Bata Corporation
Bata Shoes (Template:Lang-cs or Baťovy závody) is a large, family owned shoe company. It is currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and operates 4 business units worldwide – Bata Europe, Bata Emerging Markets, Bata Branded Business and Bata North America. It has a retail presence in over 50 countries and production facilities in 26 countries. In its history the company has sold more than 14 billion pairs of shoes.
Foundation, Tomáš Baťa
The company was founded in 1894 in Zlín (then Austro-Hungarian Empire, today the Czech Republic) by Tomáš Baťa (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtomaːʃ ˈbaca]) whose family had been cobblers for generations. A large order from the army, military shoes and rising demand for them, during World War I started rapid growth and small manufacture turned into modern industrial concern, one of the first mass producers of shoes.
Tomáš Baťa was recognised for his social conscience, establishing housing, cinemas and advancement programmes for his employees. The phrase "work collectively, live individually" is one of his sayings. Baťa recognised the potential of large-scale production, and was often called the "Henry Ford of Eastern Europe". He saw technology as a means of progress, and wanted to make the shoes as cheaply as possible so that the greatest number of people could access them
In 1932 Tomáš died in a plane crash at the Zlín airport (attempting to take-off under bad weather conditions) and his half-brother Jan Antonín Baťa became head of the company.
At the time of Tomáš' death, the Baťa company employed 16,560 people, maintained 1,645 shops and 25 enterprises. Most of what Tomáš had build was centralized in Bohemia-Moravia (15,770 employees, 1,500 shops, 25 enterprises) and Slovakia ( 250 employees and 2 enterprises). The total international contribution to the Baťa organization at the time of Tomas' death consisted of 20 international enterprises, 132 shops, and 790 employees. they are made from batter. that why they are called batta shoes.
Jan Antonín Baťa
Under Jan Antonín Baťa the company grew quickly, continued its expansion throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. Zlín accommodated the largest part of the company, with manufacturing and headquarters.
Apart from shoes, Baťa also diversified into other areas (tyres, toys, plastic fibres, etc.).
Thirties and forties
Jan Baťa expanded the Bohemian and Moravian part of the business, more than doubling its size to 38,000 employees, 2,200 shops, and 70 enterprises. In Slovakia, he grew the business from 250 employees to 12,340 and 8 enterprises.
In the face of a worldwide depression, Jan Baťa (through his vision and skill) expanded the company more than sixfold its original size throughout Czechoslovakia and the world. From the time of his brother's death in 1932 to 1942, he grew the Baťa organization to 105,770 employees.
During the 1930s imports from Czechoslovakia ultimately became too expensive due to the economic crisis in Europe at the time. Jan Antonín also established subsidiaries in several foreign countries (for example in Brazil, Britain and Canada).
Bata-villes
Company policy was to set up villages around the factories for the workers and to supply schools and welfare.
These villages include Batadorp in the Netherlands, Baťovany (present-day Partizánske) and Svit in Slovakia, Baťov (nowadays Bahňák, part of Otrokovice) in the Czech Republic, Borovo-Bata (nowadays Borovo Naselje, part of Vukovar in Croatia then in Kingdom of Yugoslavia), Bataville in Lorraine, France, Batawa in Canada, East Tilbury[1] in Essex, England, Batapur in Pakistan and Batanagar and Bataganj in India.
The company, which established itself in India in 1931, started manufacturing shoes in Batanagar in 1936.
In 1922, the first Bata shop abroad opened in the Netherlands; in 1933, construction began on the Bata shoe factory in Best, in the Dutch province of Brabant, at the intersection of the railway tracks leading to Eindhoven and the Wilhelmina Canal located nearby. There was an abundance of inexpensive and hard-working labourers in the Brabant countryside.
The British "Bata-ville" in East Tilbury inspired the documentary Bata-ville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future.
During World War II
After Germany occupied the rest of pre-war Czechoslovakia (15 March 1939) Jan Antonín Baťa, who left the country with his family after a brief time in jail after the Nazi occupation, tried to save as much as possible, submitting to the plans of Germany as well as supporting financially the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile led by Edvard Beneš.
An episode: A Baťa-owned Lockheed plane was flown out of Czechoslovakia 2 days before the Nazi occupation. The plane made it to Britain where it was dismantled and shipped to Canada.[2]
Foreign factories were separated from mother company and ownership of plants in Czech lands was transferred to one member of the family.
Jan Antonín Baťa stayed in the Americas from 1939-1940, but as America entered the war, he felt it would be safer for his co-workers and their families back in occupied Czechoslovakia if he left the United States.
At the moment he left the protection of the United States, the British placed him on the "black list". It is believed that the communist influence on the Beneš' exile government was behind this. The official reason for this was Mr. Baťa's inability to pay a demand by the British government amounting to 250,000 pounds sterling (a huge sum of money at the time). The United Kingdom insisted on the huge bail because Mr. Baťa was the owner of the largest industrial concern in occupied Czechoslovakia, located in enemy territory and employing more than 40,000 Czechs and Slovaks.
During the war, Jan Baťa helped hundreds of Jewish families to escape from Czechoslovakia, sending them all over the world throughout the Baťa organization and beyond the Nazis' reach. During the war, among other patriotic deeds, Jan Baťa devised a plan to save more than 100,000 of his countrymen from Nazi concentration camps by setting up plans for a Czech/Slovak infrastructure building plan for a highway and aqueduct system. This frustrated the Nazi decrees that took unemployed Czechs and Slovaks to concentration camps in Germany and elsewhere. The road and aqueduct system envisioned by Mr. Baťa was based on his book entitled Building a nation of 40,000,000 (circa 1938).
