Abstract

Stilmas is a rather small Italian company (turnover slightly lower than 50 million €) specialising in machinery for the pharma industry. This case is offering two main issues of interest. First, in spite of the limited company size, Stilmas is acting in the global business as a world leader. The business which the company is competing in shows a high complexity, both as to competition and technology. The business strategy of Stilmas has therefore evolved from being a plain "machinery manufacturer" (that drives you into a sort of «red ocean», where you need to confront many competitors mainly on price) to a higher value "solution provider" strategy. This move has driven the company among the business world leaders. Second, Stilmas is going successfully through an important project of company change management - started eight years ago - that was also a key factor for the new business strategy. The company results had been good in the years, but - in spite of that - the owner understood that the traditional company model (high centralisation around the entrepeneur) had to be transformed in view of the growing complexity of the business. The change implied a wide managerialisation of the model, through the introduction of a General Manager - who was the driver of the operation - and a number of managerial tools. A crucial ingredient of this change was a better exploitation (training, responsabilisation) of the human and professional potential existing in the company.