Business strategies and key success factors for automotive retailers: the case of dealers groups in Italy

The automotive distribution industry is undergoing a profound reorganisation because of many pressures that include saturation of demand and intense competition, falling margins and increasing fixed costs (especially representation standards), and developments in information and communication technologies. This work examines some of the features of such reorganisation with a specific focus on larger players (dealer groups), investigating their strategies and the key success factors. The results are drawn from a survey and semistructured interviews conducted in mid-2007 with 22 of the 50 largest dealers operating in Italy.