Interview with Sven Von Appen, interviewed by Andrea Lluch, Santiago, Chile
Contributors: Lluch, Andrea, interviewer; Harvard Business School
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Boston, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource]
Number of pages: 44
Subjects: Interviews; Alumni and alumnae; Industrialists; Shipping; International business enterprises; Diversification in industry; Personnel management; Family-owned business enterprises; Business; History; Economic conditions; Politics and government; Commerce; Ultramar Agencia Marítima Chile; Harvard University. Graduate School of Business Administration. Advanced Management Program; Harvard University
Description: Mr. von Appen outlines the history of his family's shipping business in Chile, and its expansion into Argentina. He discusses the particularities of owning and running a family-owned business, including decision-making and succession practices, stressing the importance of work experience outside the family's holdings and the participation of external consultants and advisors. He also relates the story of the company's diversification into gas delivery and shipbuilding. Mr. von Appen talks at length about the political and economic history of Chile, particularly during the governments of Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet.
Notes: Interview translated into English. Transcript available in English and Spanish.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on September 18, 2014).

Interviewed in Spanish on 2008 May 28 in Santiago by Dr. Andrea Lluch, HBS Research Associate, through the sponsorship of the Business History Initiative, Harvard Business School.

Interview with Sven Von Appen, interviewed by Andrea Lluch, Santiago, Chile, May 28, 2008, Creating Emerging Markets Oral History Collection, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Sven von Appen is the chairman of the Chile-based Ultramar/Ultragas Group, an established leader in the Latin America shipping industry. He has lived and worked in Europe, the United States, and Argentina. He has maintained his residence in Chile since 1979. Mr. von Appen, along with many of the executives in the Ultramar/Ultragas Group, has participated in a number of postgraduate studies at Harvard Business School and IMD. He also has been closely associated with Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. He is a member of the Global Advisory Board at Harvard Business School. He is the president of Endeavor Chile and director of CAP S.A., Invercap S.A., and Cencosud S.A.. He also participates in several external boards in Chile and abroad.

Forms part of: Latin American oral history collection, 2006-2009.

Forms part of: Creating Emerging Markets oral history collection, 2006-