Business in Barcelona

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE AND CULTURE

IN BARCELONA, SPAIN

Northern Kentucky University

Abstract

Our company is getting ready to expand to Barcelona, Spain. We currently have over 1,000 stores in the United States and our looking to expand our options over to another country so we have chosen Barcelona, Spain as a great location to do business. We cater our clothes to young adult teens both boys and girls at affordable prices. I am getting ready to send my top manager in the company over to Barcelona to negotiate with the business executives that we will merge with. The store manager I have picked knows how to speak 5 different languages including Spanish, but has never traveled to another country before. I would like the adjustment to be an easy transition for her so I have paired her with a business executive in Spain who will show her around and also serve as a translator until she is well adjusted. We will overview Spain and its background in this paper. As a business we take pride on negotiating and working with other business executives. We will also go over strategies with how people in Spain do business. We will talk about meeting etiquette, negotiating, proper dress, relationship building and who and how to entertain. The most important thing we need to start out with is some of the history of Barcelona, Spain and how this relates to the way we will conduct business with this culture.

Business Etiquette and Culture in Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is Spain’s main port and commercial area that is why it only makes sense to open a business in this beautiful city (“Barcelona,” 2013). It is in between France and Morocco and their main port encounters much traffic. The recognized language in Barcelona is Catalan, which has become rejuvenated (“Barcelona,” 2013). My business executive from Spain will help make this transition easier on my new store manager because my executive can translate if necessary during business meetings or meals. The city of Barcelona is a beautiful and a well recognized area of Spain. At the center of the city is what some call the “Gothic Quarter” which has wonderful medieval buildings that include cathedrals and churches thus sharing the importance of religion in Spain (“Barcelona,” 2013). About 94% of people in Spain are Roman Catholic and the other 6% practice a different religion (“Spain-Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette,” 2004).

Immigration has been a factor in the growth of Barcelona (“Barcelona,” 2013). The economy is up to date and has a thriving stock exchange and is a major international commercial financial center according to Britannica. It is easy to get a around Barcelona due to the great public transportation system made up of buses, subways, cable cars and surface railways. The city is a vital European shipping center in which trade is a big part of the economy (“Barcelona,” 2013). Being able to move goods in and out easily provides us with more opportunities to expand our business practices.

The government is run on a parliamentary monarchy (“Spain-Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette,” 2004). Much like America they have elections held every four years. Barcelona has an interesting history especially about their language which mentioned before is Catalan. A Civil War broke out in 1936 and the fall in 1939 is what led to the final surrender of the Republic (“Barcelona,” 2013). The defeat led to the loss of rights and privileges which includes the Catalan language and these privileges were not restored until 1977 (“Barcelona,” 2013). Catalan’s take a stern pride in their language and it is spoken by almost 17% of the total Spanish population and the official language in Catalonia although Spanish is the primary language of Spain’s culture (Dray, 2012). Also, Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games in 1992, which helped bolster the city’s economy and restore the city once again.

Business in Spain

When we think of being an individual we think of being independent and self reliant. Determining whether you are a collectivist or an individualist might take time. America is an individualized culture I mean we are taught from birth to be self reliant and independent and if you’re not the consensus is that you’re a loser. We put emphasis on our personal well being and success over others at times. Research done by the Hofstede Centre shows the United States at a 91 compared to Spain at a 51 on the individualist scale. Spain falls right