Financial Times

Barcelona has transformed itself into a design mecca

IAN MOUNT FT

The story of Barcelona fashion designer Andrés Sardà follows the ascendant arc of his city’s fashion industry, from regional producer of utilitarian clothing to international fashion hub. In 1898, his father Baldomero sold church headscarves known as mantillas españolas. After they went out of style, Andrés Sardà launched an underwear company in 1962. The aim...
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Social commerce strategies

WB

The story Wishbuuk is a Facebook application which was created after Fnac, the French books and music retailer, approached Flash2Flash digital, a marketing agency, for help introducing its brand into social networks. While marketing agencies such as Flash2Flash have helped brands create Facebook fan pages to attract followers, converting these followers into customers has...
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Black market cigarette sales jump in Spain

Black market cigarette sales jump in Spain

(Español) “Because of the recession, and falling purchasing power, the problem of black market tobacco seems to be getting worse,” said José Luis Nueno, a professor of marketing at the IESE business school.
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Case study: AJE – taking on bigger rivals

By José Luis Nueno, Miguel Bazán and Silvia Rodriguez The story. In the 1980s, growing conflicts led mainly by guerrilla movement Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), forced Eduardo Añaños to flee his family farm in the Peruvian countryside for the small town of Ayacucho. To support his family, Mr Añaños launched the soft drink Kola Real...
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Football, funding and MBAs By Mark Mulligan

Football, funding and MBAs By Mark Mulligan

  When arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona clashed in their first football fixture of the 2010-11 season, there was more at stake than the top slot in Spain’s premier league. The match, between the world’s two wealthiest clubs with combined revenues last year of more than €800m was played at a sold-out Camp Nou...
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Tax break helps city make exhibition of itself

As the global economic crisis casts a pall over some of Catalonia’s most important industrial sectors, small victories are being celebrated as if they were resounding triumphs. The fact that this year’s Automobile Fair is going ahead as planned in Barcelona is a case in point. After the cancellation last month of next year’s...
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Professor uncovers the detail in retail

Professor uncovers the detail in retail

(Español) About 15 years ago José Luis Nueno, a young Spanish marketing professor and business consultant, was asked to research the men’s affordable fashion market in Spain, with particular reference to a competitor called Inditex. The secretive Galician company, whose Zara brand was taking the high street by storm, was about to roll out a...
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Penalties of a superstar strategy

Leslie Crawford Real Madrid overtook Manchester United last year as the world’s biggest football club by revenues. And yet fans of the Spanish club are not celebrating. The business prowess of Florentino Pérez, construction magnate and president of Real Madrid, has not been matched by sporting success on the field. In fact, Real Madrid...
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