GL S.A.:the internationalization of the brand Sonatural in the Spanish Market

Abstract

The present case study was developed while finishing the master of International Management. It explores the business reality of a Portuguese Small-Medium Enterprise (SME) – GL Importação e Exportação S.A. - a well-known company in the retail business, entering into an external market, Spain. GL started its business in the retail and Horeca channels as a distributor, with a limited portfolio of products, being 90% dependent on one brand, Benecol, which nearly undermined its business activity. Over the past ten years, GL has been focused on the Portuguese market, with the goal of opening new segments in the retail chain, through added-value and innovative products, such as Benecol, ready-to-eat meals Fleury Michon, fresh fruit juice SoNatural, Snock and SoNatural Sandwiches. In 2007, through acquisitions and investments, GL acquired a sandwich company, Agua Mais, along with its brand Snock, one of the most famous and well known brands in the Portuguese market. Simultaneously, SoNatural was created as a brand launching a fresh fruit juice, a home-made product. Since then, GL‘s ambition to explore international markets started to take place. The investment in marketing activities revealed to be very effective in or order to enter in the retail stores in Portugal. SoNatural opened a new segment in the juices and nectar sector due to its production method for preserving foods, by a High Pressure Processing (HPP), achieving the maximum benefit from the non-thermal technology. Even though it was designed to be an innovative product, GL‘s entering strategy in Spain did not have any immediate success due to the lack of resources and strategy plan for investment. The present case will raise some fundamental questions on how the change of a culture process in a SME is important; the difficulties of entering to an external market and, therefore, the strategy to overcome those issues, which may be seen as a consequence of the internationalization process. Using the data, mostly provided by GL, combined with a large collection of qualitative information, a perspective and knowledge of the Spanish reality was captured, allowing the development of the present case study. The case also provides a reflection of the challenges faced by national companies reaching external markets, in a competitive market. The case study objective would be to consolidate business knowledge, providing with a full insight of a real business practice.