Chile is often described as the Germany of South America. Its budgets are balanced, roads decent and trains punctual. Alongside Argentine histrionics or Brazilian flamboyance, life tends to be Teutonically staid. Successful Chilean businesses often exhibit cautious conservatism as they look beyond their puny home market of 18m people. Take Falabella, a 126-year-old department-store chain, which now employs 100,000 people across the continent and flogs everything from handbags to hand tools.
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