Old, intelligent and beautiful. Strategies balancing innovation and tradition in century-old family firms

Strategy is about being able to select a business model so that the firm achieves an appropriate degree of fit between the inside and the outside (consistency) while exploiting virtuous circles across individual ingredients (complementarities). Firms who survive for a very long time (i.e. one, two or more centuries) prove to be able to dynamically choose and adapt their business models so to possess strategic, organizational and operational capabilities that enable them to do so, and these capabilities can be seen as a sort of ‘intelligence’ in balancing tradition and innovation. This paper, of exploratory nature, looks at three ultra-centenarian family firms in Italy and, taking a cue from the study of multiple intelligences on individuals, tries to identify the key dimensions of such intelligence (organizational, strategic, craftsmanship, narrative, relational, creative) and how these dimensions show consistency and activate complementarities that are peculiar to their family-based natur

Towards a New Business Model for Automotive Distribution

The automotive industry has been undergoing a profound reorganization in upstream activities for quite some time. Such reorganization, however, has only recently started to affect the distribution domain that has traditionally been based on a system of family-owned franchised dealerships according to a scheme of vertical quasi-integration. During recent years the market downturn in Western Europe has exacerbated an already critical situation of reduced dealer profits due to high levels of intra-brand competition, while service and intangible elements in the automotive product matter and digital technologies are creating new potential for change. This chapter focuses on the transformations in place (including margin structures and retailer concentration) and discusses how the traditional business model of franchised dealerships (intended as a set of choices on the target, the offering, the chain of activities and the profit model) is evolving

PRIMO SPORT Surroundings and activities just right for growing up well

Concept and "how to use" of a playground designed for improving modor development in 0-6 y old children. To be used by parent and educators looking for information and recommendation from international health agencies and from scientific publication

PRIMO SPORT L’ambiente e il movimento ideali per crescere sani

Necessità per un sano sviluppo nell'infanzia, linee guida, raccomandazioni e dati della ricerca scientifica internazionale per genitori e educatori. Concept e utilizzo del nuovo parco PrimoSport 024

Strategy Innovation as Business Model Reconfiguration

Strategy innovation gained popularity during the 1990s as a notion applying to firms that reinvented competition in an industry. Throughout the 2000s business model innovation drew much of the spotlight. The key traits of both these concepts (and how they relate to each other) are often implicit or unclear. Through a literature review and by applying the key elements to some innovative firms for illustrative purposes, this paper discusses the emergence of the notion of strategy (and business model) innovation aiming to bridge these concepts while identifying their basic constituents. Successful firms manage to envision and implement new combinations along different routes, but always exploiting the complementarities through self-reinforcing mechanisms. Finally, the paper argues that strategy innovation triggers the need to broaden the interpretative schemes in the field of strategy, as it resembles more an art than a science

What type of dealers? Different avenues for automotive distribution architectures

Albeit relevant pressures to change have been arising from many factors, distribution architectures in the automotive industry have featured more evolution than revolution over multiple decades. Recent trends lead to question whether more substantial transformations lie around the corner, with brands seeking more direct involvement for example by leveraging digital connectivity to customer and/or exploring alternative formats such as agency. We believe that changes ahead may not necessarily feature convergence towards one model, but rather increase the scope for differentiation. This takes into account that brands are likely to lie in different situations according to their capabilities to operate pull vs. push systems and to their ability – or strategic intent – to control downward stages of the chain. The end outcome may lead to much more variation in distribution choices - both across and within brands - than in the past

Used cars in Europe: the way ahead

International Car Distribution Programme, Solihull U

Competing for value creation and value appropriation: dealer strategy in automotive industry architectures

The interplay of firm strategies and coordination policies within firm architectures has been an interesting research topic for quite some time. Performance and advantages are influenced by elements such as complementarities and mobility that in turn are shaped by the coordination choices adopted. In the automotive industry much focus has been dedicated over time to upstream activities with little attention to the strategies and performance of dealers who are the smaller players in the chain. This paper carries out an exploratory analysis based upon a longitudinal study of larger dealers in the Italian market. The analysis provides some insight on how some dealers appear capable of creating / appropriating a greater share of value by reducing their dependence from the manufacturer. This consists in undertaking inter-architecture (multi-branding) and extra-architecture activities (used cars)