Italian Knitwear Firms
Italian knitwear firms use an anci
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Italian knitwear firms use an ancient method of production by which homeworkers use their own tools and workplaces to convert raw and semi-finished materials owned by large manufacturers into finished goods. This is quite different from the factory-oriented output used by other clothing and textile industries in modern industrialized nations. Lazerson (1993) notes that within both the Marxist and liberal paradigms of economic development, this sort of small-scale production would eventually give way to larger and more complex organizational forms, yet these firms persist in following the old ways. Lazerson finds that this is true in Japan as well, and in both countries "small firms dominate important production activities from numerical control machine tools to textiles" (Lazerson, 1993, 403). The issue is how efficient can this method be, and it is argued that Italian home production in this industry has shown that it can be as efficient as the factory production of knitwear represented by Benetton. Can Italian home production compete with the factory methods of Benetton? The Benetton Group, with sales of $2 billion, is the largest Italian producer of casual wear. The Benettons entered the clothing industry 25 years ago, and 20 years ago they opened their first store. There are four Benetton brothers who run the company. In Italy they built their company into the country's most dynamic and successful apparel exporting company. In 1987
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cut and sew the cloth into sweaters.
Other subcontractors press, inspect, mend, and package these sweaters.
Additional steps may be required depending on the needs of the buyer and the type of material. These steps might include the sewing and pre-ironing of the cloth prior to its cutting, the dying of the already assembled sweater or the washing of it to soften it and remove excess animal hairs, embroidery, and button-making.
Subcontractors also rely on homeworkers for performing individual tasks.
PRODUCTION IN A KNITWEAR FACTORY
The basic steps in the production process are the same in the knitwear factory as in home production, though the different steps are all performed in the same locale and may be performed by machine instead of by individual artisan workers. These processes are concentrated in one place, but this also entails a larger bureaucratic structure to see to it that materials are acquired, cloth woven, goods produced, and orders filled according to specifications. Many of these steps are accomplished with less direct involvement by any given worker and without the personal touch that is often provided by the homeworker.
A company like Benetton operates in a manner not entirely unlike the Italian
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Some common words found in the essay are:
ISSUES CONSIDER, PRODUCTION Lazerson, INTRODUCTION Italian, KNITWEAR FACTORY, Benetton Benetton, Luciano Benetton, Benetton SpA, Cited Fuhrman, Benetton Group's, City Forbes, home production, lazerson 1993, italian home production, factory system, company benetton, italian home, compete factory, production knitwear, system compete, knitwear factory, production industry,
Approximate Word count = 1479
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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