"Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne"† (back)
The late reference newspaper of French Switzerland. As of end of 1997, its two redactions were located at:

Rédaction Genève: 12, rue de Hesse case postale 5160 1211 Genève 11 Switzerland +41 22 819 88 88 red@journal-de-geneve.ch

Rédaction Lausanne: 7, rue Saint-Martin case postale 765 1001 Lausanne Switzerland +41 21 331 07 07

www.ville-ge.ch

www.ub.unibas.ch

Founded in 1826, the Journal de Genève disappeared in 1998 through a merger. It was the highest-flying newspaper in French Switzerland. An internationally reputed daily, so-well-documented, thouroughful and exhaustive that it permitted the reader to make up his own opinion, independently of the newspaper's line. The result of the merger is the daily Le Temps.

"Le Temps Stratégique"† (back)
10 rue de l'Arquebuse
1204 Genève
Switzerland
+41 22 322 34 92
www.edicom.ch
Quarterly magazine attempting to focus on "the big picture", i.e. on issues relevant in the long term. Founded in 1982 and closed in 2001. The last issue (June 2001) was the nr. 100. Reached a selling volume of 3,000 copies, which was not judged sufficient by Edipresse Ltd, the owner since 1994. Directed by Claude Monnier from foundation till closure.

"La Recherche" (back to article May 98)
57, rue de Seine
75280 Paris Cedex 06
France
+331 53 73 79 79
www.larecherche.fr
A high-level, monthly, science popularization magazine, edited by the "Société d'éditions scientifiques".

"Région et Développement" (back)
Centre de Recherche en Economie Régionale et Industrielle (CRERI)
Maurice Catin (directeur de la publication)
Université de Toulon et du Var
BP 132
83957 La Garde Cedex
France

Institut de Géopolitique des Populations (back)
Jacques Dupâquier (président)
20 rue d'Aguesseau
75008 Paris
France
This institute was founded in 1999. It organizes academic conferences and publishes a quarterly journal "Introduction à une Géopolitique des Populations".

"Le Soir" (back)
120, rue Royale
1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
+32 2 225 54 32
+32 2 225 59 14
www.lesoir.be

"Le Républicain Lorrain" (back)
3, rue Saint Eloy
57140 Woippy
France
+33 3 87 34 17 89
+33 3 87 29 33 33
www.republicain-lorrain.fr

Institut pour la Démocratie en Europe (ID Europe) (back)
197 Boulevard Saint-Germain
75007 Paris
France
T +33 149 54 01 60
e-mail: am-luttringer@i-d-europe.org
www.i-d-europe.org
Institute founded in 1996 by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, former president of France.

Association Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences (AFAS) Jean-Pierre Roucan (roucan@cimrs1.mnhn.fr) Marie-Laure Blanchet (secrétariat) Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie 75930 Paris Cedex 19 France T +33 1 40 05 82 01

(back to Paris conference of Sep 00) (back to article in Sciences Jan 01)

Association founded in 1872.

Association Euroscience (back to Geneva conf of Sep 1999) (back to Freiburg conf of Jul 2000)
Françoise Praderie, Secretary General
Observatoire de Paris
61, avenue de l'Observatoire
75014 Paris
France
francoise.praderie@obspm.fr

International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC) (back to Newark conf of May 01)
ISCSC website: http://tecn.rutgers.edu/ISCSC/iscsc/
Dr. Wayne Bledsoe, president (as of April 2001)
Department of History University of Missouri
Rolla Rolla, MO 65409-1260
(USA)
e-mail: wbledsoe@umr.edu
The International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations was formally established in 1961 at a meeting in Salzburg, organized by historian Othmar Anderle and attended by fellow historians Arnold J.Toynbee and Rushton Coulborn. Sociologist Pitirim Sorokin was the Society's first president. The ISCSC edits the "Comparative Civilization Review".

History of Science Society (HSS) (back to review of Dec 99)
Executive Office: Johnson Hall, Room 236
University of Washington
Box 351330
Seattle, WA 98195-1330
United States
tel: (206) 543-9366
hssexec@u.washington.edu
http://depts.washington.edu/hssexec/
The History of Science Society was incorporated in 1924 in America to secure the future of Isis, the review that George Sarton (1884-1956) had founded in Belgium in 1912. Sarton had migrated to the United States during the First World War. The History of Science Society issues the quarterly Isis as well as a quarterly Newsletter. It claims to be the world's largest and oldest society dedicated to the history of science&technology and their interactions with society.

"NewScientist"	(back to Sardar article)
151 Wardour Street	(back to Fara article)
London W1F 8WE United Kingdom T +44 207 331 27 01 www.newscientist.com

A quality weekly science popularization magazine.

Charles Veillon SA† (back)
Vente par correspondance
Route de Buyère 2
1017 Lausanne-Bussigny
Switzerland
T +41 21 706 92 17
veillon@veillon.ch
www.veillon.ch
The Veillon Company is dying. The firm specializes in selling clothes per post in French Switzerland. However, it missed the turning point of internet selling, it fell victim to larger competitors (LaRedoute, Neckermann, Quelle, Otto) because of the opening of the borders, all this in a shrinking market (a correspondance selling market made smaller by hard-discounters shops like Zara and H&M).
With a turnover of 162 million CHF in 2002, Veillon had cumulated a total loss of 20 millions by the end of the year. In 2003, the total loss was widened by 6 million. From 530 employees in 2000, Veillon will have only 120 left in 2004, working in the new merged Ackermann.
On October 23th, 2002, it announced the outsourcing of its logistics to Ackermann, a Swiss competitor, based in Entlebuch, Lucerne, and 194 layoffs. The number of layoffs was finally reduced to 170 following grueling negociations with the workers. On June 10th, 2003, Veillon announced its merger with Ackermann for January 2004, and the firing of 160 more employees. Only 120 employees shall remain in 2004, managing only the catalogue under their previous brandname Veillon, and the customer service. Logistics, IT and accounting will be done by Ackermann.
The Veillon Fondation was created by the owners of the Veillon Company, to support cultural work in French Switzerland.


