According to the authority on Spanish statistics (INE), Spain accumulated 2.942.583 companies in January 2004. This represents about 7.2 companies for each 100 inhabitants (which is nearly double the amount of the number in the Netherlands, which is 4.0) It is generally a known fact that in Spain the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) or the Small & Medium Businesses (SMB) outnumber any other business. Much more than in Holland, although I cannot show you any information about it. Less well known is another interesting figure: - 51% of the companies are autonomous (no employees on the pay-roll). And 2,7% of the companies have more than 20 employees.
There are only a few large corporations, which shares are trades on the stock exchange. The most famous one is the stock exchange of Madrid, but there are three more; Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia. This information especially about the large number of SMB's (or Pymes as they are called in Spain) is not a surprise. Not in the last place because of the competitive Spanish Culture. A management buyout is rather a rule than an exception; if you do not agree and you have the possibility, you start a new company (or a new sports club if you cannot agree with current management). There is also a tendency to go with the internal flow of joining the economies of scale game. Recently GasNatural (Gas) tried to takeover Endesa (Electricity) which didn't succeed however. In the area of steel the Spanish Aceralia, the French Usinor and the Luxemburg Arbed will probably join forces shortly. And earlier, the Spanish largest bank Santander took over a British bank (Abbey National). On a smaller scale, in the south of Spain there is the same tendency for certain banks (the Caja as they are called, originally saving banks) to merge. This process receives incentives from the government of Andalucia, but the process is slowed done by some key players in the area. The large number of autonomous makes Spain a very flexible country, adaptive to changes in the world and local consumer markets... 2006 Hans Bool |
