a hotel chain, and the most profitable department store chain in Italy. The family also had a sizable holding of real estate, including large commercial holdings in and around the family hometown of Treviso and in New York City. Forbes estimated that the Benettons were worth $1.5 billion (Fuhrman, 1988, 122).
Observers believe that the Benetton Group's success in Italy has been the result of a management style rooted in the resourcefulness and devotion to hard work of the people of the Veneto region of Italy, where the Benetton family grew up and continues to live. President Luciano Benetton made a decision in the early days of the company to subcontract, a strategy that has cut down on the number of employees and freed the company from many government and union controls. Early on, Benetton also introduced management systems in production and marketing that resulted
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