Disruptive social manufacturing models: lessons learned from Ferrari cars and Isinnova networks for a post-pandemic value creation path

Abstract 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, sanitisers, 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 case-studies, 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.