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This work is addressed to everyone who asks himself what will be, in the near future, the information needs for the consumer industry. This paper is thus addressed to people working in information technology, marketing, organization or general management. Their interest will be over the whole book and, particularly, in the chapters regarding the general objective and solutions architecture for the industry and retail environment. This works derives from various personal experiences out of which I chose the two real cases which are presented in the initial chapters: in both cases the real problem was to shift the company information focus from the support of internal processes to the analysis and evaluation of the market scenario in which the companies were acting.

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Franco Miotto.Studies in Physics/Computer Science in Italy (Scuola Normale Superiore), Switzerland (CERN), USA.CIO in fashion companies (Moncler, Diadora) and COO in apparel (Belstaff) and shoe company (Ballin).Professor of Enterprise Information Systems (Venice University-Cà Foscari) and Supply Chain Management (Università Cattolica-Milan.

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