“We came to stay 100 years and to consolidate our Latin American investments.” Juan Villalonga, July 1998. Former Chairman and CEO, Telefónica   As José María Alvarez-Pallete, chairman and CEO of Telefónica, was receiving his well-deserved Award of Businessman of the Year at the U.S./Spain Chamber of Commerce in December in New York, I had the chance to congratulate him and share with him the memories of the case study I had written about the company in 1999. Telefónica led the Latin American expansion by Spanish companies in the 90s, paving the way for the likes of Repsol, Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, and Endesa (later bought by Enel). The firm helped start a surge of ambition among Spanish companies. […]