facit - 50 years of success

Christian Sandström holds a PhD from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. He writes and speaks about disruptive innovation and technological change.

Facit was a manufacturer of…

… mechanical calculators…

Typewriters…

… And office furniture…

In the period 1920-1970, the

demand for these products was huge.

Many countries had been destroyed during the

second world war.

But not the

Swedish economy.

Re-building Europe

implied a high

demand for, well,

everything.

At the same time, there were few firms around

who could supply

what was needed.

Thus, a company like Facit

had a fantastic position.

Facit kept growing and

growing.

More jobs were created in the small

town Åtvidaberg.

Facit was fantastic at marketing.

As Facit grew, Åtvidaberg grew.

The soccer team became better and better and most of the players worked

at Facit…

Facit invested in

new technologies

But the great profits were still

made on the mechanical calculators.

Facit expanded and entered new

markets throughout the

world.

The Facit wizard kept smiling all over the world.

In 1971-72, the electronic

calculator put an end to 50 years of

success.

Today, Facit is history.

Photos taken at:

Åtvidabergs Bruks och Facit Museum, Sweden http://brukskultur.atvidaberg.se/index2.html Åssa Industri och Bil Museum, Sweden http://www.assamuseet.se/

Thank You!

The archives at ’Brukskultur Åtvidaberg’ are fantastic.

Find out more:

www.christiansandstrom.org