Ducati Case

THE DUCATI MOTOR HOLDING CASE A

Turnaround and Brand Phase

Valeria Belvedere

Alberto Grando

Copyright © 2008 SDA Bocconi, Milano

Valeria Belvedere, Alberto Grando

The Ducati Motor Holding Case – A

Turnaround and Brand Phase

The company

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A., established in 1926 as “Società Radio Brevetti Ducati” by Cavalier Antonio Ducati and his three sons, originally manufactured electrical components for radio transmission.

The first product, the Manens capacitor, rapidly followed by other models, brought a sound success to

the company and let it quickly gain a significant worldwide market-share. In the ’30s, the quick

growth of Ducati resulted in the establishment, in 1935, of the big factory in Borgo Panigale (Bologna) and the opening of several branches in London, Paris, New York, Sidney and Caracas.

Although the company had achieved a good competitive position in its business, after the Second

World War it had to start again from scratch, as the main plant of Borgo Panigale had been totally destroyed by bombings in 1944. This new start was characterized by the decision to move from the electrical industry to the mechanical one. As a matter of fact, during the Second World War, the Ducati

brothers had being thinking of new products to launch at the end of the conflict and they came up

with the idea to exploit the competencies present in the area of Bologna, where one of the most developed Italian mechanical districts was located.

The first product developed in the new plant of Borgo Panigale, in 1946, was the “Cucciolo” (see Figure 1), a small motorbike targeted to the low segment of the market, later followed by the 175cc and

125cc scooters.

In the ’50s Ducati acquired stronger competencies in the design of the engine mainly thanks to the

arrival of a designer, Mr. Taglioni. The so-called “Doctor T” worked hard at the development of a

new technology, the desmodromic engine, able to sharply increase of the bikes’...