During the war Jan Baťa was also the largest contributor to the Czech cause, prior to Munich and after. Even though he disagreed with the pro-soviet politics of Edvard Beneš and Jan Masaryk, he gave monetary support to them during the war. More than 250 pilots were trained by Jan Baťa's organization in preparation for the allied invasion, many of whom served as pilots or airmen in the RAF.[3]
After the war
Communist Czechoslovakia
After the war Jan Antonín Baťa attempted (unsuccessfully) to purge his name of the accusations against him.
Members of the family started to sue one another over ownership of the company; mutual hatred among branches of the family lasted for decades.
In 1945 the company was nationalised as a part of large scale nationalisation program in Czechoslovakia.
In spite of incredible odds and a political climate that had put the machinery in motion to nationalize all large businesses, Jan Baťa fought against the alleged 64 crimes that the communists had accused him of. And in fact, the jury at the time, composed mostly of socialists and communists found Jan A. Baťa innocent of all 64 charges. The verdict enraged the communist judge, who immediately added two new charges, declared Jan Baťa guilty, then used the guilty finding as a reason to confiscate all Baťa properties in Czechoslovakia and sentenced Mr. Baťa to 15 years of hard labor in absentia.
After the communist party took all power (1948) it tried to suppress all memory of Tomáš and Jan A. Baťa. Baťas were portrayed as ruthless capitalists, exploiting workers in pursuit of higher profit (see Svatopluk Turek). The company was renamed as Svit and the town of Zlín as Gottwaldov (after the leader of the communist party). The Svit factory concentrated on the domestic market. During the following decades its ability to compete and its technological infrastructure declined due to under-investment and weak management.
Canada
Anticipating the Second World war, Thomas J. Bata , together with over 100 families from Czechoslovakia, moved to Canada in 1939 to develop the Bata Shoe Company of Canada, includng a shoe factory and engineering plant, centered in a town that still bears his name, Batawa, Ontario. Thomas J. Bata successfully established and ran the new Canadian operations and during the war years he sought to maintain the necessary coordination with as many of the overseas Bata operations as was possible. During this period the Canadian engineering plant manufactured strategic components for the Allies war effort and Thomas J. Bata worked together with the Czechoslovak government in exile of President Benes and with other democratic powers. In 1964 the headquarters of the Bata Shoe Organization was moved to Toronto, Canada and in 1965 it moved into an ultra modern building, the Bata International Centre. The Bata Shoes' former headquarters in North York was designed in the 1960s by architect John Parkin. The building was later sold and was to be replaced by a cultural centre, museum, and park. [4] Other Bata family contributions to Canadian life include: Mrs. Sonja I. Bata founding the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto in 1998, Mr. and Mrs. Bata being supporters of Trent University, where the Thomas J. Bata Library bears Bata's name,and supporters of York University in Toronto.
After the Second World War the Bata Shoe Organization was led by Thomas J. Bata (Tomáš Baťa Junior), son of Tomáš Baťa and the company grew significantly under Thomas J. Bata's driving leadership. In 2002 the headquarters was moved to Lausanne Switzerland and the Organization has been led by Thomas G. Bata, grandson of Tomáš Baťa.
Present
After the global economic changes in 1990s the company closed a number of its manufacturing factories in developed countries and has focussed its activities on expanding its retail business there. In developing countries it still has a large number of manufacturing units and still produces a significant number of shoes each year.:
The company is currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, with 4 business units
- Bata Europe, Lausanne
- Bata Emerging Markets, Singapore
- Bata Branded Business, Best, Netherlands
- Bata North America, Toronto
Current shoe brands are:
- Bata (Baťa in former Czechoslovakia)
- Bata Premium (handcrafted dress shoes)
- Bata Industrials (safety footwear)
- Bubblegummers (children)
- Power (athletic shoes )
- Marie Claire (women)
According to Bata, in 2007 the company served 1 million customers per day, employed over 40,000 people, operated 4,600 retail stores, managed a retail presence in over 50 countries and had 40 production facilities across 26 countries.
Czechoslovakia after 1989
After the "Velvet Revolution" in November 1989, Thomas J. Baťa arrived as soon as December 1989. He was warmly welcomed by the population.
The Czechoslovak government offered him the opportunity to invest in the ailing Svit. Since companies "nationalised" before 1948 were not returned to their original owners, the state continued to own Svit and "privatized" it during voucher privatization. Its ability to compete in the free market led to its decline and in 2000 Svit went bankrupt.
Note
The company was one of the 1986 FIFA World Cup official sponsors.
References
See also
- Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto
- Baťa’s Skyscraper, Zlín
External links
Media related to Bata (company) at Wikimedia Commons
- Baťa International Worldwide portal of Baťa Shoes
- Baťa Memories history of Baťa community in Essex, UK
- Baťa-ville – We are not afraid of the future: somewhere.org.uk/bata-ville / bata-ville.com, Somewhere, 2007 United Kingdom "Against the backdrop of economic regeneration, former employees of two now closed UK Baťa factories are led on a unique journey through Baťa's legacy and across a changing Europe."