Disruptive social manufacturing models: lessons learned from Ferrari Cars and Isinnova networks for a postpandemic value creation path

This paper addresses the topic of social manufacturing, with the aim of understanding the key features of such a new manufacturing, network-based model, its enabling factors and the reasons-why a company should join and/or establish it. Building on the literature about social manufacturing and disruptive innovation, we develop a new framework to address our research questions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Italian manufacturing companies quickly adopted a network-based production approach, to provide a rapid response to healthcare organizations needing surgical masks, sanitizers, and pieces of equipment like ventilators. We discuss this transformation with two companies, Ferrari Cars and Isinnova, which developed a social manufacturing network that was successful in an emergency situation. Building on the empirical evidence stemming from these casestudies, we explain how and to what extent this emergency model could become stable and profitable in a post-pandemic scenario, creating economic value and opening up business opportunities.