Doing Business in Barcelona – Ruby Wei

One of my favorite parts about our trip to Spain was touring Cellar Diaz and learning about their operations. They are a small wine business with the goal of branching out and increasing production. They asked our advice on what they could change or implement in order to bring them closer to this goal though, this business interaction was unlike the ones I have seen at home in Texas. Comparatively, Spaniards seem to have a collectivist approach when doing business and place high importance on building trust and friendship between their business partners. For example, the owners of Cellar Diaz, Roquel and Miguel, were very friendly to us (an American group of college students). They gave us multiple samples of their Vermuth, asked questions about us, took lots of pictures with us, and even joined us when sampling their final product. When we wanted to purchase their product, Miguel packaged and brought the wine to us, instead of us having to go back to their store. They really put a smile on my face and, to me personally, gave me another reason why I should and would continue buying their product. Another characteristic that caught my attention, was how friendly their workforce was. Specifically, their waiters (who do not typically get tips by the way). At almost every restaurant/cafe, their workers knew how to speak good English, asked us questions, and offered great recommendations for not only food but touring their city! It was impressive to me how upbeat and helpful their workers were overall (compared to Americans) considering how they (typically) do not work for tips. I highly recommend this experience to anyone who is considering going abroad. Even for non-business majors, this is an amazing cultural experience that one needs to have crossed off their bucket list!