Supply chains for FMCG and industrial products in Italy: Practices and the advantages of postponement

Analyses the supply chains of the FMCG and the durable goods in Italy and shows particular methods of management, points of considerable development (manufacturing postponement) and the general lack of scale economics. Postponement is a practice that is being increasingly diffused to meet better the need to manage the complexity of the growing variety of products in hand. The development of the postponement practice in Italy is determined by the specific characteristics of the industrial and distributive structure and of the suppliers of services. It may be seen that postponement is particularly suited to the Italian industrial structure if flexibly realised as it does not specifically require scale economics.