read the file then answer question for one Page single spaced.

The history of this pillar of the Italian shoe industry dates back to the year 1886, when the family Lazzarini established the new-born factory in the little town of Ascoli Piceno in the middle of Italy. Anyway it was not until the half of the last century, that the company became the colossal that is nowadays. In fact it was in the 50s that the soul of Pantofola d’Oro, Emidio Lazzarini, inherited his father business, who in turn had took over Emidio’s grandfather, the business founder.

Emidio managed to give new life to the company production from a personal necessity.   He was a wrestler and he wanted to design and realize a pair of shoes which could enable him to feel more comfortable and to have better performances. As a result he created a more enveloping, softer  and  suitable shoe,  which soon became the reference product in the branch of sport footwear, especially for soccer player. Since that moment on many football stars have worn Pantofola d’Oro such as Rivera, Falcão, Van Basten and Lev Yashin.

However this golden period came to an end in the 90’s, when things started to get worse for Pantofola d’Oro, due to the cutthroat competition dictated by the multinational competitors in the sector. So in 2001, to revamp the production processes of the company and to reestablished the key role of Pantofola d’Oro in the market, CEO Kim Williams together with chairman Massimo Ubaldi decided to invest also in leisurewear and in shoes suitable for other sports such as rugby or cycling, obtaining an extraordinary success which allowed the company to reinvest in the soccer segment too. Moreover with this new product line Pantofola d’Oro set foot into the fashion industry, always focusing on high quality standard and handcrafted processes, signing also the shoes worn by Spiderman in his last movie.

With a turnover of about 12,7 million dollars in 2011, a stabilized presence in 40 lands and a growth rate of 30-40% every year, Pantofola d’Oro can be properly considered a solid Italian company, which has been able to export its high qualified products and the peculiarities of Made in Italy beyond the national limits.

International operations

With the new millennium, Pantofola d’Oro has begun to extend its operating range overseas. After having served the European markets for more than a century, the Italian company has decided to conquer the customers in North America as well as in the Far East. The main overseas partners are the Usa, Korea and China, where important collaborations and agreements with big local partners  have been made; while in the Eurozone Pantofola d’Oro has great contacts with Spain, Germany and also Great Britain, where last October took place a huge manifestation in Carnaby Street to promote the typical Ascoli Piceno goods, including also Pantofola d’Oro products.

Milestone 3.2

Introduction

It is exciting getting another pair of boots you knows have been hand tailored in the same manner their inventors have been doing it for more than 100 years, this boot is assembled around legacy with a touch of class to include. Not just have these boots been high quality in the same way the organization has made them since 1886, additionally they have the same ergonomic structure, making them an ageless fantastic.

Pantofola d’Oro

Pantofola d'Oro is an Italian organization whose legacy goes back to 1886 when the old Lazzarini shoemaker's shop was established in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. It was amid the 50's when Emidio Lazzarini approached club group Ascoli to make their group soccer spikes. Within a short span, the shoe industry made strides. They were prestigious for their excellent non-abrasiveness, whilst giving remarkable ball control. Emidio Lazzarini's mystery lay in the delicate calf-calfskin he utilized and the boot's ergonomic structure, which splendidly taken after the shapes of the foot. Players, for example, Puskas, Sven Erikkson and Roger are only a percentage of the players who have worn the brand over the past half century.

Breaking In/Comfort

From their cases, these boots are simply darn right exceptional. From their novel classic look to the scent of high quality calfskin, you just about feel like you are entering a different time. At your feet, they simply feel right. A standout amongst the most astonishing parts of the boot is the sole plate. It looks so inflexible and insipid, yet it has awesome adaptability in recently the right places. Frankly, many people find that the sole plate on the Lazzarini Canguro beats a number of the huge names available.

In general, what an extraordinary boot these are right from the earliest starting point. I did not discover any problem areas and was completely fulfilled by the solace they provided all through testing.

Built with Style

Despite the fact that many individuals have affection the old school style of the Lazzarini, they are not so much going to be that simple. The general style of the boot is very distinctive to all else available and does exclude any extravagant additional items like those that you will see on new discharges. The upper is just one bit of calfskin that has been hand sewed to an extremely fundamental looking soleplate. On the off chance that you like fancy shading combos and forefront innovation, these boots will not be for you.

