Job Profiling – a study of the Italian fashion-luxury retail sector

Fashion- luxury is one of the most important industries in Italy. Previous research projects revealed a good maturity in terms of application of Supply Chain Management practices in fashion-luxury. Yet in retail the knowledge of Supply Chain topics resulted still underdeveloped. This surprising result – as retail is one of the most relevant stages of the whole luxury value chain –opened an interesting research avenue, with the long-term goal of improving relevant knowledge of retail operators. This required understanding which are the most relevant knowledge areas for retail operator, which on turn required mapping job roles and responsibilities. The present paper thus aims at answering three research questions currently unaddressed by the scientific literature: 1) Which are the job roles characterizing the Italian fashion luxury retail sector? , 2) What are the activities carried out in the Italian fashion luxury retail industry?, and 3) Is it possible to define a taxonomy of responsibilities for each job role? Thanks to an articulated research methodology structured in 5 Steps, data have been collected and systematized through interviews with 9 senior managers working for large Italian fashion luxury companies, analysing the job descriptions of 100+ job postings found online, carrying out an explorative survey with people employed large Italian fashion luxury companies. Results were validated in a workshop with academic experts and triangulating different responses. Key findings are: a list of 95 Job Roles grouped in 7 categories; 58 activities, organized in 7 categories; and a matrix in which activities typically associated to each job role are classified into Core Activities, Potential Activities, and Non Relevant ones. The present paper lays the foundations for a larger project aiming at defining training resources in the knowledge areas of Supply Chain Management, directed to professional employed in retail and distribution in the fashion-luxury business.