Case Analysis of Barilla Spa

Towards the middle of the excerpt, Bourdain mentions several different types of pasta: “spaghetti alla chitarra, linquine, garganelli, taglierini, fusilli” (33). Bourdain specifically states in the beginning of his novel that his main targets were those in the restaurant business, but he includes everyday people in his audience as well. These pasta names may seem normal to those in the restaurant business, but to the common English reader, whos food knowledge is limited to random phrases picked up from watching cooking shows like Top Chef, it’s a list in a foreign language. This evokes overwhelmed and lost feelings in readers due to the sheer amount of unknown words. Therefore inducing a better understanding of how out of place Bourdain may have felt because of his

The Italian culture has been developed into a staple of American life, especially with a preexisting history ingrained into communities across the United States.

This lead to an increase in imports from Italy and many finding jobs selling these items. As people found jobs selling imports there grew to be tiny shops on the streets to which became Little Italy. An important staple within the community was bread. When reviewing the Baldizzi’s meals each one consisted of bread. Often times the Italians would make a stew of some sorts and would dip their bread in it completing their meal. Bread for the Italians is like tortillas for Latinos, it is a common reliable food that enhances their meal. There is a proverb by Mary Taylor Simeti that states “If I had a saucepan, water and salt, I’d make a bread stew-if I had bread.”

It is what feeds the culture and its people. In Italy pastas are a staple to the arsenal of food items they enjoy (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). Food varies by region and personal preferences, but overall there are common similarities among Italians. Pasta, canned veggies, and coffee are important in the Italian culture (Parasecoli, 2004). Pizza is also very popular in Italy; there are many pizza restaurants all over the country (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). The food dishes in Italy are exactly what you would expect. In addition, wine is important at almost every meal (A. Nadalini, personal communication, October 19, 2016). Specifically, local wine is the preference of many Italians (Parasecoli, 2004). Overall, Italy has an abundance of food choices and a unique way of preparing each dish. Food is a major component of the Italian culture because most of the meals are shared with family and close

Additionally, forward buying activities from distributors due to frequent trade promotions and volume dis-counts enforce the effect of demand fluctuations. During promotions, distributors buy huge amounts of pasta at a lower price. This forward buying leads to lower demand in future periods and contributes to high peaks in or-der quantity and low levels of orders in the following periods. Connected to this problem is the incentive system of the sales force, which relies heavily on trade promotions in order to achieve quarterly targets. Another factor related to these aspects is batch ordering and

Growing up in a small town has the advantage of being a close-knit community, unfortunately this also meant that exposure to foreign delicacies is not a common occurrence. As a child, I developed a strong dislike for any foods that I viewed as abnormal, and became quite a finicky eater. Thus, my familiarity with Italian food is somewhat limited to restaurant dishes, and recipes that friends exuberantly claim to be a crime if not made. While being a student in Victoria, I have had the opportunity to live in various different areas, some of which were next door to outdoor markets. Much like the markets described by Braimbridge et al.,(2005) in The Food of Italy, the bread was baked fresh daily, the produce fresh and locally

The core problem facing Barilla is the high degree of demand variance that it experiences by product and throughout the year. The main causes of the demand variance are limited visibility downstream, and reliance on promotions to push product downstream.

Looking at the fluctuation in Exhibit 12, one could expect that poor coordination in the supply chain would increase costs. Provide a discussion for the cost of poor coordination in Barilla’s supply chain. Items to consider here include production changeovers or setups, inventory levels, facility utilization, transportation costs, quantity discounts and promotions, canvas periods etc.

Last December Police in Italy found 7000 tons of phony olive oil headed for supermarkets, and stores all over the world(Whitaker). The agricultural mafia or agromafia of Italy has taken over the food industry in Italy, and many of the traditional Italian foods that people and tourists eat are phony. Tom Mueller, a journalist who has lived in Italy for twenty years, and routinely speaks with food investigators, and producers said, “Easily half of the bottles that are sold as extra virgin in Italian supermarkets do not reach the legal grades for extra virgin oil”(Whitaker). This information could not have been found without muckraking, and people all over the world would still be paying great amounts of money for adulterated italian cuisine.

While the JITD program has many beneficial it also has its drawbacks. One of them is the perception that the power will be transferred to Barilla, as one of the distributors was quoted “we would be giving Barilla the power to push product into our warehouses just so Barilla can reduce its costs.” Another drawback is that some of the distributors are not comfortable or willing to share their warehouse data, which is a vital piece in order for JITD program to work. Furthermore, it might be hard for some retailers to report daily sales simply because they might not have the point-of-sale technology at their stores.

Sarto’s gourmet pasta process good information about the market and knows a great deal about the common attributes of our most prized and loyal customers. Sarto’s gourmet pasta will leverage this information to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how sarto’s can better communicate with them.

Doing business in Italy is very different than in the United States. “Set to move onto a slow, but steady, path of economic growth;” Italy, at first glance, seems to be a promising business environment with projected increases in GDP per capita in the coming years, according to Business Monitor International (“Italy Autos Report” 30). However, there are many cultural, administrative, geographic and economic differences that make the business environment much different than that in the US. Generally dominated by domestic carmakers, mainly Fiat S.p.A., the auto industry in Italy doesn’t look very appealing for new firms because of the high barriers to entry. However, foreign carmakers like Ford have managed to penetrate the Italian

Pasta is produced with various types of raw material, including wheat and egg. If the supply of raw materials has high level of fluctuation, (which may be caused by weather condition or cost of raising chicken) then the production and supply of pasta will be influenced.

Because of the way Barilla’s manufacturing process works, demand fluctuations have a significant impact on the company’s operations. Tight heat and humidity specifications in factory tunnel kilns require very specific sequences of pasta production, which means Barilla has limited flexibility in ramping up (or ramping down) the production of pastas experiencing unexpected demand levels. Furthermore, because of extremely high holding costs, it is simply not economically viable for Barilla to maintain substantial finished goods inventories to guarantee fulfilling distributors’ fluctuating order quantities.

The AAA region was hit by a period of economic uncertainty caused by the slowdown of Chinese growth, instability of Middle East and economic recession in Russia. The Barilla brand market share in value terms increased in all of the key markets in this area: confirmed position as leading competitor at national level in Russia, market leader in Turkey, and further expansion in Middle East and Israel markets with an aggressive dedicated strategy. The substantial investment in the Solnecnogorsk (Russia) for pasta manufacturing will significantly improve flexibility and profitability in this area (Barilla,