A Life Worth Living tells the story of Michael Smurfitand the company he built. From humble beginnings, through years of hard work, it documents the SmurfitGroup's seemingly inexorable growth, the challenges facedand overcome, and the many deals that continually doubledthe size of the business every three or four years. It showsMichael's 'logical opportunism' in action, an
A Life Worth Living tells the story of Michael Smurfitand the company he built. From humble beginnings, through years of hard work, it documents the SmurfitGroup's seemingly inexorable growth, the challenges facedand overcome, and the many deals that continually doubledthe size of the business every three or four years. It showsMichael's 'logical opportunism' in action, and explains howthe Smurfit culture and systems provided a world-beatingcompetitive advantage. Born in St Helens, Lancashire in August 1936, MichaelSmurfit joined his father's business, Jefferson Smurfit& Sons Ltd. in Dublin, straight from school to learn thepapermaking business 'from the bottom up'. Two years after the company floated on theIrish Stock Exchange, Michael and his brother Jeff became Joint Managing Directors, asJefferson Senior took on the role of Chairman and Chief Executive. Then followed 30 years ofacquisitions, as the Jefferson Smurfit Group became Ireland's first multinational companyand one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world. In 2002, Michael tookthe Smurfit Group private, retiring as CEO but remaining Chairman. In this role, he steereda merger with Kappa Packaging BV, which successfully refloated in 2007 as Smurfit KappaGroup. Michael's life outside Smurfit - his chairmanship of the Racing Board and of TelecomEireann; his interest in horseracing; his ownership of The K Club and the triumph thatwas the Ryder Cup 2006 - all feature, alongside his love and commitment to his family. Truly, a life worth living.
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Hardcover
,
330 pages
Published
April 4th 2014
by Oak Tree Press (Ireland)
Meandering through Dublin City Center in a taxi en route to the airport on a recent rainy Sunday Morning after a weekend of excess in my native town, the taxi driver, after engaging me on the usual subjects of the economy, our useless Politicans, what a bollocks Roy Keane is and the housing market in Dublin, finally allowed me to get a word in edgeways after asking me what I do for a living. On replying that I work in Packaging, he proceeded to tell me about his brother who worked in "Smurfit's"
Meandering through Dublin City Center in a taxi en route to the airport on a recent rainy Sunday Morning after a weekend of excess in my native town, the taxi driver, after engaging me on the usual subjects of the economy, our useless Politicans, what a bollocks Roy Keane is and the housing market in Dublin, finally allowed me to get a word in edgeways after asking me what I do for a living. On replying that I work in Packaging, he proceeded to tell me about his brother who worked in "Smurfit's" and who had, over the course of a working lifetime, elevated himself from sweeping the floor as a 16 year-old in one of their box plants to occupying a high position in logistics management today. A good pensionable job with a rock-solid employer was the verdict. This is a familiar tale when the topic of Smurfit or Smurfit Kappa as they are now known comes up in conversation in Ireland. Smurfit is the perennial benevolent employer, much as Guinness would also have been regarded or Cadbury in the UK. Upon arrival at Dublin airport by coincidence I spotted and bought Michael Smurfit's autobiography A life worth living, only the second autobiography I have actually ever read (the other being that of Alex Ferguson )
From the contemporary Irish begrudging point of view, the image of Michael Smurfit would probably incorporate his not only being born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth, but also with a glass of Chateau Latour in one hand and a copy of The Racing Post in the other. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. Michael was born the son of a hard-working Lancashire tailor who moved his family to Dublin during WW2 in a career change which involved running a small box-making factory, a reversal of the typical Ireland-to-England emigration flow of the time. From these humble beginnings the rise and rise of the Jefferson Smurfit Company is well documented.
Jefferson Smurfit became not only Ireland's first Multinational company, but also the first to attain leadership in an important Global Industry, the forerunner to later Irish success stories such as Ryanair, Kerry Foods and CRH (whose model of relentless growth through acquisition, prudent financial management and sweating of asset values closely resembles that of Smurfit itself).
As well as revealing an insight into what drives the man and his focus, self-belief & confidence, his persistence, tenacity, determination & ruthlessness, the autobiography also contains important philosophies on the nature of effective management & the keys to success in a Capital-intensive and cyclical industry as packaging raw materials is. To quote, " Company Managements simply did not understand the basics of economics 101 ... The industry focus was on production, not profitability; there were too many engineers looking for the biggest, fastest,cleanest, best machines. They increased capacity where none was warranted, basing their capital allocation decisions on the prevailing price. But, as soon as you put new tonnage into the market, your revenue declines - since the price reduction required for the market to absorb the new capacity contaminates existing production also". This is indeed economics 101, but unfortunately engineers, despite what they may think themselves, are no economists.
Smurfit had an insatiable hunger for growth via acquisition, but in measured logical steps. They had an uncanny knack of spotting undervalued assets which could be ruthlessly rationalized & sweated for cash to turn a quick payback on the acquisition cost. Focus was on profit, not turnover or growth. " our model of doing business within the sector... Basing capacity expansion on demand for our product TODAY and not TOMORROW". This probably explains why Smurfit succeed spectacularly in a business which saw so many peers flounder and continue to flounder by the wayside in misguided strategies of relentless capacity expansion without understanding for the economics and dynamics of demand. At the same time though Smurfit displayed a decisiveness in taking bold action when the deal was right- "opportunity comes to pass, not to pause ". The details of some of the bigger Smurfit deals - Container Corporation of America, Cellulose Du Pin, Stone Container, Madison Dearborn & Kappa - whilst sparse on detail, are absorbing nonetheless.
The lack of in-dept insight into later Smurfit deals as the book progresses reveals how Michael gradually became more of a figurehead and eminence grise as time went on, loving to schmooze with celebrities, Royalty, ex-US Presidents, golfers and the jet set. One story - unsubstantiated- tells how a number of prominent business leaders were once asked what their most important business accessory was. Several gave answers along the lines of their Corporate jet, their blackberry etc, while Michael allegedly answered, without batting an eyelid, " a bottle of Chateau Latour".
Although Micheal did indeed assume more of an Ambassadorial role, his activities in this regard were far from frivolous; in particular his stint as Chairman of Telecom Eireann and the experience he brought to that role helped the Irish telephone system leapfrog into the digital age from the stone age, laying a key foundation for the influx of IT, high tech and financial services companies into Ireland., a key enabler of the Irish economic miracle of the late 90's and 2000's. His pet project of the K Club and love for golf brought the Ryder Cup and all its attendant glory to Ireland, something he clearly views as a lifetime highlight.
Smurfit is gracious in his recollections of business rivals in his writing ( with one notable exception being Charles Haughey, our utterly corrupt former Prime Minister, for whom he reserves his venom). Although sections of the book are populated with cringe-inducing testimonials from former minions and family, one wouldn't really begrudge him that. He comes across as a gentleman of integrity who places great importance on family, friendships and personal relationships in business , someone who drives a hard bargain, doesn't tolerate fools easily but who is fair and and honest. His achievements in business are considerable , and he has undoubtedly made a huge contribution to the development of Ireland. For Michael, a life Worth Living, and certainly For the rest of us a legacy worth reading.