Chapters authored
Cultural Heritage Tradition and Innovation in the Internationalization of Family Business: A Case Study from the Italian Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is one of the main businesses in the global economy in terms of employment, investment, trade and revenue and Italian companies are worldwide recognized as representative of cultural heritage, expertise and high-quality standards. The adoption of traceability technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFId), from the very early stage of the production chain, may help to obtain a more effective process and may also assure the origin of the garments, a key aspect in the fashion industry. The chapter aims at presenting an Italian family business, Oscalito, which has adopted the RFId technology, joining tradition and innovation in its production. A qualitative case study methodology has been adopted, to explore this experience within its context. Oscalito has applied RFId tags to each label, to ensure complete traceability throughout the production chain for each single item (and not merely by lots), fine-tuned control over the production process, and timely and accurate shipment. Thanks to their application, the production chain has been monitored and the Italian origin of the garments has been guaranteed. This research has undoubtedly some limitation due to the applied method. Deeper studies are requested in order to check a general fashion industry trend with reference to the application of RFId technology.
Part of the book: Heritage