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Published on August 6, 2007

Since 1935, the d'Ornano family has been busy creating a dynasty in the world of cosmetics. The father of Sisley founder, Count Hubert d'Ornano, created Lancôme and 19 years later, Hubert established the cosmetics company Orlane, with his brother, Michel.

Countess Isabelle d'Ornano, Hubert's beautiful wife and part owner of the Sisley brand, is synonymous with its success. The daughter of Princess Radziwill, a famous Polish aristocrat, has been named on three occasions by the American press as one of the world's most elegant ladies.

Today, the reins of Sisley Paris have passed on to Philippe d'Ornano, a student of law, economics and political science. As a young man, he almost joined the New York Times group, but then decided to become involved with the family business.

That was 21 years ago and today he and his siblings all hold positions in the company.

The 43-year-old company president, who is also the administrator of the French company, was recently in Bangkok. The Nation had a chat with him.

What's your true passion?

I have many passions because that's the only way to live. My interests are very different. I love literature and art, business and economics and our family has always been fascinated by both urban and rural life.

In terms of politics, we are liberal - we believe in a free economy and an open country. Some of our family members live in other countries so we've always been international and have experienced many cultures.

Being born into the business, did you really have a choice about your career?

Yes. I studied many different things but I decided to work in the family business. It's very competitive but also very interesting and requires a lot of experience.

Do you still find it challenging?

It's never been a challenge for me working with my father - the brand's creator. I learn from him and we develop the company together. We are very close; there are family values and inspirations. Since it's a big company and we have thousands of people working for us around the world, it is important to develop a corporate attitude even though it is a family business.

What are Sisley's values?

We have two key values. First the product - we are very product-oriented. We don't follow fashion, but we work a lot on the technology. Our focus is product efficiency and quality of the texture. That's an area in which we have a lot of know-how.

The second key value is to ensure that we give the right advice for different skin problems, which means we look at the use of the product by the customer, their age and their budget. We want to give them a good product so they will always come back. That makes for a strong brand.

What are the advantages of being a family business?

One of the great advantages for a brand like us, which is not listed on the stock exchange, is that there's no outside pressure to have a long-term policy. Another is that you can be less aggressive in the way you run the company. Family businesses tend to be closer to their employees. You can make decisions and react more quickly than in a company where you have to answer to shareholders.

But it's only the ideal model if the people who run the company are good managers.

A study in France and Europe recently compared the results of family businesses and non-family businesses, and revealed that family businesses exceeded performance by 40 to 50 per cent. The results were the same in Japan. Nevertheless, there's also a risk of insufficient training from one generation to the next. Our company tries to promote good practices for the family-run businesses.

A lot of products on today's cosmetic market are made from natural extracts. Do you see this as a threat?

No. Over the last 20 years, there has been a major revolution in the industry and many brands have switched to natural active ingredients. Our advantage is we have first-hand experience and the know-how from working with botanical extracts for 30 years and are specialists in research.

We take our time to develop a formula. We don't draw up a marketing plan in advance and we don't launch new products every year. It's like wine: there are expensive wines and there are cheap wines. The active ingredients of plants differ tremendously and we work hard to ensure that we include the right proportions. We just focus on the quality of the product.

Success is not about the price of the product but whether or not women are still buying the line after many years.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation