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  • December 2016 (Revised December 2017)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Faber-Castell

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:18
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Abstract

By 2016, Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell had led the 255-year-old pencil manufacturer Faber-Castell through waves of technological change. The pocket calculator decimated Faber-Castell’s slide rule business in the 1970s, and computer aided design technology undermined the company’s manual drafting tools in the 1980s. With each new threat the Count had to decide whether to adapt to new technologies or maintain focus on the company’s core products and identity. Analysts continued to ask Count Anton-Wolfgang the same question they had posed to his grandfather: Could the company strategy endure in the modern era?

Keywords

Leadership Style; Leading Change; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

Citation

Raffaelli, Ryan, and Christine Snively. "Faber-Castell." Harvard Business School Case 417-010, December 2016. (Revised December 2017.)

About The Author

Ryan L. Raffaelli

Organizational Behavior
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