Villeroy & Boch is one of the oldest manufacturing companies in Europe, still controlled by the founding families, though with a public listing. Its specialty is ceramics, divided into bathroom fittings and tableware. At the time of writing the case study, demand was falling for traditional ceramic dining sets, but the business was continuing to grow as a whole. It was displaying considerable ability to automate and modernize in production, gaining efficiency improvements, and to use innovative designs and digital media to appeal to younger customers. It has committed to reduce its environmental impact through lower energy usage and recycling. It retained many features of responsible ownership, for example staying committed to the community in which it originated, maintaining significant manufacturing presence in Germany, and significant philanthropic activities in the region. There were hundreds of family owners, with the 10th generation starting to become involved in the business.
Learning Objective
- The case illustrates the potential for high levels of innovation and effective marketing to the millennial generation even for an established business with a traditional cachet for many of its products. There are also lessons for share ownership and governance in a complex family shareholding arrangement where the families are in the 10th generation of ownership.
Keywords
Ownership, Philanthropy
Settings
Global, Germany
Villeroy and Boch, Consumer Goods, Furniture
From late 18th Century to 2018
Available Languages
English
Related material
Teaching note
IMD case studies are distributed through case clearing houses. In order to browse the collection and purchase copies please visit the links below.
Copyright Information
IMD retains all proprietary interests in its case studies and notes. Without prior written permission, IMD cases and notes may not be reproduced, used, translated, included in books or other publications, distributed in any form or by any means, stored in a database or in other retrieval systems. For additional copyright information related to case studies, please contact Case Services.
