Le Deal

Le Deal is a business adventure story involving raw entrepreneurship and high-level politics. It is the true story of Byrne Murphy, a businessman who abruptly moves to Paris with his wife and baby daughter in a quest to reignite his career and his fortunes. He quickly finds himself up against strange and powerful forces for which he is ill prepared. 

He and his company will engage in a fierce mano a mano struggle with the French prime minister reaching up to the Supreme Court; encounter a ruthless political ambush in Germany by the soon-to-be chancellor; and face a threatening (“Is this the Mafia?”) would-be partner in Italy. There are also a series of charming encounters with members of the British Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, capped off by a near-royal embarrassment of epic proportions.

Over eight years, the company, McArthurGlen Europe, grew from nothing to generating approximately 1 billion dollars in sales from 11 centers across Europe. Those efforts created nearly 8,000 jobs, opened 1,500 stores featuring 500 brands, attracted nearly 40 million shopping visits per year, and spawned an array of competitors. In short, an industry. 

Along the way, the author learns what he, and Americans in general, do and do not know about life beyond our borders. The book ends with a message about the need for Americans who work today in international markets and affairs to truly take “context” into account; to realize, in our quest to accomplish more in less time, that investing the time to understand the nuances of the foreign cultures we are dealing with is key to prospering in this twenty-first-century multicultural, polyglot, interconnected, globalized world.