Added Detailing

Two vital bits of subtle element are eminent. On the external side of the boot, you will discover the Pantofola mark stamp that tells you the boots are genuine. You can tell that this was hand pressed on, as not the majority of the letters are fresh. Besides, in the event that you detest putting new bands in your boots, you will not have that issue with these! Every gap contains a metal piece that makes it super simple to guide every ribbon into the spot. This is a better bit of enumerating extra that you without a doubt will not discover on any present day boots.

Performance

At the point when on the field and in real life, these boots rank with the best. Regarding touch and control, you are going to have no designations. Despite the fact that the K-calfskin is not super thin, regardless you get a decent vibe for the ball on your foot and simply enough insurance to take into consideration sweet hits of the ball with aggregate solace. Underneath the tongue, Pantofola utilize a layer of suede as cushioning between the tongue and your foot. An exceptionally welcome expansion fills an extremely legitimate need. The major issue comes during the rainy seasons. These types of shoes can sometime take in water. In the wake of abandoning them in a shady range outside with the daily paper stuffed in them, despite everything they feel heavier than they at first were. This is sure to happen with most calfskin boots, yet many do not feel like it has been this most recognizable some time recently. Sturdiness could be an issue with these boots.

Negatives

The primary concern spins around the above highlighted issue toughness of the upper. It appears as they truly drench in water and consequently you may perceive a portion of the calfskin marginally wearing. For those of you that may solicit, the joining of the upper and soleplate won't be an issue and it is in place, importance the boots are not going to go to pieces. One other negative, on the off chance that you choose to wear white socks with these you will think twice about it a short time later as the shading in the calfskin drains.

Conclusion

Everything about this boot is justified, despite all the trouble, particularly the old school feel you get while wearing them. They simply overflow class and offer incredible execution on the field. In the event that you need my recommendation, I say verify your claim a couple at any rate once in your vocation. You are going to need to pay a high cost to get a couple from Europe, so unless you have cash blazing an entire in your pocket, take a risk and clutch the trust that Pantofola bring some of their boots to the US in the not so distant future.

Milestone 3.3

There are many brands that manufacture and sell soccer shoes on an international scale now a days. Among the brands elected by consumers as the best soccer shoes on fans websites are: Nike, Adidas, Mizuno Diadora, Under Armour, Warrior, Lotto and Ryal. Those are the main direct competitors of Pantofola d’Oro. Regarding indirect competitors we also find national and local brands, lower quality and lower price brand.

Pantofola d’Oro is a very traditional brand, still making handcrafted shoes with high quality and luxury. The brand has a reputation for excellence and focus on high-end clientele that is willing to pay a higher price in exchange of that quality and luxury. Also, Pantofola is well-known for shoe’s flexibility and capacity to adapt to each foot. So quality, fashion design, flexibility and brand reputation are the main strengths of the company. On the other side, the main weaknesses are the fact that, because the brand makes handcrafted classical shoes, it does not use new technologies and synthetic materials that make the shoes lighter, like carbon fiber. One of the main critics of the customers is the fact that the soccer shoes cannot be used in the rain since they get too heavy. Another critic is that the colors of the leader come out in the socks. (I wanted to put that last phrase in a better way but I didn’t know how – if anyone knows please correct it!)

Pantofola recently entered in the American market at the end of 2012, but it main market is still Europe and, mainly, Italy. The prices in American dollars vary from $60 to $120 on the official online store. Lotto for example, sells good quality soccer footwear for a lower price ($20- $75), as well as Mizuno.

The company has three partners that are helping the growth abroad: Safe Way s.r.l for technological and accident prevention development; Calzaturificio Time that develops specific shoes for children and Officina for the design of leisure time footwear.

The main challenges faced by Pantofola are expanding the market for kid’s soccer shoes, where it needs to predict the best country and region to make that expansion, find a buyer o distributor of the shoes in those markets that contributes to maintain the brand’s reputation and provides good feedback about distribution, sales and critics. Another challenge that Pantofola faces is dealing with technological solutions for shoes, in other to make them better for its customers. (for example, using carbon fiber or near field communication technology).

The principal threat that Pantofola faces when trying to expand its market share to other countries comes from the direct competitors, specially Nike and Adidas, that together have near 65% of soccer equipment worldwide market share. Nike recorded soccer-related sales of $2.3 billion in 2014, whereas Adidas reported $2.7 billion in revenue on the same period. To defend that business, both companies spend many millions of dollars sponsoring teams and individual players, as well as on advertisement. The equity that those companies already have and the reputation and customer loyalty are huge barriers for Pantofola.

