In the 17th century, as the British Empire spanned more and more of the globe, France sought to match its naval strength. And to build up its navy, the Ancien Régime needed ship timber. Thus when Louis XIV came to power, in 1661, he vowed, “I will apply myself from this year henceforth to the creation of a statute for the forests of my realm…since I have long had great plans for the navy.”
A version of this article appeared in the December 2015 issue (pp.32–33) of Harvard Business Review.