Demand chain management. An experiential journey through luxury operations and retail in the high-end footwear industry

Considering the increasing relevance of luxury industry in the recent years, not only in terms of overall market value but also as subject of research in the academic community, this Master thesis identifies the winning supply chain practices in production and following delivery of high-end Made in Italy leather shoes. Traditionally, this was a trendsetter industry in design, marketing and brand image communication but unfortunately these processes are no more solely enough for sound companies without efficient and effective supply chain structures: all this considered, it is fundamental to focus on the managerial policies during production and on the downstream choices regarding distribution and sale to final customers. These are the premises of the overall research framework develop through two main different but complementary approaches: the results of the research have been gained thanks to a strategy combining real work experience in Moreschi SpA and comparative case-study method (with a sample of 5 units). Firstly, during an internship in Moreschi, I got in touch with the physical transformation process from raw materials to final product and delivery observing all the peculiarities and the issues of an industry still proud to be characterised by a high level of craftsmanship; secondly, to enlarge my point of view to all the competitors, a deep case study analysis in which I tried to find an answer basically to some main research questions searching for cluster’s evidences. The topics examined are specific characteristics of a luxury shoe’s supply chain, companies’ classification with regards to level of product customization, product variety, type of governance and volumes per year. Then I analysed supply chain configurations in terms of decoupling point position, “make or buy” choices and distributive modes adopted. Moving to the downstream side of the supply chain, I tried to understand level of retail visibility, practices regarding demand forecasting and POS assortment planning. The main research objective has been to find some common evidences in companies grouped by coherent clusters. In this way there is a focused study on the interactions between Distribution and Sales and the consequences on the upstream phases, in particular the Operations.