Vicente Carrillo

VICENTE CARRILLO is a family business dedicated to the manufacture, distribution and sale of high quality string instruments. Each guitar is unique, it is an artisan product, it is totally handmade, it incorporates more than 200 pieces. The origins of the company date back to the 18th century when Vicente Carrillo’s ancestors (the Alarcón, Carrillo and Leal families) began to manufacture guitars in the small town of Casasimarro. Vicente Carrillo Casas is the seventh generation of guitar makers. Vicente has continued with the legacy he received from his father and he has expanded the market internationally with prominent clients from Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Australia and Arab countries. Their products have great international prestige among music professionals, singers and famous guitarists. It is possible because he uses a well-defined differentiation and segmentation strategy. Currently Vicente Carrillo does not have a direct successor strongly linked to the business, but his daughter Lydia has begun to get involved with the opening of a store "Guitarras Carrillo". Lydia does not rule out also being involved in manufacturing. Master Carrillo could train his successor so that he could pass on his knowledge and skills and ensure business continuity.

Keywords: artisan guitars, inherited values, tradition, prestige, differentiation.

This case was prepared by Juan J. Jiménez and Gabriela Lagos, from UCLM (Spain), as a partial output of the Artisan Project.

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