Over the past few weeks, I have visited numerous companies in Barcelona and seen the operations behind the scenes. One of the companies that stood out to me was a beer company named Estrella Damm. Barcelona is not a beer drinking country so Estrella Damm started by adapting beer to fit Barcelona and the Mediterranean climate. Because of this, the founder of Estrella had to concoct a beer that was much lighter and he did that using more natural ingredients. A major concept of this company was built around the idea of knowing your target audience and what they would buy. They then used this concept and cultural intelligence to market to other countries in the Mediterranean. I would say the most important thing I have learned about global business is the importance of cultural intelligence. I’ve seen many companies in Barcelona have cultural intelligence when working with international companies. This helps them communicate more effectively and preserve long-term business with other countries, which in turn provides sustainability. I saw cultural intelligence when visiting Lear because they had to source many of their raw materials from other countries in order to assemble the seats for cars or computer parts for the motherboards that go in cars. They use cultural intelligence to be able to communicate with the sourcing countries especially when it comes to timeliness of shipping. Another time I saw this was when I visited the Port of Barcelona. This is a major port in the Mediterranean because of the functionality and structure of transportation surrounding the port. There is a railway that comes right up to the port and an airport all within 15 kilometers of the port which is not common to see. At the port cultural intelligence is necessary for international trade in order to have a diverse workforce and to have smooth transactions, negotiations, and business practices. Overall, if a business does not have cultural intelligence then it is hard to have a diverse market to sell to and therefore grow your business. Having cultural intelligence and in turn diversity, leads to sustainability because businesses have a footing in multiple regions globally. Personally, I am so glad that my perspective has broadened to the concept of cultural intelligence because I had never put much thought into what it really means to have cultural intelligence and what it provides you. Seeing these companies in Barcelona has also allowed me to see that it works and businesses are actually using it. Fortunately, I can take my newfound knowledge and apply it when I pursue my career!
