Piaggio (a)
11 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2008 Last revised: 10 Nov 2021
Abstract
Piaggio, manufacturer of the Vespa motor scooter, faces the decision of whether to outsource production of a new engine. The decision in the A case is couched in uncertainty over the achievable sales volume for the engine, particularly as new and less expensive competitor products are gaining popularity. The case provides an overview of the competitive style of each of the major manufacturers and allows a discussion of core capabilities of these competitors. The B case describes what happens in the market and to Piaggio after the company has built the engine.
Excerpt
UVA-BP-0415
Rev. Nov. 3, 2022
Piaggio (A)
Not many products reach the goal of a fifty-year life-span…Vespa developed from a utility vehicle, whose characteristics had been dictated exclusively by criteria such as function and cost, into an international success, a protagonist of the history of customs and the cinema, a “cult object” which has given rise to the creation of associations and collectors' guilds on a world wide scale.
—Giovanni Alberto Agnelli
Introduction
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Keywords: decision making, industry analysis, outsourcing
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