Marche #WalshGlobal

Noah Drlik 

#walshglobal 2

            

            The Marche Weekend trip was an experience unlike any other. In a span of two days, we visited one of the top vineyards in all of Italy, one of the largest producers of egg pasta in Italy and a designer shoe company.  Marche is a beautiful region nestled in between mountains and the Adriatic Sea, a place for businesses to thrive.  The first site visit was a wine manufacturer called Umani Ronchi.  Umani Ronchi is a company who thrives on remaining a family business. No matter how large they have become the company has stuck with the original family plan.  Umani Ronchiproduces red and white wine and own the vineyards in which the grapes are grown.  All distillery is done at the Umani Ronchi’sheadquarters. The company sells to the worldwide market and have become very profitable. With that being said, I do not believe Umani Ronchi would be successful in Ohio due to the climate. The Ohio climate of snow and inconstancy would not allow Umani Ronchi to grow the grapes like they can in Marche.  Ohio would not be the best state to have a distribution center in, Umani Ronchi would need a state closer to the ocean in order to keep shipping costs low.  Umani Ronchi’swine would sell easily in the state of Ohio, however, it cannot be made in Ohio due to the poor climate. I really enjoyed the Umani Ronchitour as well as the wine tasting. I appreciated the company and its employees, as well as their presence in making the community surrounding the company a better place.  La Campofilonewas the first site visit on the second day of the Marche trip.  La Campofiloneis a company that makes one of Italy’s top-selling egg pastas.  The company is another family-owned business that sells to consumers around the world.  La Campofiloneis unique, because they combine grain and egg to make their pasta, which gives the pasta about fifteen grams of protein per serving.  La Campofilonegrows their own wheat as well as, housing over six thousand chickens.  The company does not outsource any of the pasta making processes, yet still remain a very profitable Italian company.  La Campofilonewould is a company that could do well in Ohio because Ohio has the climate to grow grain and raises chickens. However, the market for unique pasta such as egg pasta is not very large.  La Campofilonewas my favorite site visit of the Marche trip.  I found the company to be welcoming to us, students. The employees enjoyed our presence as much as we enjoyed theirs. La Campofilone Is a well-run family business that I wish nothing but success in their future.  The third and final site visit on the Marche trip was Preventi. Preventi is a small designer shoe producer that uses 100% Italian leather.  The company is owned and operated by Danilo’s friend, Sauludo.  The visit to Preventi involved two different stops.  The first stop was where the shoes are made.  This place was small and had shoes everywhere you looked.  The manufacturing facility did not only make Preventi shoes, but they also made shoes for Huego Boss, Armani, and Gucci.  It was a great experience watching the step by step process of how a shoe is made by hand.  The second stop on the Preventi visit was the place where the shoes are finished and shipped off.  This facility is also family owned and the family welcomed us with gratuity. The Preventi shoes get a paint job, polish, and cleaning before shipping them off to the Sauludo for delivery. The shoes are absolutely stunning, as they should be looking at the price tag.  Preventi shoes are very pricey and that is because of all the manual labor and expensive materials that go into every Preventi shoe.  I believe thatPreventi would have a difficult time selling their shoes in Ohio.  The shoes are too high end and expensive for the Midwest. Preventi would need to sell to the East or West coast to target areas that have more money than Ohio. I enjoyed the Preventi tour and cannot wait to meet Sauludo.  I was amazed at how successful the three family companies are that we visited in Marche. They were very welcoming to us and I hope to visit the companies again someday.

Market analysis #Walshglobal

Market Reflection 

Noah Drlik

            In Rome, the word “Market” is a loosely used term that can describe two places that share the same name but not the same things. One form of “market” can describe a place of diversity, while another “market” form brings a place of authentic Italian Culture.  This is the case comparing the “markets,” Esquilino and Testaccio.  Looking at the two markets from both a personal perspective as well as, a business perspective, brings insight into how the two differ.  Esquilino is a marketplace that is split into two separate indoor markets.  The first market is clothes, but clothes that are cheaply made and cheaply sold. This section felt dirty and grimy, causing a constant check of my pockets to make sure my wallet was safe.  The diversity here stands out to most from Roma, this “market’ is not the traditional Roma “market”.  This market brought in all different ethnic selling groups.  The sellers themselves were set up in stands to make a quick dollar on someone that was overpaying for the cheaply made clothes.  The buyers and sellers in the market exchanged business one on one.  It is a cash culture in the markets, due to the cheapness of the clothes.  All sales are final, the shops in the Esquilino market do not give out receipts, therefore no returns.   The accounting in the markets are very poor, without creating a receipt, the seller does not have an exact count of their inventory.  The assets are poorly organized and not safe because they are all out in the open ready for someone to steal.  The owner would have little idea if an item from the shop was stolen because they do not keep a strictly written inventory.  The food Market at Esquilino was chaotic, there is a lot going on in a small warehouse.  The food was very diverse, the market had meat, fish and produce from all over the world. The business side was similar to the clothing section. There was no receipt with purchase, the assets were not protected well.  The assets for those shops are the food they sell and when they leave them open to steal they are not protected. On the other end of the market spectrum was the Testaccio Market.  This market was full of Roma tradition and culture.  Food in Roma is very important to the people and their way of life; therefore, the Testaccio Market was full of shops containing Roma food.  The Market did have shops other than food but those were few and far between.  The Market had a sense of cleanliness and family tradition.  A welcoming feeling is received when entering the Testaccio market, it felt cleaner. The business aspect of the Testaccio Market was better than Esquilino, the shops accepted Credit/Debit cards and they gave receipts with each transaction. The inventory every shop was selling was usually behind glass keeping it both fresh and safe from thieves. The printed receipts also allowed the shops to have an idea of how low they were getting on certain items.  Testaccio was a more modern market than Esquilino. The Testaccio and Esquilino Market share the same name of “market “but they could not be further apart from one another.