A Cultural Quest - Case Study on Alessi and Cultural Resources

Davide Ravasi and Elena Dapliaz, with Violina Rindova wrote an article for Organization Science about the use of cultural resources in strategy formation and change in a case study of Italian manufacturer of household products, Alessi. Over more than three decades, Alessi incorporated cultural resources from different registers like anthropology, psychoanalysis, arts, or crafts. For example, craft techniques were reintroduced in the production process or workshops with social scientists, informed employees about psychoanalytical theories about the effect of objects form on individuals. Through cultural repertoire enrichment and identity redefinition, Alessi developed new unconventional strategies and strategic versatility that led to a pioneering role in its industry and unlocking of new markets. Rindova et al. (2011) show how cultural resources are used for the purpose of substantive use, as productive means to develop new strategies of actions. This has to be differentiated from the rhetorical use of cultural resources as in advertising through verbal signs, promoted through institutions like media and critics. 

http://www.knowledge.unibocconi.eu/notizia.php?idArt=8427