Adidas and Nike good reputation and high sales around the world, especially North American and Latin America (but also Europe) represent their main strength; together with the fact that they research, develop and use the newest technology possible to make their soccer shoes (which is really appreciated by the clientele) and, as they have many fabrics they can produce a lot of shoes in a short period and boost their sales. Those brand also have many famous sponsors around the world. One weakness would be the fact that those brands are not as traditional as Pantofola (Nike was created in 1964 and Adidas in  1924). Pantofola is consider a more luxury and exclusive shoe since it is handcrafted and sold in a smaller scale.

MILESTONE 4

Identify market success factors

4a Taking into consideration the Pantofola d'Oro necessity of growth, the most important elements to highlight in the field of geography and demography are the size of a country and its market as well as the age distribution.

Country and market size

It should be elected a country or a region with a high population density so that the number of potential customers is quite substantial and significant. The more possible future consumers there is, the most probability of success the firm has. So even if the country size can be a good indicator of the market size, it’s more important to consider the vastness and the growth rate of the market itself, because maybe a little region can be more profitable and attractive than a bigger one.

Age distribution

It’s essential to evaluate the age distribution. Pantofola d’Oro’s next challenge consists in the development of a product range suitable for children and teenagers who play football. So it’s important to get into a market with a population mainly composed by young people (approximately between 5-15 years old)  and by parents who pay attention to their children activities. Moreover in a future perspective it can be positive to select a market with a high birth rate.

4d Cultural environment factors are fundamental to understand the possibility of success that an organization can have in a particular market. For Pantofola d’Oro the main points to take into consideration in this field are three:

    Class structure

Every society in every country is composed by social classes whether they are explicit or not. The belonging to a particular class is given by different constituents such as wealth, by personal assets and incomes,  power, which corresponds to the capacity of exerting influence on other people’s decisions, and prestige or social status, given by a mix of educational level, working environment and origins of the person. The picture aside shows a common separation of a society in terms of social class. Now, taking into consideration the high product quality and the price (between 107-160$) of Pantofola d’Oro products, the company should concentrate its efforts on a market with a middle class (both upper and lower) really interested in sneakers and professional sport shoes.

 Customer preferences and tastes

Potential customers of Pantofola d’Oro shoes has to have well defined tastes and preferences which above all appreciate and appraise three elements: Made in Italy, high quality standard and the guarantee of a great product, because these are the characteristically attributes of the product. In fact shoes are completely produced in Italy following not only an artisanal production process but also the rules of style and fashion so that we can definitely speak about made in Italy and not about Italian made. Moreover the materials used to sew these shoes, such as leather and canvas, are of a very high quality, which justifies the price of the final products. Finally the history of the brand itself is an end user guarantee, as this company has been operating since 1886 collecting success after success.  

   Interest of customers towards sport

Pantofola d’Oro was born as a firm mainly focused on the production of football shoes but since the 80’s it has been starting widening its perspective producing shoes for other sports such as rugby and cycling to find new market opportunities. Therefore another important market factor is composed by how much people practice these kinds of sport and how much are they interested in wearing very comfortable shoes to improve their performance.

Milestone 4

                                                       Introduction

PESTLE analysis is used as a tool by the companies before starting business in new country and to track the environment of that country. PESTLE is the mnemonics in which denote P for political, E for economics, S for social, T for technology, L for legal and E for environment.

Economics Environment factors:

These factors show the economic performance of the country and have a direct impact on the company. For example increase in inflation rate of any economy would affect the pricing strategy of product and services of a company. In addition also affect the purchasing power of the consumer due to which demand and supply also affected. There are following economic factors discuss below:

Income level:

income level has a direct impact on any business the purchasing power of an individual depend on his/her income if income of an individual is high he can buy more.When income level falls, it decreases the demand of the product and services and at the result of this company sales and profit also decrease

Unemployment :

if unemployment rate in any country is high, that’s mean business can obtained labor at cheaper price, if unemployment rate is too high, than consumer spending less which shows the insufficient sale of the company which is not good. And when unemployment rate is low, it may cause the expansive labor, on the other hand the benefit of lower unemployment rate, rise in consumption of goods and services. When people have job they have money to consume more products and services.

Infrastructure development: Infrastructure is an important variable for judging the countries, regions and states development. Infrastructure is basically the physical and organization structure needed for the operations of enterprise.

