DESIGNING AND MANAGING GLOBAL SUPPLY N E T W O R K S - THE NEW BENETTON CASE PARTICIPANTS Arnaldo Camuffo, Ca'Foscari University of Venice, Department of Business Economics and Management, Venice, Italy Pietro Romano, University of Padova, Department of Management and Engineering, Vicenza, Italy Andrea Vinelli, University of Padova, Department of Management and Engineering, Vicenza, Italy Mara Di Giorgio, Benetton Group Investor Relations Manager, Villa Minelli, Ponzano Veneto (TV), Italy Giancarlo Bottini, Benetton Group Finance Director, Villa Minelli, Ponzano Veneto (TV), Italy

PANEL/SPECIAL SESSION/WORKSHOP SUMMARY Benetton Group is currently one of the world largest garment producer- with manufacturing facilities and stores located all over the world - a global enterprise with turnover around US$2 billions, and 7,000 employees. Since the 1980s, Benetton's tremendous growth, outstanding financial performance and innovative strategies have been widely celebrated by the press, researched by scholars, admired by practitioners, and studied in business schools almost everywhere in the world. Thanks to this success, Benetton became a world famous company, and, for many years, represented, worldwide, the archetypal example of the "network organization", "hollow" enterprise. However, globalization and new information and communication technologies have accelerated the "clockspeed" even in such a labor intensive, mature industry as textile-apparel, sharpening competition and changing the power structure across the supply chain, where, at the moment, large, pure international retailers hold a dominant position, shape global production networks and are capable of operating on the world market offering high-quality products to sophisticated, multi-ethnic customers. Within this framework, the Benetton case study illustrates how a firm can innovatively design and manage its supply chain, going against the current. The introduction of the new e-business tools, the