Zara used joint ventures in larger, more important markets where there were barriers to direct entry, most often ones related to the difficulty of obtaining prime retail space in city At the end of 2001, 20 Zara stores in Germany and Japan were managed through joint ventures, one in each country. interests in both ventures were split 50:50 between Zara and its partners: Otto Versand, the largest German catalog retailer and a major mall owner, and Bigi, a Japanese textile distributor. The agreements with these partners gave Zara management control, so that it grouped stores in both countries with its owned stores as "company-managed." Nevertheless, the split ownership did create some potential complexities: thus, the agreement with otto Versand contained put and call options under which Zara might be required to buy out its partner's interest or elect to do so.