Experience
The consortium as a governance technology
Dozens of producers who compete with one another write together the rules that protect them all. Two days in Parma inside the archives and museums of a supply chain that turned the name of a territory into a piece of collective property.
On this page
Fact sheet
- Days
- 2
- City
- Parma
- Recommended season
- February to November
- Group
- 10 to 20 participants
- Language of the visits
- Italian
- Price
- Quotation on request
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Itinerary day by day
Day 1 — The name as a common good
In the morning, the Musei del cibo of the province of Parma. It is a network of thematic museums each devoted to one product: parmesan, ham, salami, tomato, pasta. You visit the one that matches the group's subject and you watch one single thing: how a written set of rules becomes a restriction everyone accepts.
In the afternoon, a three-hour working session. Each team drafts the rules for a product from their own country: what is compulsory, what is forbidden, who checks, who pays for the checking and what happens to whoever breaks them. It is the most concrete exercise in the catalog and the heaviest.
Day 2 — The archive of the ones who did the opposite
In the morning, the Barilla Historical Archive. Next to a consortium supply chain, the archive of a family company that built its own global brand on the same product. It is the comparison between two opposite strategies inside the same territory: the collective name and the family name.
In the afternoon, a two-hour closing session: which of the two roads suits a new producer, and why the answer changes with their size.
What you visit
| Place | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Musei del cibo of the province of Parma | Network of thematic museums of the food supply chain | On request |
| Barilla Historical Archive, Parma | Company archive of a food group | On request |
What is included and what is not
Included: admissions and visits to the two sites, the access requests, five hours of guided working sessions, the materials, one person from the Istituto with the group and the certificate of participation. Not included: flight, transfers, lodging, meals, personal travel insurance, tastings.
The season, and why
It is sold from February to November.
Not before 8 January, and in practice not in January either: the Emilian plain in that month is fog, and the supply chain works at reduced pace after the holidays.
August is ruled out, because of the closures.
The best window is still February-April, as in the rest of the Italian catalog.
Logistics and capacity
Parma is on the main railway line between Milan and Bologna; the museums in the network are out in the province and require a coach for one of the two days.
The maximum is 20 participants and the minimum 10. The recommended group is 15 people: it reaches the group rates without going over the access limits. Above 20 the archive visits are split in two, because an archive is not an auditorium.
Cover
The program includes an accident and public liability policy for the whole stay. The sums insured, the insurer and the policy number are published once it is taken out and are attached to the contract; until then they can be requested in writing, with an answer within two working days.
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