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

After explaining the reasons why the Olivetti lessons are still actual (Sec. 1), the paper aims to enlighten the key role Adriano played in the Italian industry and the anticipatory extent of his governance strongly based on three main values: concrete community, territory and urban planning (Sec. 2). Adopting the case study methodology, the paper deeply analyses the Adriano’s vision of a firm and its interaction with the territory: the arbor vitae organizational model conceived and managed to take into account ethics and community, the culture of innovation and beauty of design (Sec. 3). Subsequently, Sec. 4 applies the arbor vitae model to the contemporary complex socio-economic contexts making comparison among several models of enterprises. Final remarks (Sec. 5) shed light on the great and precious cultural heritage left by Olivetti to the town of Ivrea. The 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 dehumanised 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.