The GAP Vassilopoulos’ talk was one of the best we heard on the trip! You could really tell they supported good old fashion values and treated the work place like a family. Dr. Vassilopoulo stressed how important it is to have communication and collaboration throughout all the sectors. If one system is weak, then problems will rise. The company was handed down from his father who started it off as just a shipping business. Now they provide many different services unlike any other company. One of their services is merchandising. In this service they have people on the ground who will go into places like supermarkets and stock strategically. An example of this is putting expired products near the front, so they waste less. Another service they provide is a new type of phone wallet. This is similar to cash app or Venmo and is a newly developed service.
Dr. Vassilopoulo was so insightful and is dedicated to his work. He had so much useful advice. Something he said that really resonated with me is that the only thing that is constant in business is change. If you cannot keep up with the expectations of your customers, you won’t be successful. GAP is a company like no other because they provided so many services without being spread thin. They said they have never had a company visit them and not be impressed. I thought it was interesting that vertical integration is not a thing of the past like we learned in our pre departure class. Collaboration is so important even with your competitors. Another important concept in their company and supply chain is logistics. It’s so important that this is executed correctly so the company remains sustainable and doesn’t lose revenue. The last comment I will make about Dr. Vassilopoulo is that he said knowledge is an ongoing process and I think it’s important that we let that sink in.