Martin Iversen: H.N. Andersen - a Global Entrepreneur - Discussion of a new teaching case

Centre for Business History Seminar:

Martin Iversen (CBS): H.N. Andersen - A global Entrepreneur: On the Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Increasingly Globalized World in the 19th Century

The text is available from Martin Iversen, mi.mpp@cbs.dk

From the text

"Like other men passing by the headquarters of “Den Danske Landmandsbank” one day in the early spring of 1897, Hans Niels Andersen was respectably dressed in suit and a black top hat. His destination: the ivory-coloured headquarters of the Copenhagen bank. Next to the building’s majestic Greek pillars, the man appeared insignificant. But a closer look would have revealed tell-tale symptoms of greater consequence, most noticeably the fierce determination within the 44 year-old businessman’s eyes.
Looking up at the grand building, Andersen knew it represented his chance to realise a grandiose plan for a renaissance of past trading companies. For a second – only a second – he lost his expression of resolve. Finding investors who could comprehend his entrepreneurial vision and, further, who would be willing to invest in his capital-intensive idea…it had all seemed to be doomed to failure from the beginning, since his return to Copenhagen in 1892. Should he consider giving up his possibly unrealistic plans? Retire and return to Bangkok or London?
He pushed away the thought.
His ambition returned as he turned toward the doors to the office of the bank director. Andersen mobilised all his resourcefulness, again determined to achieve a successful outcome from this most important meeting of his life. Inside the room, seven businessmen, and an uncertain future, awaited him."