Alessi Innovation Through Design

To what extent do you believe the competitiveness of Italy's design-intensive firms such as Alessi is a result of (a) firm-specific capabilities or (b) resources that reside at the national or community level? Explain your answer.

I believe that this concept applies to almost any company not just with Alessi. In order to be competitive companies need to figure out what customers want and be able to provide it. In this case Alessi focus was quality over quantity, however in order to meet customers needs he needed to change the materials witch caused conflict. From my understanding Alessi is a family owned company passed down from 3 generations and they willingly joined to better the company. I personally feel that the mentality of family owned business and bigger corporations are different. The decisions made are based on experience, moral, values and cultural. These ideas don’t necessarily distinguish the firm's capabilities , but to a certain point do affect the resources that reside at the national or community level. Sometimes smaller companies are limited to certain resources and have trouble competing with bigger corporations. Having access to certain resources can have an effect on the success of a company.

What lessons can US firms learn about creativity and innovation by studying Alessi and other leading Italian design firms?

The US need to think more outside the box like the Italian firms. The article describes that “Italy is the center of the design world, all above because of its manufacturing culture. There is no other place in the world where you can find such as vast array of manufacturers who know the value of design”. This just means the relationships they have is not so much based on money ,but rather the collaboration and stretching their talents by learning from colleagues. Here in the Us I see that things are based on money and being better than others within their own companies , when in reality they should be working together. Another thing to take away from this is that if they don’t need to change a product they shouldn’t. When Alessi changed from metal to plastic some customers were concerned. You need to