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    Case Study

    Dallara Automobili: Transforming a racing legend

    By Benoit F. Leleux, Tawfik Jelassi, Giovanni Ravano, Maurizio Seletti and Fabio Tremolada
    18 pages
    November 2016
    Order this case study
    Reference: IMD-7-1803

    The Dallara Automobili case describes the success of a family run company that designed and built chassis for racing and sports cars. Established in 1972 by the legendary Gian Paolo Dallara, the company provided winning chassis for almost all major racing formulas. Initially the company’s success was based on two core capabilities: aerodynamics and carbon fiber manufacturing, a combination that allowed the company to produce fast, light and safe chassis. In 2007, when the founder turned 70, he brought on board a new CEO, Andrea Pontremoli (former CEO of IBM Italy), to support and develop the company’s long-term vision. Pontremoli led the company through an innovation journey that transformed Dallara from a pure high-end craftsmanship company into a modern engineering firm. Dallara pursued its original vocation and capabilities but it also developed new revenue streams, entering new customer segments beyond motorsports. The case describes the steps of this journey, focusing on how innovation impacted the traditional workflow within Dallara, opening up new business opportunities while maintaining the lead in its core business.

    Learning Objective
    • Protecting and evolving core capabilities
    • Business model Innovation
    • Leveraging a cluster economy (no competing companies but competing territories)
    • Building distinctive competitive advantages based on knowledge and capabilities
    • Industry positioning (avoiding competition with key customers)
    • Emergent strategies
    • Family business succession
    Keywords
    Innovation Centre, Business Model, Strategy, Corporate Culture, Defense Mechanism, Organizational Design, Business Cluster, Digital Transformation, Technology Management, Growth Management, Motor Sport, Car Racing
    Settings
    Italy
    Dallara Automobili, Automotive, Automobiles
    1972 – 2016
    Type
    Field Research
    Copyright
    © 2016
    Available Languages
    English
    Related material
    Teaching note, Video
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