1. Thoroughly review the attached website, paying particular attention to the section on doing business and investing in Barcelona. Describe your top 10 reasons a US-based company might want to expand operations to Barcelona.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona’s location is perfect as it acts as a gateway to Europe, Africa, and Latin America as well as stands as the center of an emerging economy growing within the Eurozone.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona’s connectivity to the world is important and unique as it is the only southern European city to contain one of the biggest Mediterranean ports, high-speed train station, international airport, and roads that connect to the rest of Europe, making it one of the most important logistical areas for its location.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona is a powerhouse when it comes to being a force behind a large economic area, promoting its economy and knowledge through advanced services and enterprises.
[if !supportLists][endif]Within the entirety of Spain, Barcelona is home to 90% of the 5000 foreign companies that exist within Catalonia. These foreign companies are mostly Japanese, Italian, North American, French, Austrian, and Swiss based companies.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona’s strategic sectors show strength in their links to new technologies and sustainability, which offers plenty of business and investment opportunities.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona contains two of the top 25 business schools in the world, ESADE and IESE, as well as eight prestigious public and private universities. These schools have shown influence in the workforce as 48% of employees hold jobs in intensive knowledge services.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona shows ambition in their city’s strategic projects by keeping with modern times and reinventing its urban-planning.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona’s long tradition of commerce and enterprise has allowed them to be entrepreneurial and responsible in their work within the city as well as be open to doing business in other, potentially foreign, markets in order to create new companies.
[if !supportLists]Barcelona is the top European city with the best quality of life for its workers and has successfully held this position for 14 years.
[if !supportLists][endif]Barcelona has worldwide prestige due to the fact that various independent international comparative studies and analyses favor the city.
2. Expand your search beyond the attached website. Why might a US-based company hesitate to invest in Barcelona?
Today, a US-based company might hesitate to invest in Barcelona because of its struggle with politics. Recently, Catalonia has struggled with their independence from Spain and because Barcelona is part of the Catalonian area, it affects everything pertaining to the city. This could potentially cause business operation issues, which would not be a favorable factor in deciding whether or not to move forward with investing in Barcelona.
3. Choose a US-based service company that is NOT currently doing business in Barcelona (this can be a large or small firm). Imagine you are a manager of international operations who has been asked by the CEO to determine if expanding to Barcelona makes sense for the firm. In the form of a one-page executive summary, make a detailed business case for or against expanding to Barcelona. Support your case with available facts and data.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast-paced company within the fast food sector that has seen steady growth since it began its operations in 1993. Our company is known for its simple menu and endless combinations, allowing our customers to develop their own satisfying creation at every location. Our ability to provide this kind of food customization allows us to eliminate unnecessary costs and work to be ahead of the competition. Today, we operate over 2200 restaurants in the US, Canada, and Northern Europe. This shows our global impact and awareness as being steady, but can and should always be improved through further expansion.
In particular, one location that we should seek to begin business operations in is Barcelona. Barcelona is an important business hub as they are the leading provider for connectivity to Europe, Africa, and Latin America. On top of this, Barcelona houses a powerful economic and business area with their advanced knowledge and use of services, creating easy potential for a company like ours to successfully begin operations. They hold prestige in various international studies and analyses and their ambition to keeping with modern times only makes the potential to operate that much better.
Two issues to pay attention to in terms of investment include political issues and cultural factors. The political issue has to do with Catalonia’s struggle for independence, which has caused unrest especially within Barcelona. The possibility of business interruption is high until the political issues can be resolved. The cultural factor is that with their quality of life being so high, business operations may be interrupted as they prioritize siestas, or resting hours, in their every day life. This would mean revenues might not be as high as what we see in our other locations, but this could be combatted in other ways.
Aside from these negative factors, there is clearly a great potential for our company in Barcelona. We have seen success in our popular French and German locations, and with some minor changes to accommodate the culture and lifestyle we will easily be able to succeed with expansion in Barcelona. Starting with expansion in Barcelona will not only allow us to grow further into Catalonia, but eventually will allow us to step foot into the rest of Spain.
