Pekka Herlin became the president of KONE Corporation in 1964 at the age of 32. Twenty years later, KONE was one of the world´s leading elevator companies.
Pekka Herlin became the president of KONE Corporation in 1964 at the age of 32. KONE was then in serious financial straits, and to make matters worse, its major competitors, America’s Otis and Westinghouse and Switzerland’s Schindler, were aggressively pushing the global consolidation of the elevator industry.
In a series of bold moves, PH (as his colleagues called him) built a huge factory, acquired Scandinavia’s leading elevator business, which was twice the size of KONE at the time, and set out on a path that would make him the first Finnish businessman to create a truly multinational business operation. Twenty years later, KONE was one of the world’s leading elevator companies.
Pekka Herlin was a contradictory soul: shy, ambitious, creative and impulsive. As a young man, Pekka was known for his unruly behavior and pugnaciousness. He became president of KONE when his father, Heikki Herlin, the company’s owner and board chairman, handed over to him the operational responsibility for the company. Later, as a more mature industrial leader, he became board chairman of Finland’s Federation of Metalworking and Engineering Industries and represented Finnish industry on numerous foreign trade committees and delegations.
Shortly before Pekka Herlin died in 2003, an argument erupted in the family and then the media over arrangements he had made for his children’s inheritance. Through secret maneuvers Pekka had tried to ensure that KONE, which had been in the family’s control since 1924, when his grandfather had bought it from Strömberg Corporation, would still be in family hands when KONE would celebrate its 100th year in 2010.
KONE’S PRINCE addresses for the first time this very complicated individual’s life and personality. Research included interviews with over 100 relatives, colleagues and experts as well as authorized access to documents in both KONE and family archives. The cooperation of so many people who were close to him ensures that the picture that emerges is multidimensional and revealing.
Photos are excluded from the digital edition.
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