Insegnamento a.a. 2026-2027

• Foundations of luxury: aesthetics, prestige, and timeless value.  
• Characteristics of luxury companies: history, modes of ownership, global presence.
• International market trends and international growth of luxury companies.
• Designing luxury strategies: how to create and deliver value for modern customers.
• Executing luxury strategies: innovation, organizational change, go to market.
• Structuring and managing the luxury value chain: issues of control and vertical integration.
• Digital strategies.
• Catching new opportunities and developing new business models.

• The course is finalized at providing students with an in-depth understanding of the values of luxury, the strategic issues of the industry and the characteristics of the luxury value chain.
• Students familiarize themselves with the logics driving modern luxury brands from different sectors.
• Understand these issues, different perspectives from strategy, creativity, international business, and digital transformation are proposed.
• The conceptual frameworks and the analytical tools of the luxury world are used to describe and explore the several processes that companies have to perform.

Map and assess, based on Key Performance Indicators, core processes of a Luxury Process. Students are expected to:

• Interpret and criticize past strategic choices.
• Design a growth plan for a luxury company.  

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments

Lectures are very interactive and supplemented with discussion of articles and recent academic papers, a rich set of business cases and guest speakers from luxury companies from a variety of industries.

1. With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, students’ assessment is based on two components:

   Project Assignment (70% of the final grade)

   Students will be required to develop a merchandising project based on a realistic luxury business challenge. Working from a selected product category, participants will analyze competitors, retail environments, market trends, and brand positioning in order to formulate a collection concept.

   The project will involve multiple phases, including the creation of a moodboard and collection concept, the definition of a merchandising architecture, the allocation of products across different store clusters, and the development of a preliminary Open-to-Buy (OTB) plan. Students will be expected to justify their decisions by integrating consumer insights, brand strategy, assortment planning principles, retail dynamics, and financial considerations.

   The assignment is designed to assess students’ ability to apply the concepts, frameworks, and tools discussed during the course to a realistic luxury management challenge. It will also evaluate analytical skills, creativity, strategic thinking, merchandising capabilities, problem-solving abilities, and the effectiveness of communication and presentation.

   Written Exam (30% of the final grade)

   The written exam will consist of multiple-choice questions and short open-ended questions covering the concepts, frameworks, cases, and managerial tools discussed throughout the course.

   The exam is aimed at assessing students’ understanding of the main dynamics shaping luxury industries, their ability to interpret strategic challenges faced by luxury brands, and their capacity to apply relevant concepts to managerial situations.

   Topics covered may include, among others, luxury value creation, exclusivity and desirability management, heritage and innovation, retail excellence, merchandising, pricing and geo-pricing strategies, arts and culture, digital transformation, sustainability, circular economy, international growth strategies, and customer experience management.

The assessment method for non-attending students is based entirely on a written final exam (100% of the final grade).

The exam will consist of multiple-choice questions and short open-ended questions based on the textbook, articles, cases, videos, and all materials included in the syllabus.

Multiple-choice questions are primarily intended to assess students’ understanding of key concepts, frameworks, managerial tools, and industry dynamics. Open-ended questions are aimed at evaluating students’ ability to articulate managerial reasoning, critically discuss strategic issues faced by luxury brands, apply analytical frameworks to practical situations, and formulate coherent recommendations regarding luxury strategy, merchandising, retail management, pricing, sustainability, innovation, digital transformation, international expansion, and customer experience.

The exam is designed to verify both the acquisition of conceptual knowledge and the ability to apply such knowledge to real-world luxury management challenges.

• G. Lojacono, The Future of Luxury Customer Experience, Kogan Page, 2024, CH 1-7 and Ch. 10
• Slides, cases and readings discussed in class and not included in the above mentioned textbook are accessible on Course Reserve or saved on the Bboard Platform.

• G. Lojacono, The Future of Luxury Customer Experience, Kogan Page, 2024, All chapters.
• Slides, cases and readings discussed in class and not included in the above mentioned book are accessible on Course Reserve or saved on the Bboard Platform.