The Management
of Luxury
A practitioner's guide
Berghaus · Müller-Stewens · Reinecke (Eds.)
26
Chapters
52
Co-authors
12
Countries
2
Editions
Mapping a field
before it had maps
Books about luxury existed before 2014. What did not exist: a compendium of this breadth that systematically brought together current research findings from more than a dozen countries with voices from management practice — and took luxury seriously as an independent management field. Not as a niche topic in marketing, but as an intersection of strategy, organisation, personnel management, and responsibility.
The starting point was the observation that luxury companies face questions for which classical management concepts simply do not fit: how do you grow without endangering exclusivity? How do you lead creative talents whose distinctiveness is simultaneously the greatest resource? How does a product emerge that is both commercially convincing and culturally relevant? Such questions require different answers — and different conversation partners.
The concept: bringing researchers and practitioners together as equals — not as decorative additions, but as the core of the volume. Authors from all management disciplines were deliberately invited: strategy, finance, organisational theory, personnel management, and CSR. Berghaus coordinated 52 contributors from 12 countries, shared editorship with Müller-Stewens and Reinecke, and contributed three of his own chapters.
The result was not a textbook with answers, but a reference work with attitude: 26 chapters, four thematic parts, published by Kogan Page in London. The book appeared in 2014, had a second edition, and understood itself from the outset as an invitation to discussion.
Publication data
Title
The Management of Luxury:
A practitioner's guide
Editors
Benjamin Berghaus
Günter Müller-Stewens
Sven Reinecke
Publisher & year
Kogan Page, London · 2014
ISBN
978-0-7494-7166-8
Role
Initiation, editorship,
3 own chapters
«Conventional management logic holds: low prices stimulate demand, size creates competitiveness, consumers buy for use. In luxury, almost the opposite is true.»
Chapter 1 · Müller-Stewens & Berghaus
The book held out no simple answers — on the contrary. It argued that the very complexity of the luxury field leaves room for entrepreneurial creativity. Where market structures are not set in stone and consumer behaviour contradicts classical models, well-posed questions have more value than premature solutions.
Creativity vs. efficiency
Too much control stifles creativity. Too little of it endangers the profitability of the company.
Growth vs. exclusivity
Craft does not scale. Machine production protects the margin — but endangers the luxury claim.
Transparency vs. myth
Hardly any luxury company publishes reliable business data. The intransparency is simultaneously a strategy.
Explore 26 chapters
B · Chapters with contribution by Benjamin Berghaus as author
Three chapters as author
Ch. 01 · Part I
with Günter Müller-Stewens
The market and business of luxury: an introduction
Starting question
What structurally distinguishes luxury management from conventional management — and why do classical concepts fail there?
Central thesis
In luxury, conventional management logic is systematically inverted: low prices do not stimulate demand, size creates no competitive advantage, and consumption follows symbolic rather than functional motives. This makes luxury an independent management field — not a variant of the premium segment.
Contributions
Conceptual grounding of the volume: delimiting luxury, premium, and mass consumption — and why this distinction is decisive for management
Overview of actors, structures, and dynamics of the global luxury goods market, from integrated conglomerates to owner-managed maisons
Three structural tensions that define the field: creativity vs. efficiency, growth vs. exclusivity, transparency vs. myth
Framework for the entire volume: luxury as an intersection of culture, aesthetics, and entrepreneurial logic — and an invitation to interdisciplinary engagement
Berghaus, B., Müller-Stewens, G. & Reinecke, S. (Eds.) (2014). The Management of Luxury: A practitioner's guide. Kogan Page. London / Philadelphia / New Delhi. ISBN 978-0-7494-7166-8.
Also available as e-book: ISBN 978-0-7494-7167-5.
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