L’industria manifatturiera italiana: le sfide e il coraggio. Evidenze dal caso Fiat (The Italian manufacturing industry: challenges and courage. Evidences from the Fiat case)

Authors

  • Paola Paniccia
  • Vincenzo Formisano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7433/s98.2015.03

Keywords:

manufacturing, entrepreneurship, virtue of courage, time-knowledge binomial

Abstract

Purpose of the paper: This article aims to highlight the role that the virtue of courage can play in entrepreneurship, especially as far as the new challenges regarding the problems of adaptation of the Italian manufacturing firms are concerned. In particular, the article underlines the synergy between courage, knowledge and time.

Methodology: The article analyzes the aforementioned role through combining some theoretical pillars regarding entrepreneurship, and the classic philosophical thought about the concept of courage, with an appropriate review of the extant management literature associated with it. The article also deepens this analysis through studying the evolutionary dynamics regarding Fiat. The study is aimed at shedding light on some strategic choices reflecting courage.

Results: On the basis of its literature review, the article identifies some core features constituting the concept of courage and highlights their importance when entrepreneurial behavior is concerned. The article also provides the extant literature with food for thought about aforementioned link as well as a analyses an Italian example of courageous entrepreneurial behavior associated with the international manufacturing industry. In this example, the mentioned linking pin finds concrete application.

Research Limitations: The main limitation consists in the analysis of a single case study whose nature and size are only partially representative of the Italian manufacturing industry. Furthermore, appropriate inquiries could also address the important relationship between the industrial policy, at country level, and the specific entrepreneurial behavior in the manufacturing industry.

Practical implications: The most significant insights emerging from this work mainly regard: i) how to improve the evaluation of governance decisions; ii) how to plan and implement long-term strategies aimed at exploiting the reciprocal functionality between manufacturing enterprises and the country system.

Originality of the paper: This study combines the concept of courage with that of entrepreneurship. Mixing the classical and subsequent literature developed on both these themes, the study focuses on the link connecting courage with knowledge and time and underlines the importance of this link in the manufacturing industry. These insights are new in the literature.

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Published

2015-12-30