Firm, territory and local community: lessons learned from the Olivetti’s model

The paper discusses the relevance of the Olivetti model and the validity of that entrepreneurial experience based on values such as the concrete community, the territory and urban planning, and a source of virtuous learning to face the tensions of the current socio-economic systems. Through the methodology of the case study, the one developed by Adriano Olivetti is qualified as an arbor vitae business model: a model based on ethics and community, a culture of innovation and aesthetics in design. Thus, the Olivettian model of the arbor vitae is assumed as an ideal-typical model. It can assess the virtuosity or otherwise the possible corporate behavior in the current socio-economic contexts. The article ends by emphasizing the vast cultural heritage left by Olivetti to the city of Ivrea, the company’s headquarters. The Ivrea Olivetti factory became a virtuous model of work organization. It has made Ivrea as a smart land ante litteram conceived for man and not exclusively for the often dehumanizing efficiency of the assembly line. Olivetti factory in Ivrea became a model of a work organisation while the Ivrea community a smart land designed on the person and not on the dehumanized work of the assembly line: all these reasons have led Ivrea – the Industrial City of the 20th Century – to be recognized as the 54th Italian UNESCO Heritage.