Research
Basic and applied research
Our core activity consists in providing research-based evidence and guidance in the field of automotive industry and urban sustainable mobility. CAMI is committed to exploring the future of the automotive industry and mobility in two areas:
- Sustainable mobility
- Automotive industry ecosystem and architecture
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Sustainable mobility
Coordinator: Andrea Stocchetti
Scientific Coordinator: Andrea Stocchetti
The project aims at providing an overview of the main conceptual reference points and principles for urban mobility planning that have emerged over the last two decades.
Over time, the trail to urban sustainable mobility has wavered between the intellectual tension towards the setting of principles and the pragmatic predominance of indicators in the policy agendas. In our view, such a bipolar point of reference is not too far from replicating the traditional dilemma of the long-term versus short-term perspective. In the context of urban mobility very often the overall situation has deteriorated at a point that the directions of improvement are undisputed. Pollution, congestion, social exclusion, health concerns, etc., provide an inherent perspective about where the path of improvement should go, to the extent that indicators can surrogate the definition of principles. On the other hand, as the improvement progresses, trade-offs between alternative goals emerge and principles become necessary. This path would not have been possible without the set of favorable conditions that the European Union and single member States have been able to create over time.
PRIN 2022 - Unit Leaders: Pietro Lanzini, Andrea Stocchetti
The project addresses the issue of electrification in the automotive sector through a joint analysis of carmakers' perceptions of risks and opportunities, consumers' perceptions and stakeholders' expectations of new technologies.
Combining both qualitative and quantitative analyses to shed light on the public debate about the decarbonization of the European automotive sector and the business involvement in it, the three Work Packages analyze
- stakeholders’ expectations on de-carbonization alternatives,
- consumers’ acceptance of the identified alternatives, and
- companies’ responses as to implement sound strategies.
Closed research projects
Project: Responsible citizens and sustainable consumer behavior
Scientific Coordinator: Pietro Lanzini
Research on consumer behavior plays a crucial role in shedding light on “the way forward” towards more sustainable paradigms. Stemming from a thorough discussion of existing approaches to investigate responsible behaviors, it can be argued that the perspective of analysis has to be modified: integrating dimensions and perspectives which have been so far overlooked by mainstream research will help deconstruct behaviors adopting a flexible and holistic approach, and in turn provide useful insights on which to base policies and strategies.
Outcomes:
- Lanzini, P., & Tencati, A. (2023). Inside the black box of responsible consumers: Novel perspectives from an integrative literature review. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 32(2), 847-867.
- Lanzini, P. (2018) Responsible Citizens and Sustainable Consumer Behavior. A New Interpretative Framework. London: Routledge
Project: Commuters Behaviour and the determinants of modal choice
Scientific coordinator: Pietro Lanzini
The shift to sustainable mobility paradigms require the active involvement of citizens, who can determine the success or failure of public policies and corporate strategies. It is hence crucial to shed light on the determinants of commuters’ travel choices, as to provide a sound informational background. This project investigates the role of rationality, habits and values in orienting different mobility choices.
Partner: UDESC - Santa Caterina State University (Brazil)
Outcome:
- Lanzini, P., Pinheiro, D., & Jara, E. (2023). Toward a new paradigm for urban mobility in Brazil: An empirical investigation in the city of Florianópolis. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 17(4), 319-332.
Project: MIMOSA - EU Project INTERREG ITA-HR
Scientific Cordinator: Andrea Stocchetti
The Department of Management is partner of the MIMOSA Project (EU Project - INTERREG ITALY-CROATIA) led by the Central European Initiative - CEI.
Mimosa webpage
Project: CROSSMOBY - EU Project - INTERREG V-A ITALIA-SLOVENIA 2014-2020
Scientific Coordinator: Andrea Stocchetti
The Department of Management is partner of the CROSSMOBY Project (EU Project - INTERREG V-A ITALIA-SLOVENIA 2014-2020), led by the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The goal of the project is to improve the quality and the sustainability of cross-border mobility between Slovene and the neighboring Italian areas /Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Venice Province). The actions consisted in the development of a new railway connection and in a new approach to mobility planning, through the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in a set of pilot areas.
