Today was another very long day to say the least. Long, but probably the most informative so far.

Fashion is a form of speech in Italy and all across the world. While visiting the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore we were able to gain a more “school standard” educational description of the fashion industry in Italy. We got a class lecture by Francesca Rinaldi on the fashion supply chain that spoke specifically about trends in business models and sustainability. It was interesting to see the similarity between Italy and the United States compared to France in their society’s general preferences of “ready to wear” clothes vs couture clothes. Francesca also spoke about Italian business models which were very similar to American business models that follow a Porter-type analysis that we learned about in the course Managing in Complex Environments. It was surprising to hear that the structure of their companies would be so similar to American companies since fashion is of much higher value to the Italian economy. Additionally, both Italian and U.S. companies are trying to switch to a more sustainable approach to operate their business, which shows that while there are differences in business management among cultures, there are also many similar components that everyone must keep in mind. One difference in a successful supply chain between Italy and America is inventory. In most Italian stores, inventory is forever changing so there is less unsold stock to reduce risk of failure, while in the United States many stores have a variety of constant pieces that individual’s wait to buy on sale. Main takeaways from this lecture are the common similarities and differences between supply chains in different cultures as well as the need to stay up to date with the public/environment’s demand for how to stay in business.

To end the day, we went to the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology and were shown many cool exhibits related to historical cultural progressions in Milan. Like I mentioned earlier, the day was full of information but allowed us to learn more about Italy and Italian culture from an Italian perspective. Tomorrow we go to Como and I’m very excited to experience our first company visit to learn more about Italian business operations.