Benetton Group Case

I have chosen to feature Benetton Group, a global luxury fashion brand, in the final assignment in order to investigate the strategic development affairs of this global family business.

Benetton was founded in 1965 by the Benetton family. Founders of the firm were Luciano, Gilberto, Carlo and Giuliana Benetton. Benetton currently has a network of over 6500 stores in 120 countries around the world and generates a total turnover of 2 billion euro. Its core business is fashion apparel, whereas the group is characterised by its Italian character whose style, quality, and passion are clearly seen in it brands.

Benetton inspired me as a family business model. The family of Benetton with their hard work and vision, managed to expand their brands outside Italy's boarders and be established as one of the most well-known clothing line companies. The group invests in an innovative, future - oriented commercial development policy designed to meet the complexity of the world market, leveraging growth opportunities wherever they arise.

In addition, during my fieldwork I've found enough secondary data in the Group's official web site to present the Benetton family business.

The methodologies I will use will be:

Firstly there will be an attempt to present the historical and strategic development across generations. Secondly present the Business profile as well as the group structure of the business and the role of family executives. Also I will present the genealogical tree and the Ownership structure in an attempt to indicate which shareholders are passive and who are not. Additionally in order to indicate the close participation of the family in the groups' management I will present the board of directors and the role that each member of the family holds. Furthermore, the role of the family in the business will be presented via the 3 circle model, the family owner - manager business dynamics, which as we will see is becoming more complex since the second generation is involved in the business. The 3 axis development model will be focused on ownership, business and family axis and will give the growth picture of the firm. Since Benetton is a multi-generational firm I will present the perpetuation regime of the firm. In addition to the above this assignment will present the family business succession planning and give a FOMB - SWOT diagnostics and prognostics for the firm. Since Benetton is a listed company I will provide financial data, flotation, VC deals.