Imprimerie Blas-Desmoutiez

The Imprimerie Blas-Desmoutiez is a family-run artisan company, based in Lille since 1928. The company, now in the hands of the third generation (Bernard and his wife Sylvie), evolves along the technological progress in the industry. Starting as a typography, today its offer a range of products from business cards, flyers, posters, labels, packaging, to other types of corporate prints. The range of products and services offered has developped over time, following the evolution of cultural practices. While many typographical companies disappeared because of the advent of the computer, Imprimerie Blas-Desmoutiez, was able to detect a niche market by using very specific techniques of hot printing, in order to continue the business. The family business has a rare know-how and received the brand "Living Heritage Company", which allowed it to benefit from support in terms of promotion, visibility and invitation to participate in international fairs. In addition, the family has initiated a cooperation with other printers to allow each craftsman to concentrate on a specific market: signage, cardboard, four-color printing, etc. This allowed the business to expand the service offering and be able to respond to all requests, in order to find an answer to their customers' needs. The couple has also partnered with another entrepreneurial couple, who are in the fourth generation in the printing industry, and has set up an online sales site.

Keywords: Digitalization, niche market, entrepreneurial couple, stakeholders.

This case was prepared by Moussa Djibrilla Ousseini and Rania Labaki, from EDHEC Business School (France), as a partial output of the Artisan Project.

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