This mélange of memoir, travel-writing and business blueprint chronicles the author's attempt to set up shop in Europe after the catastrophic crash of his American business. Having mortgaged his house and other assets to finance his move to Paris, the author embarks on trying to interest Europeans in his scheme of shopping malls specializing in imperfect and off-season designer goods. He runs into unanticipated obstacles: a backlash against American developers due to the failure of Euro Disneyland, organized opposition from existing retailers, a national political movement against hypermarkets, complex zoning and property laws—not to mention his unfamiliarity with the French language and business customs. Murphy perseveres and manages to get several centers open—all of which are spectacular successes with shoppers and manufacturers. A slapdash collage of genres, the book also includes a mild thriller subplot concerning a rival development company and some even milder romance. While smoothly written, the book suffers from an unfocused narrative and the author's grating insistence in emphasizing his naïveté. (Aug.)
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Product Description
High-Fashion Adventure
Le Deal is an adventure story involving raw entrepreneurship, high-level politics, and a young American family in foreign lands. It is the true story of Byrne Murphy, a businessman who abruptly moves to Paris with his wife and baby daughter in a quest to reignite his career and his fortunes. He quickly finds himself up against strange and powerful forces for which he is ill prepared.
Just days after landing in France, Byrne reads that the newly installed prime minister has declared a moratorium on all new retail development, apparently snuffing out Byrne’s proposed new venture---discount fashion malls---before it’s even started. He and his company will engage in a mano a mano struggle with the prime minister (which reaches all the way to France’s Supreme Court); encounter a ruthless political ambush in Germany by the soon-to-be chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder; and face a threatening (“Is this the Mafia?”) would-be partner in Italy. Counterbalanced against these are a series of mostly charming encounters with nearly all members of the British Royal Family, capped off by a tour with Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, which nearly ended in a royal embarrassment of epic proportions.
Byrne and his wife, Pamela, experience the joys and risks of living and growing their family in foreign lands. From proposals for dalliances to a harrowing experience with a local and dangerous disease during pregnancy, they are reminded time and again that surprises can be ever present in foreign cultures.
Over eight years the company (McArthurGlen Europe) grew from nothing to generating approximately a billion dollars in sales from 11 centers across Europe. Those efforts created nearly 8,000 jobs, opened 1,500 stores featuring 500 brands, attracted nearly 40 million shopping visits per year, and spawned an array of competitors. In short, an industry.
Along the way, the author learns what he, and Americans in general, do and do not know about life beyond our borders. The book ends with a message about the need for twenty-first-century Americans who work in international affairs to truly take “context” into account; to realize, in our quest to accomplish more in less time, that investing the time to understand the nuances of foreign cultures with which one may be working is a key to prospering in this multicultural, polyglot, interconnected, globalized world.
About the Author
J. Byrne Murphy was one of the founders and deputy chief executive of McArthurGlen Europe. He spent eight years in an ultimately successful struggle to implant the concept of designer outlet centers in Europe. Mr. Murphy is an entrepreneur who has started up several European ventures, including the $225 million restoration of a fifteenth-century Medici palazzo in Florence, Italy, and its conversion into a private residence club. He is a cum laude graduate of Harvard College and received his MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. After living in Europe for twelve years, Mr. Murphy now resides in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Pamela, and their four daughters.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Cultures Clash
“I will never, ever pay one French franc to you or to anyone else that you send to me,” I started. My voice was firm but not harsh. My French was clear, simple, restrained.
“This is my project; this is my company, and I will do it my way.” The tone in my voice was tough as it began rising. “And you will NOT chase me down by phone, harass me with your messages, demand meetings, come to MY OFFICE, and threaten me with extortion.” I was now leaning forward and pointing my finger at his chest, glaring into his eyes, voice louder but still clear.
“You think that you can blackmail me? Is that what you think?” Now I was shouting, red faced, eyes-bulging shouting. By then I had launched and was going off into space, into free-form ascendancy. There was some intellect in my delivery but mostly emotion. I spat out my French in a broken American accent, but it was forceful French, meaningful French.
I could vaguely sense François at my side. He was offering soothing words of counsel, telling me in whispers to calm down, to sit down, to tone down, anything…. But I was not to be stopped.
“Do you understand me? Do you hear me?” … I spat my words at the man across from me.
—from Le Deal