Editions Arléa SARL (back)
Claude Pinganaud, Anne Bourguignon
16, rue de l'Odéon
75006 Paris
France
www.arlea.fr
T +331 43 26 98 18
F +331 44 07 04 88

The Editions Arléa SARL were founded in 1986 by Jean-Claude Guillebaud, a journalist and collection director at French publisher Le Seuil since 1977. Le Seuil had suggested this move. The aim was to gain more publishing freedom without engaging and "risking" the Le Seuil brand name. Arléa could rely on the same powerful distribution network (diffuseur) as Le Seuil while working under another brand name.

The newly founded Arléa settled in the locals it had acquired, the rooms of a a previous bookshop at Rue Odéon 8 in the pleasant publishers' and bookshop's 5th district of Paris. The new bookshop was christened "Les Fruits du Congo" in honour of one of the first author to be published by Arléa. The decorative motives around the bookshop's door and show window was adopted by the young Arléa to become its logo.

Arléa has moved later into its present offices, at rue Odéon 16. It no longer has a show window, but it has maintained its logo. The bookshop at Odéon 8 is now a passementerie.

Arléa started with a capital of 240,000 French Francs (FF) and with a current account of 240,000FF as well. The 8 shareholders brought each 30,000FF to the capital and 30,000FF to the current account. The amount paid to the capital was irrevocable, whereas the amount in the current account might be withdrewn, provided it did not jeopardize the society's survival. Thus the 8 founders each held an 1/8th of Arléa. Among these initial 8 founders were Jean-Claude Guillebaud, Claude Pinganaud and Le Seuil.

After a few years, C.Pinganaud having withheld his current account remained an owner at 1/16 only. Jean-Claude Guillebaud took more distance to the society, in order to devote himself to his new essay writing career. He ceded his shares to his wife Catherine Guillebaud, who was anyway the CEO of Arléa.

Arléa SARL went through a series of crises.

In March 2000, Arléa came to the brink of disaster. Total sales amounted to FF4.5mio in 1996, FF4.2mio in 1997, FF4.0mio in 1998, FF3.5mio in 1999. In 1997 and 1998, cumulated losses reached FF0.5mio. The tiny profit of 0.12mio in 1999 did not suffice to really improve the situation. Worsening it all, Arléa's bank reduced year after year the credit limit for the society, due to the more severe credit risk approach overwhelming the banking world. As of March 2000, Arléa's current account was slightly in the black, but only due to an emergency help from the Le Seuil publisher. Arléa, it was feared, would not survive beyond the year 2000.

External consultants estimated the company's value at FF0.4mio at this time, mainly due to the books' copyrights. Arléa reached an agreement with its authors relinquishing up to FF0.7mio in rights arrears. This theoretically brought Arléa's value up to FF1.1mio.

In April 2000, a wealthy contact poured FF0.2mio into Arléa as a loan. In June 2000, this contact agreed to raise his committment to FF0.4mio and to convert it into a share of Arléa (not payable back). Another contact agreed to pay FF0.6mio to enter into Arléa's capital.

Altogether, Arléa had received FF1.0mio of fresh liquidity influx. It was saved for a while.

However, the profitability picture did not improve over the following years. In 2004, the situation was just about as bad as it had been in 2000. The company had €0.16m in arrears to pay to the printer and €0.20m to its authors, seemingly without any chance to ever get this money.

In August 2004, however, a miracle happened. LVMH, the giant luxury group, with which the publishing house had been in contact, offered to purchase Arléa. Claude Pinganaud met Nicolas Bazire, LVMH nr 2. The deal was clinched. In October 2004, LVMH purchased Arléa. All problems were solved at once, like in a fairy tale. Arléa's figures, however bad, were several orders of magnitude lower than any of LVMH's numbers.

LVMH (the word stands for Louis Vuitton / Moët Hennessy) was the world's number one luxury products company, with sales at €13.9bn in 2005 and a gross profit of €2.7bn. LVMH owned such prestigious brands like "Christian Dior", "Lacroix", "Kenzo", "Louis Vuitton", "Céline", "Moët & Chandon", "Pommery", "Hennessy" and "Château d'Yquem". The French group was specialised in perfumes, fashionable bags and quality wines. Bernard Arnault (1949-), who owned a controlling stake in LVMH, was France's richest person, with an estimated net worth of $21.5 billion US dollars, according to a Forbes report of March 2006. He also was the world's no7 richest person. In other words, Arléa, with its turnover of €0.8mio in 2005, was a negligible quantity for LVMH, financially speaking. On the prestige side, however, Arléa played a distinctively more interesting role in enhancing LVHM's portfolio's quality, fineness and distinction.

LVMH had a media tentacle already: DI Group (derived from Desfossés International) was a division of Bernard Arnaud Group owning and managing the financial newspaper La Tribune (previously La Tribune de l'Economie). DI Group is led by Nicolas Bazire.