Ferrari's Top Management- philosophy? insight into future? Who's next?

Ferrari's Top Management

What do you guys know? From these men's personalities, what can we deduce about the future direction of the Company? Product? Racing?

How do they groom their next level of executives and engineers for top positions?

 

DrTax I was going to start a new thread- "Do you think Red is a good color?"

But I thought this other topic might get people blabbing and you never know where that's going to end up

 

Luca Montezemolo The Basic Resume (from what little I know)

This man has done it all.
From newspapers, yachting, football and drinks to bodycare products and sunglasses… you name it! All that representing a 26 years of hard work , a 26 years career of managing companies and turn them into success!

From "La Stampa" and "Publikompass" Italian newspapers, to being
the Cinzano Managing Director, to doing some yachting in America's
Cup and meanwhile organising the 1990 Football World Cup, becoming the main shareholder of aqua di Parma (a perfume and bodycare products manufacturer, setting up the WEB company (glasses and sunglasses) and becoming the Vice President of Bologna
Football Club and the President of Modena Industrial Union


1974 Luca Montezemolo was installed as Director Of The Racing Division at Ferrari, while in this role the team won two world titles with Niki Laudain 1975 and 1977

1984 Montezemolo took on the demanding task of organising Italy's 1st ever attempt in the America's Cup yacht race.

1986 Luca was picked to take on the role of General Director in charge of
co-ordinating the 1990 World Cup Finals to be held in Italy in 1990, the event was a massive success.

1991 Montezemolo rejoined Scuderia Ferrari as President and Managing
Director. In his time in this role Ferrari has increased it's global presence and is now exporting 90% of production.

 

A few more insigts into how the Top Dog thinks.



Surrounded by so many corporate failures, any successful chief executive could be forgiven for relishing his position. Yet Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was seriously thinking of quitting last year.

Mr Montezemolo something of a national hero. Silvio Berlusconi, the rightwing media tycoon, even tried (unsuccessfully) to recruit him to his future cabinet the week before winning last year's general election.

But success is stressful, Mr Montezemolo says. "When you have won everything you only risk losing," he says, adding that "Enzo Ferrari [the company's late founder] once told me that everywhere, particularly in Italy, everybody will forgive you everything except success". It is a lesson he has not forgotten. "So I try to do my best, with passion, but sometimes I feel tired," he admits.

The 54-year-old's doubts about staying on at Ferrari were short-lived. It did not take much for Giovanni Agnelli, the Fiat family patriarch with whom he is always in close touch, to persuade him to continue. But what convinced him even more, he says, was the letter he received from 400 of his 2,000 employees the day after Mr Berlusconi announced he was offering him a cabinet post as industry minister. They urged him not to leave Ferrari. "It was the best day in my career," he recalls.

He remains cautious, however. "Success is difficult to manage because you learn more from failure than success," says Mr Montezemolo. "You also have to remain humble because there is always a danger that a problem is lurking around the corner," he adds.

Every employee who joins Ferrari receives from the chairman a poem printed on a card sporting the familiar Ferrari horse logo. "The real secret of success is enthusiasm," it starts. "Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eye, it is the swing in your gait, the grip of your hand . . ."it goes on. "Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress.With it there is accomplishment. Without it there are only alibis," it ends.

At the same time, the company is reviving the Maserati brand it took over five years ago. "We shut down the Maserati factory for six months and relaunched the marque with new models." The gamble is paying off. Maserati sold 1,767 cars last year compared with only 626 in 1998, the year of the relaunch. He expects to sell 3,500 Maseratis this year with the number rising to 6,000 by 2004.

We have spent three years of deep benchmarking with the best in this area: Volvo, Porsche, Toyota. I strongly believe that if you want the best product, you need the best organisation and people and you must put people in the best condition to work," he explains.

A new €70m engine plant has just been completed. Inside, the latest robots and machine tools. The company is now about to build a new €45m paint shop.

Mr Montezemolo is already looking further ahead. He is considering developing a third leg to the company's two core businesses of sports cars and racing by pushing it into entertainment and retailing. If Fiat decides to float Ferrari on the stock market, he hopes this will release funds to develop new racing activities for Maserati as well as developing
Ferrari theme parks related to its racing and car manufacturing.

This year we will earn €18m from royalties without even really trying," says Mr Montezemolo. The potential to exploit the brand is enormous. This month Mr Montezemolo, who recently joined the board of the French retailing and luxury products group Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, opened a Ferrari store outside his factory in Maranello. He is planning similar stores in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Paris and Germany.

 

I had tried to do some research on Ferrari upper managment maybe a year ago, but I never found anything more then the PR puff & fluff.

I don't remember where I kept these Quotes from (Business Week, or some financial newspaper articles from Europe) But I posted this thread because its hard to get any real business insight into Ferrari management... most is written in Italian

What I gained so far..... the fact that Luca has a successful background in sunglasses and skin care products.... that's bad news for the guys that think Ferrari already markets its name to too many products. The Man in charge has small product marketing in his blood. So I don't expect it to stop before it gets worse.


I still love to know who they are grooming for the next CEO? How people advance in Ferrari, who heads each department, and what's some of their personal background and personality. Best way to learn about a company...(just for fun) but it might help me guess if there going to go back to mid-engine 12 for 575 replacement if I knew a bit about the man that heads the 12 R&D. Or are they going to stay Retro Design for future cars?

Sure We can wait for Ferrari to tell us…. But that's no fun