. Ton Thanh Nghia, the founder of Ton Van Company Limited, is a well-known businessman in the Vietnamese shell button-producing industry. The company currently boasts factories spread out over 1 hectares, producing 200,000 to 300,000 buttons a day. Most of the products have done well with both the local consumers and international button distributors in developed countries such as England, France and the USA. Ton Van’s reputation is also cemented by a clientele list that includes international luxury fashion giants such as Burberry, Dior, Escada and Ralph Lauren. Given his achievements, Mr. Nghia is regarded as a hidden champion in shell-button industry. The case reveal the strategy of “hidden champions” by Hermann Simon, a CEO of Simon-Kucher & Partners, once defined such business as “relatively small but highly successful companies that are concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility, and sometimes secrecy”.