Ease of doing business:

Always invest in that market where less trade barriers and promote the foreign direct investment. Company can invest in foreign market by two ways, Acquisition and Greenfield. Always invest in that country in which inflation rate is low, tax charges should be less.

TEAM GERMANY

Germany

Germany can certainly represent an important key end market for Pantofola d’Oro due to different factors which identify this country as a great commercial partner for Italian companies and especially for our client organization.

Geographic and Demographic factors

If we compare Germany to other nations all over the world it can be easily observed that this country is relatively small with a surface area of about 357127 sq.km. However it’s population density is pretty high (229,2 people per sq.km). So even if the size of the country is quite small, it’s high density population is a positive indicator to start analyzing the German market.

Another important element to take into consideration is clearly the age distribution, since the organization is focusing its attention on a future market where children and teenager football shoes can be profitable. In Germany young people between 0-24 years, constitute a consistent part of the population, even if not the biggest, as shown in the diagram below.

Moreover the country is quite close to Italy and this can be evaluate as a positive factor in terms of logistic, transportation and commercial exchanges.

Economic Environment Factors

Even though the deep economic crisis which since 2007 has been upsetting the whole world, including the European Union, Germany has turned out to be the EU member which has managed to face this dark period in the most efficient way. In fact Germany occupies the 4th position in the world’s largest economies and it’s the leader country in the Eurozone. Its economy is supported by well-developed  infrastructures as well as continuous investments in constructions and a low unemployment rate (6,5%). Moreover the private consumption in 2013 reached the amazing value of 1.6 trillion (triple if compared to the data of 2000) and the income level is about 30 721$ per capita per year. Those are all significant data which support the thesis that Germany can be a very profitable market. Furthermore German is the first Italian commercial partner both in the fields of export and import, with a bilateral commercial value estimated at more than  91$ billion. Finally, Germany and Italy share the same currency.

Political and legal environment factors

The German political economy is associated with the word austerity, since it has imposed some strict rules to follow on the nations of the EU in order to get out of the crisis and restore the public debt. However, Germany doesn’t impose any specific restriction to commerce or investments in general and it’s also appreciated for its political stability. Probably in this field the principal thing to highlight is called “Italian Sounding Association”, born last February to protect the made in Italy products against products which look like made in Italy ones but they are not. In fact in Germany many products are advertised with Italian words or using the color of the Italian flag trying to dupe consumers. So in order to avoid any misunderstanding the association is involved in distinguishing really made in Italy products from fake ones.

Cultural environment factors

As said before, Germany is a wealthy nation with a fairly high income level. However there’s a problem related to this issue known as unequal distribution of wealth among different social classes as well as among different geographic region. On the one hand there’s a great difference between wealthy family and poor family which continues to increase, on the other end East German regions are poorer than South and West German areas. However in general Germany is a nation where people live well and where the poverty rate is lower than in any other EU country.

Taking into account the preferences and tastes of customers it’s possible to claim that German customers show a clear preference to Made in Italy products and a significant sign of this approach is given by the newborn “Italian Sounding Association”. In fact even if over the last months there has been a stop to the Italian export, according to the data of 2007 Germany was the made in Italy shoes’ first buyer with 44 million shoes bought.

For what concern football and Germany, this is a tradition as well entrenched as in Italy, even more emphasized by the last World Cup, won actually by the German team. German people loves soccer and playing soccer, in fact more than 6.5 million people (8% of the whole population) play football regularly and take part in one of the 27000 existing football clubs all over the country.  

Conclusion

The Italian textiles and clothing sector has improved its export performance towards German of  (is it the correct preposition?) 4,1% over the last year and so Pantofola d’Oro could find good growth opportunity in this land too. However the German market displays a very high level of competitiveness and in order to have success, it’s essential to introduce highly qualitative products, which can be easily recognized from all other competitive items, and to manage to detract market share from competitors.

· There are a few big competitors in the German soccer market. Specifically, Puma and Adidas. In the beginning, two German brothers were creating one company when they split off and one create Adidas while the other Puma. Both of these companies are huge competitors in every market, especially such a big soccer country like Germany. Germany’s leading scorer on the 2014 World Cup Champion Team, Thomas Muller, scored his goals wearing Adida’s F50 Adziero. Nike is attempting to make a move on Adidas in international soccer markets, however Adidas has a strong hold. Adidas outfitted the World Cup champion, and star Lionel Messi.

· http://www.thestreet.com/story/12736727/1/adidas-looks-to-beat-nike-for-soccer-dominance-in-2014-world-cup.html