Crossmoby webpage
Automotive industry ecosystem and architecture
Coordinator: Francesco Zirpoli
Francesco Zirpoli (unit leader), Rachele Cavara, Anna Moretti, Sasha Piccione, Marco Tolotti
REBALANCE project is a collaboration between seven European universities and an international NGO. It seeks to provide insights, resources and learning materials to help foster a rebalancing of capitalism and democracy in Europe. Within the project, CAMI team explores how the interests of the automotive industry and civil society face each other in emissions regulations for light-duty vehicles and how their juxtaposition is handled by European policy-makers. This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under grant agreement No 101061342.
Outcome:
Director: Francesco Zirpoli
In partnership with Motus E and CNR-IRCRES, the Observatory focuses on the impact that the current transformation of the mobility industry will have on the structure of the Italian automotive industry. Under the scientific responsibility of CNR-IRCrES, the Observatory runs a yearly survey and produces a report.
Partners: Motus E and CNR-IRCRES
Outcome:
Public transport mobility systems are stacked in specific spaces. However, the notion and role of space is still under development in the theoretical debate of technological innovation systems, and the notion of space is inherently socio-technical. Critical questions, such as what kind of sustainable innovation can diffuse and why in a specific space still need to be addressed. In this setting, this study sets out to explore why and how space, here defined as the set of routes/itineraries that the service provider covers and the paths where the routes unfold, can generate path dependency and embeddedness in the sustainable transition from an internal combustion engine public transport mobility service toward an electrified mobility service and hence affects this technological transition.
Partners: AVM
Francesco Zirpoli (Unit leader), Bruno Perez Almansi
The increasing use of technology in the production process has led to transforming professional profiles and training needs, as new skills are required to perform changing tasks. As a result, the use of new technologies in the workplace, such as digital ones, is affecting both business organization and professional training. These changes are particularly visible in the transport industry, and especially in automotive firms. In this regard, the Italian NRRP provides significant financial resources to support the transport transition towards sustainable mobility and to reorganize upskilling and reskilling policies (Mission M2C2, M3, M5C1). The project aims to investigate the impact of the ongoing technological transition on employment and professional skills in the automotive sector. It is based on the combination of different disciplinary expertise (sociology of work and organisations, economic sociology, innovation management) and methodological approaches (qualitative surveys and data sets). The project will focus on 5 case studies consisting of companies of the automotive sector with plants in Italy and in Poland.
Closed research projects
Project: Italian Observatory on Automotive Supply Chain
Scientific coordinator: Anna Moretti
At the light of the call for environmental sustainability, the Observatory sheds light on future scenarios about the trajectories for vehicles, alternative powertrains, self-driving cars, impact of the new urban mobility paradigm.
Partners: ANFIA and the Turin Chamber of Commerce
Outcome: Yearly Report from 2016 to 2019, Serie: Ricerche per l’Innovazione dell’Industria Automotive
Project: Post-merger "network" integration: the case of Fiat and Chrysler (2019)
Scientific coordinator: Francesco Zirpoli
The project analyzed the grand organizational experiment involving Fiat and Chrysler at the light of a contextually updated variant of the Carnegie’s school’s “behaviorally plausible” approach to the study of organization.
Partners: Markus Becker, University of Southern Denmark, Josh Whitford, Columbia University in NYC
Project: Technological discontinuities and incumbents’ sourcing strategy: the case of electric batteries in the automotive industry (2017-2022)
Scientific Coordinator: Anna Cabigiosu
This project explores how carmakers manage their sourcing strategy to cope with the technological discontinuity provided by the Electric Vehicles. The study relies on a longitudinal research design and secondary sources to disentangle and correlate two separate domains: the technological evolution of batteries and the evolution of carmakers’ sourcing strategy.
Project: Traditional Industries and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: New Trends in the Creation and Protection of Innovation in the Global Automotive Industry
Scientific Coordinator: Alessandra Perri
The project, funded within the 2018 Academic Research Programme of the European Patent Office, maps the evolution of the knowledge base of the global automotive industry, with a focus on the technologies underpinning the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).