ThePCBShop.com: Taking the Commodity Bull by the Horns

Abstract

This case describes the entrepreneurial process as it happened for Europrint, a manufacturer of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), from 1991 until 2006. It offers an entrepreneurial perspective on the European PCB landscape, highlights the successful launch by the manufacturer of a dot.com in this highly competitive B2B environment, and illustrates the transition by the manufacturer to electronic business to break the product commodity cycle. As a final point, the case also reveals how the manufacturer’s off-line and online business activities were consolidated and leveraged for maximum impact across Belgium, Hungary, and India.