Global Value Chains and Industry Architecture: an insight into the Bicycle Industry

The aim of this dissertation is to describe the Industry Architecture and the Global Value Chain of the Bicycle Industry and to investigate the Italian Companies reaction to the evolution of them. Whether and how firms deal with this and how they could keep leadership in a sector moved production off-shore thanks to innovative strategies. With this perspective, the purpose of this research is to verify whether and how Italian companies are dealing with localization shifting and globalization of the value chain. The dissertation presents the relevant literature on GVCs and Industry Architecture; it describes the state of art of the research on this field through a quantitative analysis and qualitative description of its evolutions. The study is conducted through the qualitative analysis of case studies. Interviews with the managers of different companies were conducted in person and on the phone. They provided useful examples and deep insights on the industry.