Benetton Case Study

A detailed Summary of Benetton Case Study

CASE STUDY: "Building The Benetton System", Werner Ketelhoehn.

Benetton, having been around since 1965 has had some massive changes and events to respond to and so I feel that a timeline of the events since the company was founded to be of significant use.

1960's; Development of Lucianos competitive advantage (discussed later).

1965 - Benetton was founded and the first factory was opened in Ponzano.

1966 - Widening of the existing company-subcontractor relationship.

1968 - First Italian store opened in Belluno.

1969 - First foreign shop opened in Paris.

1970's; The Benetton Group expansion to represent a family of brands which include 012, Sisley and Jeans West.

1970 - Hasten expansion by building upon the partnership system developed in Italy.

1972 - Revolutionary production system concerning garment dyeing (discussed later).

1975 - 'Benetton' logo becomes a well known retail symbol and their product range is expanded to include the 30+ age group.

1980's; The growth strategy of Benetton was based around the acquisition of subcontractors and raw material suppliers.

1983 - Advertising and sponsorship campaign in preparation for the global launch.

The next item unique to the Benetton system is the discovery that, if a second Benetton store opened across the street from another, sales for both expanded. This, it was believed, was due to the existence of intra-Benetton competition, which was created by the groupings of stores in one location.

Benetton have remained competitive in Italy due to the massive exploitation of technology resulting in a lot of the competition being forced to relocate abroad. Referring to the case, the revolutionary production system in place at Benetton was only one aspect of the business subject to technological advance. Colour became the most critical fashion factor which led Luciano to adopt a system that would manufacture complete garments in off-white wool allowing them to dye them at a later date according to the market information. Though more expensive, it was also more profitable.

"nurturing a healthy disrespect for tradition has powered the relentless advance of Benetton."

1986 - Marketing of Benetton watches.

children's stationary with the Benetton logo on the product.

Benetton's entrepreneurs are seen to be at the forefront of the Benetton business as you would expect. These agents were essentially separate entities as they were not directly employed by Benetton. This yielded some handsome rewards for them as it meant that the agents were responsible for their own franchises and success or failure was always down to them. Having said this, it doesn't seem like failure for an agent is an option with the detailed stages Benetton went through to get the right people to be agents.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1738
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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