Strategies of innovation in an ancient business: cases of the fountain pen industry

Abstract

The introduction of the ballpoint pen and its consequent change in the prevalent fountain pen industry is presented as an empirical evidence of Christensen’s disruptive technology theory. This research paper analyses the different innovation strategies adopted by the fountain pen industry to survive to the attack of ballpoint pen spread. To meet this objective, case studies of Waterman, Montblanc and Parker companies are discussed. The data, collected from secondary sources, indicate that the fountain pen industry had a great reduction in their sales and later stabilised at a lower level by stressing their positioning at the luxury goods market, but also adopting and transforming the new ballpoint technology. The analysis of this cases leads to the conclusion that the ballpoint pen is truly a good example of Christensen’s disruptive technology because it contains all of Schumpeter’s types of innovation.