Many U.S. apparel retailers are choking on slow-moving inventories as consumers hold back on spending. But Spain's Inditex, whose Zara chain pioneered cheap chic, is zipping ahead. The $13.8 billion company, which is closing in on Gap for the title of world's biggest clothing retailer, has nearly quadrupled sales, profits, and locations since 2000....
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In the late summer of 2006, Raúl Suárez, managing director of Zinio Spain, was talking with Joan Solà, CEO of AccesoGroup, about how they could make Zinio into a profitable and viable business in Spain. As CEO of AccesoGroup (a prominent media intelligence and analysis company within Spain), Solà had signed a franchise deal...
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This case describes the history of the Big Brother television show format, thought up by Endemol, which represent the global launchof the “reality show” concept. Following years of extraordinary success, Endemol and its Spanish subsidiary Zeppelín are thinking about how to vary the format to recover audience viewing levels. Fillat D.; Nueno Iniesta,...
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In June 2001, Ramón Tellaeche, director of products and marketing at Banco Santander Serfín in Mexico, was considering the commercial strategy which the means of payments division should follow over the following months in order to achieve its ambitious commercial objectives. Marcial Portela, general manager of Grupo Santander’s Americas Division, had set the objective...
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Real Madrid Needs a New Goal Via cash and glamour, Florentino Pérez made his soccer club a sensation. Now on a losing streak, can it get income kicking again? Over the past two decades, Florentino Pérez has succeeded at transforming ailing Catalan building company ACS into the undisputed leader of Spain’s booming construction industry....
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In June 2004, Florentino Perez, a well-known Spanish businessman, was elected president of Real Madrid, one of the world’s top soccer clubs. In his campaign, Perez had promised to turn around the club’s finances, bring in world-class talent, and expand the club’s brand around the world through multiple channels. As re-election looms four years...
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DVDs were the biggest success ever in consumer electronics, but it seemed that many consumers missed being able to record on DVD, as they did with their VCR. Moreover, research showed that they were willing to pay premium for recording. Was this the right moment to launch the first DVD Recorder in Europe? Early...
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In the late 1990s, companies often bought huge quantities of IT for reasons that had nothing to do with their business models or long-term strategies. In a common scenario, a company saw that its rivals had bought ERP or CRM applications, say, or had signed on to participate in a B2B exchange, and felt...
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Rituals, an innovative concept in the area of home and body cosmetics, was born within the European Home and Personal Care (HPC) division of Unilever. In 2003 the company faced several challenges as it prepared to roll out its brand to other European nations, reconsider its distribution channels or find financial resources or partners...
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"European firms have been highly successful in exporting their proprietary distribution models and formats all over the world. Distribution is one of the industries in which Europe leads the world, contributing important innovations. Despite being a very heterogeneous market, the European distribution sector generally follows the same pattern that shares three future tendencies: growing...
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