Latest / Family Business Stories with Fexingo: Succession, Legacy, and Multi-Generational Companies
How the Bata Family Rebuilt a Shoe Empire After Nationalization
In 1945, the Bata family lost control of their shoe company—the largest in the world at the time—when Czechoslovakia's communist government nationalised it. Founder Thomas Bata's son, also Thomas, had already fled to Canada with a small team and a handful of machinery. Over the next 30 years, they rebuilt Bata from a single factory in Batawa, Ontario, into a global presence spanning 70 countries. This episode traces how the family's 'Bata Management System'—a radical decentralised ownership model—allowed the fifth generation to keep the company both private and…
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