The literature on internationalisation processes in family businesses has boomed with the emergence of new approaches and different perspectives. One of these schemes analyses the so-called born-again global firms, mostly technology companies, which experienced an internationalisation process after one or more serious incidents affecting it. The case of Ines Rosales extends the frontier of the meaning of a global born-again firm to firms in industries and traditional products. One of its most striking aspects is that the flagship product is centennial and based on basic ingredients. In addition, the production process of the firm mix production by hand and mechanised developments. Inés Rosales shows the ability of a family Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in a process of internationalisation even in culturally distant markets through the traditional cake of olive oil.

This work focuses on the origins of the Fierro Group. Ildefonso Fierro (1882–1961) was one of the most prominent businessmen of Franco's regime. Fierro's case study presents two features that distinguish it from other Spanish family firms founded in the first half of the twentieth century: its high degree of diversifcation and its peculiar financial history. Prior to the commencement of the Franco dictatorship, Fierro had managed to form a diversifed family business and had bought a bank to finance his industrial activity. This article analyzes how he achieved this and compares his path with that of the Japanese Zaibatsu.

This study presents the first results of an on-going study of longevity of large Spanish family firms. Its main objective is to provide solid data for a topic in which opinions are more abundant than scientific statistics, as well as to identify the keys to the survival and competitiveness of the almost 250 firms included in the study. It concludes that this reality is not just the result of two decades of integration in Europe or a fortunate endowment with some natural resources, but the outcome of a long learning process and the combination of two factors: specialization in market niches in which the state had no strategic interests and the creation of personal networks of cooperation and influence within and outside Spain.

The Averly foundry in Saragossa is an enterprise belonging to the mechanical constructions branch. It opened in 1863 with eight workers, and by the end of the XlXth century it employed one hundred workers. This article tries to understand the labour policies developed by this family enterprise, as a function of its market outlook and its type of work organization, based on a division of jobs and tasks by qualifications. Looking at these policies, we consider this firm as an example of what is called «flexible specialization», with productions adapted to demands and customers' needs.