Innovare nella continuità: tradizione, craft work e vantaggio competitivo nelle PMI artigiane italiane

How can artisan firms preserve tradition while continuously innovating? This paper examines how Italian artisan small and medium-sized enterprises transform historical traditions into strategic resources for innovation, growth, and intergenerational continuity. Drawing on a comparative qualitative study of four emblematic Italian firms – Aboca (plant-based nutraceuticals and medi- cal devices), Apreamare (traditional shipbuilding), Vibram (technical footwear soles), and Thun (figurative ceramics from South Tyrol) – we investigate how tradition becomes a source of renewal rather than inertia. Integrating insights from the Innovation Through Tradition (ITT) framework, the tradition-innovation paradox perspective, research on evolving craft work configurations, and the socioemotional wealth literature, we show how artisan firms do not simply preserve inherited traditions but actively reinterpret and recombine them to generate new products, capabilities, and competitive advantages. Rather than representing a constraint on change, tradition functions as a dynamic platform that guides experimentation while reinforcing organizational identity and con- tinuity. Our findings identify distinct pathways through which firms mobilize accumulated knowl- edge, craftsmanship, values, and identity to innovate without compromising authenticity. In doing so, the study advances research on the relationship between tradition and innovation by reveal- ing how craftsmanship can become a strategic capability that simultaneously supports innovation, competitive advantage, and long-term continuity in family and artisan firms.