IESE Insight

Barcelona Sells: BCN Brand's Rapid Ascent

Oliver, Xavier; Sicart, Sara Eternal summer? An urban, stylish lifestyle? What does Barcelona evoke for you? BCN Brand plays to the public imagination of the city of Gaudí and beauty on the beach, selling everything from colorful sneakers to fire extinguishers. The case study, "BCN Brand: Selling Barcelona Around the World," tracks the marketing moves and asks what comes next.

Pau Gasol: Courting a Successful Career

Álvarez de Mon, Santiago; Flores Alonso, Juan Enrique Now playing with the Chicago Bulls, the Spanish basketball player has managed to fill his career with successes. Which have been his best moves? Santiago Álvarez de Mon and Juan Enrique Flores look at Gasol's professional trajectory, taking into account the game plans, contract terms and more.

Aernnova: Where in the World?

Calvo, Eduard; Orozco, Jesús Arturo; Estrada, Miguel In 2007, Spain's leading maker of aircraft structures, Aernnova, planned to internationalize its operations and become more cost competitive in the process. Where in the world should the company go? To China, where its clients were heading, or to Mexico, with its cultural similarities and other benefits? Eduardo Calvo, Jesús Arturo Orozco and Miguel Estrada analyze the dilemma.

Suchard: This Christmas, a Farewell to Traditional Advertising?

Villanueva, Julián; Güell, Rocío; Sánchez-Lozano, Santiago For decades, the chocolate turrón of Suchard has been a fixture on the Christmas tables of Spanish consumers. Although the Suchard brand was well known for its traditional ad campaign each holiday season, a new management team considered changing the communication strategy dramatically. Would a change in tack pay off?

Teaming: Solidarity as a Business Model

Lucea, Jaime; Ribera, Alberto Teaming is an online platform for an altruistic initiative with lofty goals built on micro-donations. A case study traces Teaming from the personal story of its founder, through celebrity boosts by singer Shakira and former Barça coach Frank Rijkaard, to ambitious expansion plans -- modeled on solidarity.

Picture This: Olapic Catches the Next Wave of e-Commerce

Roure Parera, Joan; Segurado, Juan Luis Buying a jacket online? Whose photographs are you more likely to trust: the brand's catalog shots or crowdsourced images, uploaded by unbiased customers? If you opt for the latter, you're not alone -- and you're one of the reasons that Olapic is growing so fast. An IESE case study follows the story, from three business school students to a successful startup.

Working in Iraq: The Choice Between Safe and Right?

Al-Rikabi, Ammar; Ribera, Alberto In February 2015, Baghdad's decade-old curfew was finally lifted -- a sign that life might be getting back to normal. But the same day, violence once again gripped the nation. In a very personal case study, IESE MBA grad Ammar Al-Rikabi reflects on the time he spent working in his home country and the dilemma it caused him.

It's Not Easy Being Green

Berrone, Pascual; Ricart, Joan Enric; Blázquez, María Luisa The world's greenest city: this was Gregor Robertson's goal for Vancouver when elected mayor in 2008. He set 2020 as the deadline to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent and fill the city with new parks. IESE's Pascual Berrone, J.E. Ricart and Maria Luisa Blázquez examine the results in this case study.

Can Bitcoin Gain Legitimacy?

Zamora, Javier; Rahnema Alavi, Ahmad; Tatarinov, Katherine For all the hype surrounding bitcoin, relatively few companies actually accept it for payments. Will bitcoin be able to find favor in South American hotels where credit card payments can be delayed and fees run high? An IESE case study poses this question with its implications for the future of virtual currencies.

Hedge-Fund Activism and the Fight Over Herbalife

Vandebroek, Tom; Ferraro, Fabrizio; Simon, Jan Imagine being the CEO of Herbalife, the global nutrition product company, during its most tumultuous of times. This IESE case study examines how Herbalife is being fought over by three of the world's most successful activist shareholders: Bill Ackman, Carl Icahn and Daniel Loeb. Ackman's billion dollar bet is that the trading value of Herbalife will approach zero. Icahn and Loeb think otherwise.

Cases