Aldo Enrietti

The Italian Automobile Industry and the Case of Fiat: One Country, One Company, One Market?

In the current period of globalisation of economic processes and the pervasive nature of information technology, both territoriality and national and/or regional comparative advantages have been simultaneously reinforced. They in fact assume a key strategic value in the “new” behaviour of actors performing on a virtually world stage. The analysis of the Italian automobile system (represented, in reality, by a single large company, Fiat) clearly exemplifies this tendency, which has come to prominence in debates in the social sciences: its competitive dynamic can, in fact, be interpreted on the basis of the relations which it has established, historically, with the national system (as well as local and regional ones).

Systemic innovation and organizational change in the car industry: electric vehicle innovation platforms

The design and development of electric vehicles (EVs) is a complex and distributed process that has led to the creation of large partnerships the aim of which is to learn and acquire selective technological competencies, including those developed outside the car industry. The introduction of electric vehicles can be described as a collective innovation wherein different actors, such as traditional OEMs (original equipment manufacturer), automobile battery producers, utilities, and system integrators contribute their complementary resources and technologies, to work towards common goals and incentives. We argue that the process of integration, coordination and direction of the different strategies and goals of the various organizations involved demands a novel form of organization that combines the scope of learning typical of networks with the coherence of the centralized decision-making typical of the vertical corporation. We identify the innovation platform, which has recently been the focus of numerous studies in the field of innovation, as the appropriate organizational solution to the problem of dynamic coordination.

Is a district possible in the car industry? The case of the Turin area

This paper sets out to examine how changes to production methods have affected the component manufacturers operating in the area. In other words, we have tried to see what implications the reorganisation of Fiat had on the suppliers and sub-contractors and what the consequences were for the firms which continued to supply Fiat and firms which were excluded. We also wanted to see whether those firms, which were excluded have been able to survive without Fiat. Another purpose was to verify whether the region possessed an innovative/competitive capacity independently from Fiat and, if this did exist, how it had developed and what its decisive elements were. Further, considering these factors, we wanted to show how, in the Piedmont industrial system, from the end of the Second World War to the 1990s, an industrial area had evolved into an automotive technological district.

La crisi FIAT Auto e la politica industriale locale: il caso del Piemonte

The events that marked the evolution of the crisis of FIAT auto during the last two years renewed the debate on the possible interventions of industrial policy; the more discussed topics were the social effects of the crisis (temporary lay-off, labour mobility, shut-down of Termini Imerese, reappraisal of Mirafiori), the opportunity, or not, of a direct intervention on behalf of the State into FIAT, the necessity to stimulate the research of new technologies in the industry. On the other hand, there was much less debate on both the consequences of the FIAT crisis on the suppliers, and the possible interventions of industrial policy towards those kinds of firms, which will have, besides, a more regional than national dimension. Starting from this point of view, our work will offer firstly a short overview of the national and European legal framework into which to locate possible industrial policys interventions. However, the main point of this essay is focused on the firms producing components linked to FIAT Auto, in particular the ones localised in Piedmont, the region most affected by the FIAT crisis but also a real and proper car district. For those companies we propose industrial policy measures carried out at regional level, in particular the creation of an Agency for the development of the car industry district.

Electric Cars: Will it be Boom or Another False Start?

The question of electric vehicles (EV) is one that has recurred throughout the history of the car, since the early post-war period, but has, however, remained on the edges of the mainstream because of some basic limitations that have made such vehicles less competitive compared with vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEVs).