The contribution of digitalisation to business longevity from a competitiveness perspective

2.1 Business longevity factors

Business longevity is characterised by the multidisciplinary nature of the approaches adopted to study this topic (Napolitano et al., 2015); nevertheless, business history and management studies are the two predominant streams greatly affecting the theoretical development of such research (Riviezzo et al., 2015a). This scientific literature is focused mainly on identifying critical success factors – also known as longevity factors – via which a firm can build and expand its competitive advantage over time.

Most studies on business longevity over the last three decades have emerged from management scholars, especially those engaged in a family business, entrepreneurship and strategic management research (Riviezzo et al., 2015a). Management scholars have adopted two different approaches to the study and identification of factors supporting firm longevity: one in which a holistic approach (i.e. seeking to identify all drivers that support the survival and competitiveness of a firm over the long term) is adopted, and one that focuses on the evaluation of the influence of a single factor on business development and longevity.

The first category was particularly prevalent at the beginning of research on the topic; more recent contributions in this vein have aimed to refine what was already published up to the first decade of the 21st century (i.e. Peter and Waterman, 1982; Collin and Porras, 1994; De Geus, 1997; Collins, 2000; Foster and Kaplan, 2001; Marcus, 2006; Stadler, 2007, 2011). They comprise mostly contributions published in books, with only the most recent being journal articles. These studies mainly list factors relating to (1) the characteristics of the family business and its peculiarities (such as, for example, the relationship between business and family and the problem of generational change (e.g. Aronoff, 2004; Tàpies and Moya, 2012)); (2) the characteristics of the entrepreneur with reference to his or her role as the leader of the long-established enterprise (e.g. Zellweger et al., 2012); and (3) the main organisational and strategic choices capable of strengthening competitiveness over time and ensuring business continuity (e.g. McDowell et al., 2016). Many of these studies have been deepened by considering different regional and cultural contexts. Several have considered the US context (e.g. Ward, 2004; O'Hara, 2004; Miller and Le Bretton-Miller, 2005; Bakr et al., 2009; Densil and Oniel, 2010), while others have studied family firms in Japan (e.g. Funabashi, 2009; Goto, 2013; Sasaki and Sone, 2015; Krahnke et al., 2018), Lebanon (e.g. Fahed-Sreih and Djounddourian, 2006), China (e.g. Kim and Gao, 2013), Spain (e.g. Fernández Pérez and Puig, 2007) and Italy (e.g. Buzzavo and Gatti, 2012; Riviezzo et al., 2015b). This research, although pertaining to the experience of firms located in very different geographical and socio-cultural contexts, shows the existence of common elements. In essence, the longevity of family businesses depends on the health of their two constituent parts – the family and the company. Indeed, the longevity of these firms is closely connected to the commitment of the family, in two aspects. First, the commitment to building healthy interpersonal relationships between parents and children, and between siblings and in general between all members of the basic core of the entrepreneurial activity, such that each is aware of his or her role in the family and within the company. Second, the commitment to the continuity of the enterprise: (1) formulating and pursuing a stimulating and engaging mission, not based on just a desire for profit, but inspired by higher ideals; (2) favouring long-term relationships and collaboration with staff and business partners; and (3) providing adequate planning for generational transitions. Table 1 summarises the main results of these studies.

The second category focused on individual factors, has been prevalent during the last two decades and, in particular, over the last few years. Such work has almost always been published in the form of journal articles. These articles are mainly focused on the factors that have proven most critical for firm survival from a managerial point of view, including the planning of the generational change process (e.g. De Massis et al., 2008; Carney et al., 2014; Jaskiewicz et al., 2016; Parker, 2016; Więcek-Janka et al., 2016; Houlder and Nandkishore, 2016), or that seem to exert great influence on the continuity and competitive development of the long-established company (e.g. the ability to combine the drive for innovation and enhancement of tradition). The most recent and important topic studied by scholars in this vein is the propensity to innovate of long-lived firms (e.g. De Massis et al., 2016; Filser et al., 2018; Erdogan et al., 2019). In particular, De Massis et al. (2016) conceptualised a new product innovation strategy in family firms called innovation through tradition (ITT), and identified its underlying capabilities of interiorising and reinterpreting past knowledge. Erdogan et al. (2019) studied how family firms manage the tradition and innovation paradox that characterises their activity, and identified the new construct of temporal symbiosis as a firm’s simultaneous adoption of retrospective and perspective approaches to the use of resources to continue with tradition but also generate innovation.

2.2 Digitalisation in long-lived firms

Over the last five years, the topic of digitalisation, also known as digital transformation (Emily et al., 2015), has been extensively studied from a managerial perspective, with particular attention paid to manufacturing industries as the context in which the digital revolution has had – and continues to have – a significant impact. Terminologies such as cyber-physical systems, smart factories, the industrial revolution, the Internet of Things, production systems, manufacturing systems and smart manufacturing are used to refer to the current development of digitalisation across different manufacturing sectors (Liao et al., 2017).

In general, the digitalisation concept refers to a business model driven by “the changes associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society” (Stolterman and Fors, 2004, p. 689). The technology usually implemented through digitalisation, from a corporate perspective, involves the ability to turn existing products into digital variants, which offer advantages over tangible products. This evolution can produce benefits in terms of more efficient business processes and flows, and therefore, better firm performance (Emily et al., 2015).

Over the last two decades, the challenges of digitisation have affected companies of all sizes (small, medium and large) and all ages (those established in the digital age and those founded in earlier periods, with the latter category also including long-lived firms).

The managerial literature on digitalisation in these firms has made few contributions. These studies can be divided into three categories according to the specific object of analysis: (1) digitalisation in long-lived small businesses, particularly highly innovative ones; (2) the behaviour of long-lived big companies in the face of the challenge of digitalisation; and (3) innovation to support the digital transformation process in long-lived firms.

Scholars of long-lived small firms considering the US context have labelled such firms “serial innovators” (Hicks and Breitzman, 2003; Leigh, 2002; Hicks and Hegde, 2005) and argued that they are often specialist suppliers in markets for technology. These innovative firms have survived beyond the entrepreneurial moment yet remain small (Taneja et al., 2016). Success in technology markets does not come easily and very few small firms survive. The survivors take advantage of that fact to produce technology likely to be more tradable in comparison with that of large firms, which is largely destined for in-house use. Compared with in-house technology, tradable technology is “higher quality, more general purpose, more broadly based, more basic, and more concentrated in newer generations of technology” (Hicks and Hegde, 2005, p. 703). Moreover, serial innovator firms are primarily creators of platform technologies or general-purpose technologies in general (Hicks and Hegde, 2005) and are prime candidates to develop industry standards, which facilitates the diffusion of their technologies across borders (Blind, 2001). In other words, markets for technologies help to explain the presence of “long-lived, highly innovative small firms” – an empirical reality in the US context – where “small” refers to the number of employees being no greater than 500, “highly innovative” implies 15 or more USPTO patents registered between 1996 and 2000, and “long-lived” is defined as a firm surviving beyond the average life of companies in the sector (be it 25 or 50 or 100 years) (Hicks and Hegde, 2005). Although this last definition may seem imprecise, this arises because, in the managerial literature and practice, there is no shared concept of business longevity, although a significant number of scholars define the prerequisite for longevity as 100 years of business (Rossato, 2013).

Regarding the behaviour of long-lived big companies in the face of the challenge of digitalisation, Sebastian et al. (2017) focused on those whose success was built in the pre-digital economy and identified two digital strategies – customer engagement and digitised solutions – that provide direction for digital transformation. Moreover, they asserted that two technology-enabled assets are essential for executing those strategies: an operational backbone and a digital services platform. Under this framework, they described how a long-lived big company could combine these elements to navigate digital transformation. In particular, the study considered the new technologies called SMACIT (social, mobile, analytics, cloud and the Internet of Things). This acronym includes many digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics and virtual reality. SMACIT is intended as shorthand for the entire set of powerful, readily accessible digital technologies. The study revealed three essential elements for a successful digital transformation: (1) clear definition of a digital strategy that guides leaders’ efforts to create new value propositions by combining their companies’ existing capabilities with those enabled by SMACIT and other digital technologies; (2) an operational backbone as the technology and business capabilities that ensure the efficiency, scalability, reliability, quality and predictability of core operations; and (3) a digital services platform as the technology and business capabilities that facilitate rapid development and implementation of digital innovations. The most proactive long-lived big companies in this research needed both “an operational backbone and a digital services platform to deliver the efficiency, reliability, speed and agility that the competitive environment demands. Although these two assets support very different business capabilities, they are complementary” (Sebastian et al., 2017, p. 204).

As regards innovation to support the digital transformation process in long-lived firms, scholars have tended to define the minimum threshold for company longevity as 100 years of continuous activity. Sharma and Dixit (2017, p. 1), in particular, analysing key factors for longevity in a detailed Japanese case study, observed that it is very important for this kind of firm to be conservative, asserting that “the pressure to exploit newer opportunities and invest resources to ward off potential threats is high, particularly in the digital era. However, long-established firms are known to stay true to their core values and principles and usher in large-scale radical changes very selectively”. These considerations do not mean that long-established firms must not consider digital transformation, which is affecting not only the economy but every dimension of life. The real suggestion is that firm survival must be preserved from any form of impulsive innovation guided by the current market or technological trends. Regarding the approach to innovation, Erdogan et al. (2019, p. 17) underlined that in some long-lived family firms, “current and new products and processes are segregated and treated as two different types of offerings”. This behaviour is designed, on the one hand, to preserve the iconic products that mark the family’s history, and on the other, to stimulate new product development and the digital impulses in this process. In this way, the long-lived family firm does not make changes to its iconic products but offers a wide range of new product lines using advanced technologies. This strategy allows these firms to combine innovation and tradition and remain competitive.

Given the increasing interest of scholars and practitioners in the topic of digitalisation and the scant attention paid to the contribution of digitalisation to long-lived firms’ development, this study examines actions, conditions and effects of digitalisation on long-lived firms’ competitiveness.

4.1 Command

The respondents emphasised that the survival of the firm is strongly linked to the ability of those who guide it to adequately manage business succession, including timely identification of the candidate for succession and taking care of his/her training and progressive taking of responsibility. In the firms interviewed, the role of the family is significant in facing the challenge of digitalisation. The family members hold positions of command in the management of the strategic functions of the firm and their involvement is fundamental to reach full sharing of the entrepreneurial project; in particular, the projects connected to digitalisation. Each episode of such sharing represents strength and increases the motivation to continue the “journey together”. The respondents highlighted that the family, from generation to generation, has favoured innovation, while still respecting tradition, and has always been the guarantor of corporate culture and values. In the history of the respondents, the imprint of the founder emerged strongly, whose testimony cannot be deleted because in it there could be found the values, entrepreneurial spirit, vision, tenacity, passion, desire to experiment, curiosity and experience passed on to those who subsequently led the firm, keeping its roots alive. Cantine Ferrari recalled that

The founder passed the passion on to his children,

and pointed out that

Without the strong idealism of the founder and of those who lead the firm, a long-lived firm could not have been started and could not have survived.

Dreaming means seeing a certain role in society, regardless of what reality seems to commonly and concretely suggest: “The ideals implicit in a dream eludes simple rationality and allows you to design the future” (Baccarani and Brunetti, 2004, p. 93).

For this reason, Cantine Ferrari celebrated the launch of a new vintage of the iconic product of Casa Ferrari, the Giulio Ferrari, by honouring its founder. The firm made an emotional video and spread it via all of the brand’s online channels. Giulio Ferrari was a pioneer, who first sensed the extraordinary potential of his land, and spread chardonnay in Italy. His dream was to create a wine in Trentino capable of competing with the best French champagne. He promoted the values of a constant search for excellence in every detail, of control of the production process from “earth to table”, an intimate link with the region and the consideration that the person is at the centre of the firm.

All respondents stated that it is “precious” to celebrate their roots and their history of over 100 years. Observing one’s own history means reflecting on one’s own path and continuing to evolve, remaining true to oneself (Martino, 2013). The firm’s history includes not only the successes, the experiences and the knowledge acquired but also the difficulties and defeats. The history of a firm can also represent a source of inspiration for future strategies (Suddaby et al., 2010). Understanding the history is, therefore, a powerful tool for modelling and projecting the vision of the future and influencing the way the firm thinks about the future (Seaman and Smith, 2012). The growing attention on the knowledge contained in such an entrepreneurial path and the awareness of the cultural value of this heritage has persuaded many firms to record their history, giving life to many demanding projects, and this has been enabled by the potential offered by digitalisation. The narration of business stories is said to “take a variety of forms including written documents, verbal reports, artwork, spoken words, pictures, symbols, building and other artefacts” (Phillips et al., 2004, p. 636). For a long-lived firm, the potential and opportunity to narrate its roots and evolution is vast. All respondents outlined the history of the firm on their website and through images and videos spread via their online channels (e.g. Facebook, Youtube and Instagram). Further, some respondents had set down and celebrated the firm’s history and spread this knowledge among the community to which they belong and to future generations by establishing a corporate museum and archive. To tell the truly unique story of the firm, the Amarelli family opened the Giorgio Amarelli Licorice Museum in the ancient palace where the firm had its headquarters, for which it received the Guggenheim Business & Culture Award in November 2001. Engravings, documents, books, vintage photos, but also agricultural tools, everyday objects and beautiful ancient clothes testify to the life of the family that enhanced the underground branches of licorice plants that grow spontaneously on the Ionian coast. The museum is unique in the world, with the CEO stating:

The large space of the original place of production, the ancient ‘Concio’ (proto-industrial plant for extracting juice from licorice roots), dating back to 1731, perfectly reflects the idea of the passage of time between past and present. At its base is the ‘Open Air Museum’ with a truly unique exhibition of vintage industrial pieces. The smokestack with the initials of Baron ‘Nicola Amarelli’ rises imposingly from the roof of the Concio. Visitors are accompanied in the knowledge of the licorice processing, from the sheaves of root ready to be processed, to the modern plants for extraction, to the ancient cookers where the black licorice paste thickens and the bronze drawing process that gives it shape and thickness.

Amarelli also supported the digital reproduction of 16 textual, photographic and iconographic documents provided by the licorice museum.

The respondents highlighted that the presence of the family allowed for a long-term vision and pursuit of objectives. This is an important element to support decades-long projects and to pursue quality. In addition, the family has been able to define an adequate corporate governance system, thanks to which family and business have mutually strengthened each other, managerial logic has been developed and many valuable human resources have been attracted by offering opportunities for professional growth and career. The firms interviewed were also able to build a leadership comprised of an adequate mix of family and non-family managers developed from within and non-family managers from other firms, with complementary skills and values consistent with those of the owner family. The vision of the leadership with respect to the technological challenge is crucial to accepting digitalisation and promoting a change capable of benefiting the firm’s competitiveness. The firms interviewed believe that new technologies are needed in the world of craftsmanship. Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, the oldest chocolate factory in Sicily still in operation and among the oldest in Italy, led by the Bonajuto family, rooted in the social and cultural local community of Modica for over 150 years, stated that:

An open mind is needed, which is necessary to evolve. In this world of 3D printers and since we are in a position to begin to understand what can be done, ideas have exploded in an unconditional way. We have recently made, unthinkable in the past, a Maxxi brand chocolate, which would be the brand of the National Museum of the 21st Century Arts in Rome. The 3D printing application allowed us to make only a hundred specimens, while in the past to make any brand or logo, we had to invest in 10,000–20,000 moulds. With current technology, on the other hand, you can customise your work, do things in minimal quantities and at the same time, give much more of your creativity instead of entrusting it to others.

The actions, conditions and effects of digitalisation for the development of the long-lived firms analysed in the light of the command dimension are illustrated in Table 3.

The analysis shows the importance of sharing with family members in positions of command the development opportunities that digitalisation can bring to the firm – opportunities previously unthinkable. A vision of a long-term perspective and a capacity to guide change are certainly necessary to improve the competitiveness of the firm. The participation and commitment of the family to an adequate system of governance, effective management of business succession and identification of the firm’s leadership are fundamental in being able to support decades-long development projects and pursue quality, or rather, as stated by the firms interviewed, to continuously pursue survival.

Confirming the studies conducted on the propensity of long-lived firms to support their competitive development by combining drive for innovation and enhancement of tradition (e.g. De Massis et al., 2016; Filser et al., 2018; Erdogan et al., 2019), the respondents pointed out that they are investing in new technology promoting innovation through tradition. Specifically, the digital investment offered important support to craftsmanship because firms began to understand what can be done, ideas exploded in an unconditional way, internal creativity has been stimulated and work can be more easily customised.

Long-lived firms interviewed are closely linked to their roots and their iconic products are a symbol of a cultural identity that is also closely linked to that of the region in which they are rooted. In their commitment to communicate and celebrate their long history and to safeguard corporate memory, the interviewees underlined that digitalisation represents a precious tool. For example, through corporate websites, videos spread via the brand’s online channels, a corporate museum and archives and the digital reproduction of their content, the respondents supported the transmission of the knowledge enclosed in their entrepreneurial path and increased the awareness of the cultural value of their heritage. The firm’s history was also valuable in defining, inspiring and legitimising a new corporate brand strategy (Iglesias et al., 2020); knowing and enhancing its own history allows the firm to appreciate the relevance of the past, and also served as a tool to build corporate identity and guide the organisation’s vision. Through the communication of their history, many firms described how they managed to overcome periods of crisis by proving to be strong and resilient organisations, which created trust in stakeholders (Blomback and Brunninge, 2016). The awareness of the entrepreneur and management of the value of corporate history is important (Brunetti, 2007); they should promote processes that help to communicate and enhance corporate assets, spreading knowledge and making it significant for the cultural context. Management should incorporate history to support future strategy (Iglesias et al., 2020); in particular, the legitimation of the digitalisation strategy is one of the key challenges that managers need to face because it drives organisational alignment (Yeow et al., 2018).

4.2 Continuity

Long-lived firms remain strongly attached to their forward-looking mission. Those interviewed stated that their investments in digitalisation are aimed at increasing the efficiency of firm functions and processes, obtaining very high-quality production, supporting the brand communication strategy, enhancing the expression of a corporate style that goes beyond trends, improving the “servicescape” and strengthening and consolidating their ability to compete nationally and internationally.

With reference to the digitalisation of firm functions and processes, Maserati announced in September 2019 its plans for innovation in production, electrification and autonomous driving. The firm entered a period of intense and crucial change with a series of activities that will totally renew the product range and relaunch the brand. All the new Maserati models will be developed, engineered and produced entirely in Italy and will adopt hybrid and battery electric propulsion systems capable of providing both high innovation and high performance, typical of the brand’s DNA.

Specifically, Maserati made an extraordinary investment in its Giovanni Agnelli Plant near Turin (Italy), where it produces the largest four-door sports sedan, the Ghibli executive sedan. This investment consisted of the implementation of an innovative digital technology, conceived and designed in collaboration with Siemens (the firm). Indeed, Maserati CEO detailed that:

Maserati has invested in the development of vehicle components with the Siemens NX software, in the efficient automation of the production plant with the TIA Portal engineering framework, in the simulation of production processes thanks to the Tecnomatix software that can highlight possible cost savings, and in the planning, optimisation and simulation of complex processes during the production phase with the MES Simatic IT software.

At the same time, these investments allowed the firm to respond to the important challenge of achieving efficient, flexible, personalised, economic and high-quality production, as well as the challenge of introducing new models to the market at shorter intervals and of controlling a network of suppliers that is ever more complex because of the increasingly lean production. As the CEO of Maserati explained:

With Siemens's product lifecycle management software, Maserati created a ‘digital twin’ that played a central role in the development of the Ghibli car that was 100% faithful to the original. Data from real and virtual models were used simultaneously to optimise processes. In this way, Maserati has reduced costs and also the time for product development (by 30%).

It should be considered that wind tunnel tests are elaborate and expensive and represent an essential physical process for optimising the aerodynamics of car bodies. The use of a digital twin has made it possible to inform virtual testing with measured data from a few real-life wind tunnel tests. As virtual tests are faster and cheaper, the company achieves the advantage of reducing costs and the opportunity to evaluate further developments.

This technology has allowed Maserati to improve the characteristics and performance of the car and the understanding of the customer experience in the passenger seat, as the firm can now “model the design and see what it looks like, model how the door is going to sound, what the exhaust is going to sound like, what rain sounds like when it hits the roof”.

Thanks to the innovative digitalisation of the production process, the company can create different models along the same production line, customising the design of each product according to the customer’s requests.

From the very beginning, technological innovation has been one of the founding elements of Fratelli Alinari’s mission. Management of the various steps from analogue to digital, decades-long participation in technological development projects applied to photography and experimentation with the potential of digital for the enhancement and dissemination of content have allowed the firm to offer cutting-edge design skills. The know-how ranges from advanced research systems on a non-semantic basis, to the use of content on different platforms and devices, to the creation of digital events with multi-projection and architectural mapping, to 3D technological experiments related to photography. At the centre of each project, the focus remains on new content that stands out for its quality and photographic uniqueness. Regarding the firm’s ability to create high-quality products through the use of sophisticated digital technologies, the general manager of Fratelli Alinari underlined that:

Using a specially designed digital camera, the firm manages to make reproductions of the highest quality, with a 100 megapixel CMOS sensor. The legendary Schneider Kreuznach lenses are able to guarantee the highest photographic quality in terms of resolution, precision in focusing and chromatic fidelity. Moreover, through the stiching [sic.] technique, by taking numerous shots (gigapixels), it is possible to create large images, even starting from small ones. The entire workflow guarantees maximum quality and productivity thanks to automatic recognition systems such as edge trimming, geometric alignment, and so on.

In 1970, Amarelli completed a modernisation process that, in 1987, was awarded the gold medal of the Italian Chemical Society for combining artisan tradition and cutting-edge technologies. All production cycles are computerised to optimise performance and safety, but the final phase of juice concentration continues to be entrusted to the experience of the “licorice master”, a title handed down from father to son. As Amarelli’s CEO said:

The result is a very high-quality, totally natural licorice, without additives or sweeteners, with a pleasant taste and inimitable flavour, which has made our firm a world leader in the field of pure licorice.

The investments in digitalisation made by the long-lived firms interviewed included their brand communication strategy. Biscotti Gentilini developed a social strategy to increase brand awareness and promote fan involvement thanks to numerous positive comments from the brand’s passionate fan base, whose active participation increases the curiosity of new fans. As the general manager stated:

We stimulate user interaction with surveys that compete with their favourite products. These offer an opportunity to give information about products, their characteristics and how to find them.

Maserati supports its brand via the communication of various special events and initiatives; for example, by designing the #MaseratiBeat format – a branded entertainment project between the online and the offline – with the aim of recounting the opening of MaseratiHouse in Milan and organising #MaseratiMusicExperience, through musical and exclusive events.

As part of the communication campaigns carried out with increasing incisiveness on social channels, the long-lived firms interviewed expressed a corporate style that goes beyond trends. Cantine Ferrari highlighted this aspect in a particular way. Regarding the Ferrari Trento international communication campaign, “The Italian Tag”, with a double reading – the Italian label (tag) of the Ferrari Trentodoc and a social tag to underline moments of conviviality – the entrepreneur pointed out that:

The multi-subject campaign told in a contemporary way the joy of living and sharing, also via social media, the Italian lifestyle and drinking. The product is the protagonist in each glass and becomes the social enabler of each story. The goal is to target a metropolitan and dynamic consumer target that creates a thousand other consumption opportunities outside of the classic ones.

A further digitalisation investment planned by some firms interviewed concerned the improvement of the servicescape. In this regard, Amarelli’s CEO reported that:

For the licorice museum we have created a digital signage. Three vertical and two horizontal information totems, one of which is a touch-screen to browse the Amarelli product catalogue.

The actions, conditions and effects of digitalisation for the development of the long-lived firms analysed with regard to the continuity dimension are presented in Table 4.

In line with the studies conducted in the literature (Hicks and Hegde, 2005; Sebastian et al., 2017), the firms analysed for this study pointed out that adequate implementation of innovative digital methodologies and technologies improve and optimise business processes, making them more efficient and effective. In addition to changing the management and organisation of the firm, digitalisation affected the firms’ business model, the way they operate, and their interactions with stakeholders (Kiel et al., 2016, referring to Kagermann et al., 2015). This result confirms those of Rachinger et al. (2018), Coupette (2015), Loebbecke and Picot (2015) and Ernst & Young (2011), who stated that the effect of digitalisation can present itself in the form of a reconfiguration or extension of established business models.

The respondents had various experiences in the field of digitalisation. For some, digitalisation represented a necessary and obligatory path to face the incessant competitive challenges to which they are subjected. Some had digitalised all corporate functions through all levels of their processes: from the design of product lifecycle management software and the automation of the production plant to the planning, optimisation and simulation of processes during the production phase. This is the case, for example, for Maserati, which experimented in its Giovanni Agnelli Plant with the implementation of software and an engineering framework developed with the collaboration of a business partner. Thanks to their investment in digital innovation, the analysed firms could develop new products characterised by high innovation and performance, reduce their time to market, increase the customisation of their design and improve their understanding of the customer experience. These elements of success have also been underlined by previous studies (Coupette, 2015; Kagermann et al., 2015; Loebbecke and Picot, 2015). They are the result of a decades-long commitment to technological development projects applied to the product, as supported, for example, by Fratelli Alinari. They are achievable if the firm constantly focuses on new content that increases product quality and uniqueness (Rachinger et al., 2018).

In particular, all respondents projected the development of their social brand communication strategy, which allowed them to strengthen the relationship with customers, transmit more information about products and stimulate participation, increase brand awareness, promote the involvement of the fan, and become an ambassador of the Italian lifestyle, with the product as the social enabler of each story.

4.3 Community

In some of the firms analysed, digitalisation had a strong impact on job management. The new digital systems increased the flexibility of employees, enabling them to operate physically outside of the workplace and at different times. They offered firms the opportunity to develop their skills and to facilitate customer management by improving the business offer.

Fratelli Alinari developed its skills in digital restoration, with the general manager underlining that:

Over the years, our group of experts has gained a profound ability to better evaluate how to retouch and professionally remove dirt and scratches, how to balance colour, how to restore portions of lost images, and so on.

Keyline invested in the training and continuous updating of internal digital skills, aiming to enhance the technological skills that allow them to identify, evaluate, use, share and create content using information technology and the internet. Specifically, the firm’s attention to digital transformation has concerned the creation of code and the development of software systems for artificial intelligence. As the world of technology is constantly evolving, digital skills are destined to change rapidly over the years (Gonzalez Vazquez et al., 2019; Lee and Falahat, 2019). In particular, the firm strengthened its design and research offices that apply digital technologies to the request for security and gave a strong boost to corporate innovation in the field of new generation duplicators. In fact, as the entrepreneur reported:

Thanks to the research and development department, the firm has created duplicators equipped with artificial vision systems capable of detecting the key encryption in less than a second. Among these, a machine, the first in the world, which sequentially performs the decoding and code encryption of high-security keys. Another important result of the corporate researchers concerns a reader for the recognition of key profiles and their location on the shelves. This allows specialists and ‘do-it-yourself centres’ to quickly locate the raw key to be duplicated. Another important novelty, always the result of the firm's internal research skills, is the electronic duplicator for copying, decoding and encrypting flat, laser and punched keys in a single solution.

Torrini Manifattura Orafa emphasised the craftsmanship of its employees, an expression of the firm’s ability to blend tradition and innovation in a unique and typical way. The laboratory, with its original Florentine artisan connotation, entrusted inspiration and art to its masters of work and supported their updating of new technologies, enabling them to create models of greater precision and “in step with the times”.

The actions, conditions and effects of digitalisation for the development of the long-lived firms examined in this paragraph are presented in Table 5.

According to the studies conducted by Arnold et al. (2016) and Kiel et al. (2017), which highlighted the importance of businesses possessing additional competences and know-how in order to offer new services or solution packages, respectively, the long-lived firms interviewed saw as highly relevant the ability to build and create the know-how required to seize digitalisation opportunities. They stated that they enhanced the technological skills of their internal community by investing in employees’ training and continuously updating digital skills without neglecting craftsmanship. Thanks to these competencies, they were able to evaluate, share and create content using information technology and the internet and to create products of greater precision, in step with the times and inspired by craftspeople with valuable artistic abilities.

4.4 Connection

Regarding the establishment of long-lived external relationships with clients, suppliers, local communities, public and private institutions and associations and other regional actors, the firms interviewed highlighted that many digitalisation projects had been conceived and developed in collaboration with partners, creating alliances and synergies that have proved very valuable for competing efficiently and effectively on the global market. In this regard, Maserati, with a partner, developed Industry 4.0 capabilities at the Giovanni Agnelli Plant. They changed the way the production robots worked and optimised their positioning on the production line so they, and human staff, do not make unnecessary movements. Being able to digitally design the facility also helped because the repositioning of machinery took much less time, reducing downtime, and later increased throughput of the Ghibli alone threefold. As stated by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ manufacturing engineering and general assembly project manager, who supervised the installation of the new production lines, “The challenge was to integrate two new assembly lines into an existing facility.”

To get into the market as quickly as possible, the production experts had to start working on the new lines while the new Maserati models were still in the design phase. Maserati made use of Siemens’s digital manufacturing solution for this parallel development of car and production facilities. Moreover, the manager stated that:

Maserati design engineers rapidly went through different modification scenarios of the new models over and over again. Accordingly, we had to continuously adjust the production facilities. The Tecnomatix tools helped us analyse how the changes to the car design affected production, in order to adapt the facilities and production processes appropriately.

The partnership also involved suppliers in the supply chain connected to the data stream. The firm then developed a very important partnership for the management of the brand’s digital strategy, digital advertising, the production of digital content, the management of promotional campaigns and analytics services. The goal was to improve the customer experience across all digital channels, maintaining the elegance and style that distinguish the brand, increase sales worldwide and extend brand equity internationally. The marketing manager said:

We are proud of the level of customer experience we offer, but at the same time, we are constantly striving to improve every interaction with our current and potential customers. A high-quality brand experience positively transforms our relationships with customers; for this reason, we want to get in touch with our customers significantly through all possible channels, from the media to after-sales assistance. Our partner is an actor capable of holistically managing the contact points between Maserati and its customers, with whom the company aims to create an authentic, continuous, coherent interaction.

The firm has also established collaborations with influencers of international relevance. In this regard, the marketing manager underlined two important influencer marketing projects promoted for the enhancement of the brand:

With Maserati #EscapeFromTheCity and Maserati #Eastagram projects, travel storytelling has been developed, from Italy to Eastern Europe, on board new Maserati models, with photo shoots in the most representative places in each country. For each project, we took care in the selection and involvement of top international influencers.

Even Biscotti Gentilini involved prominent influencers in its brand communication strategy, especially the most followed food bloggers, with whom it produced quality photos reported in the posts on its recipes, stimulating sharing.

The communication concept developed by Cantine Ferrari was also supported by a digital public relations activity to enhance the brand’s numerous events and partnerships, with targeted actions and ad hoc content. The firm has also created two influencer marketing campaigns: #BollicineTime, refined storytelling for the launch of Perlè Bianco culminating in an exclusively white party at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, and #FerrariFrames of Italy, a photographic journey that incorporates some of the most popular locations in Italy and aims at presenting Cantine Ferrari as an ambassador of the Art of Italian Living and the luxury of Made in Italy.

For respondents, it is also important to participate in initiatives aimed at enhancing the competences of a region and able to promote social inclusion and cohesion based on a strong sense of identity. In this regard, the owners of Picchiani and Barlacchi noted that their firm was selected for its excellence, as handed down for generations, which was to be publicised to those coming to Italy for the universal exhibition in 2015. Thus, the firm participated in a project of the Florence Chamber of Commerce aimed at recreating a narrative of the third millennium, in which Florence could present itself to the world with contemporary language, entrusting the storytelling not to the frescoes of the churches and domes, but to visual technology and interactivity with the viewer (https://www.picchianiebarlacchi.it/i_dome-picchiani-e-barlacchi/).

We are pleased that a projection has been dedicated to us inside the I_Dome, the hi-tech dome installed in the Courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio (in Florence) where the story of the city's know-how and emblematic places flowed, seen from a new and exciting perspective, an opportunity to get to know a city capable of combining artisan tradition and digital avant-garde.

Inside the Dome, in fact, visitors were given the feeling of being in another place, without having moved. Picchiani and Barlacchi said that in order to obtain this effect, six video cameras filmed simultaneously but separately and from different angles the scenes, from which an “equirectangular” video was then built. In this video, all scenes were harmonised, and thanks to eight latest-generation projectors, a 360° video was produced. The viewer merely had to choose which side to look at to browse through the sights of the city, as if this was a real exploration.

Actions, conditions and effects of digitalisation for the development of the long-lived firms analysed with reference to the connection dimension are indicated in Table 6.

The results showed that the conception and the development of digitalisation projects and Industry 4.0 capabilities, able to increase in efficiency and efficacy the firms’ competitiveness in the global market, are supported by developing a partner network to source competences and resources.

Specifically, interview respondents described their engagement, with increasing intensity, in collaboration with partners, both internal and external to their sector, which did not compete with each other.

The partnerships established did not only pertain to the processes of product development but also the management of the brand’s digital strategy and promotional campaigns. In this regard, the respondents stated that they selected and involved top international influencers and bloggers, with whom they promoted digital public relations activities and projects that stimulated sharing, favoured an authentic, continuous, coherent interaction with customers, valorised the brand’s style and extended brand equity internationally.

Moreover, the long-lived firms interviewed engaged in the development of close relationships with the local community and belonged to various associations of local, national and international relevance, as they were aware of the value that associations have for affirming and developing ethical business values and pulling together different firms’ experiences. The respondents noted that they were open to dialogue and committed to the creation of conditions of harmony and accord to support shared actions with various local actors and associations. They recognised the region for its role as a facilitator/coordinator of resources and economic activity, with a view to harmonising with the cultural and natural traditions of the place (Maizza, 2013). All respondents demonstrated a proud sense of belonging to the local community. From this perspective, the firms analysed considered their economic development as a goal that would be fully achieved when it is combined with other factors that relate to the region on which they stand and where they are recognised as a source of excellence and traditions handed down over the generations: the improvement of quality of life, the preservation of the beauty of the landscape, the optimisation of available resources and social growth are aims to share, and, in this regard, digitalisation can offer valuable support (Afonasova et al., 2019).