Ann Taylor is an American clothing design and retail chain. Unlike Zara it is not vertically integrated. We will use the Ann Taylor example to disentangle functions in the vertically integrated Zara. Ann Taylor designs clothes and places orders with manufacturers which they do not own scattered around the globe. Expected In-store dates drive production scheduling, shipments, and deliveries. Ann Taylor operates a single flow through facility in Columbus, Ohio. In the Ann Taylor supply chain, Ann Taylor is controlling entity in the supply chain that manages global (and not local optimization) optimization of the supply chain.
In the Barilla case, JITD would allow Barilla to become the controlling entity – they would be the company that would be responsible for global optimization.
Question: Why is it that in the Barilla case, the manufacturer is responsible for global optimization, while in the Ann Taylor case, it is the retailer that is responsible for global optimization?
