SPAIN´S POSITIONING Leadership Key Factors 2 SPAIN'S POSITIONING 3 SPAIN´S POSITIONING Leadership Key Factors 2 SPAIN'S POSITIONING 3 4 SPAIN'S POSITIONING 5 INDEX Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................6 The Spanish language ...................................................................................................................................10 Business leadership ......................................................................................................................................14 Technologies for producing and managing energy..................................................................14 Infrastructure sector ........................................................................................................................21 Railway and high-speed infrastructures ................................................................................... 25 Aerospace technology ......................................................................................................................27 Naval technology .............................................................................................................................. 30 Automotive sector ........................................................................................................................... 30 Financial and insurance sector .....................................................................................................31 Information and communication technologies ....................................................................... 32 Other services ....................................................................................................................................33 Health technologies ........................................................................................................................ 34 Environmental technologies ..........................................................................................................37 Other industrial sectors .................................................................................................................40 Distribution and fashion industry ............................................................................................... 42 Habitat sector ................................................................................................................................... 42 Publishing industry ......................................................................................................................... 43 Post-graduate education and professional training ................................................................ 43 Agriculture sector ............................................................................................................................44 Tourism and gastronomy ............................................................................................................... 46 Sports .................................................................................................................................................. 47 4 SPAIN'S POSITIONING 5 INTRODUCTION Spain is the fourth economy in the Eurozo- Spain is one of the world's economies with ne, the fifth in the European Union and the the fewest restrictions on Foreign Direct In- world´s thirteenth largest economy by GDP. vestment (FDI). According to OECD's 2012 FDI Restrictiveness Index, it is the sixth most It is the eleventh largest investor in the world, open country to Foreign Investment. Also the with a Foreign Direct Investment stock annual report by the consulting firm Ernst & abroad of 640,312 million dollars (UNCTAD, Young places Spain among the world's twen- WIR, 2012) which represents 3% of global in- ty least protectionist countries. vestment, and the world´s second largest in- vestor in Latin America, only after the United Spain is one of Europe's largest markets, with States. 47 million consumers, who add to the more than 57.9 million tourists who visit the coun- Furthermore, Spain has one of the world's try each year. Its relevant geostrategic posi- largest infrastructure networks placed among tion for access to markets of great potential the world´s top ten countries with the best increases the Spanish economy's appeal as quality in this field, according to the “Global an investment destination: an EU member, a Competitiveness Report 2012-2013” (World bridge between Africa and Europe, and key Economic Forum). It has the world's second to reinforcing relations with Latin America largest high-speed railway network (trailing through its economic, cultural and language only China), of around 2,900 km in length, links, with access to 1.3 billion consumers. the most extensive in Europe, as well as the most modern and technologically advanced All this explains why Spain is the world´s nin- train fleet in Europe. It also has the top Euro- th economy in terms of Foreign Direct Inves- pean motorway and highway network. Spain tment inflow (634,532 million dollars, accor- is also Europe's third leading country by pas- ding to the most recent report by UNCTAD, senger air traffic and fourth in maritime go- World Investment Report, July 2012, stock ods transport, with three of its ports among data). In fact over 8,600 foreign companies Europe's top 10 (Cargo Systems). are established in Spain, resulting in emplo- 6 SPAIN'S POSITIONING 7 yment for more than 1.2 million people and great cities (New York, Mexico, Panama, Mia- a turnover of just above 400 billion Euros a mi, Rome etc.); a Spanish company distribu- year (Spanish Statistical Office, September tes electricity to 120 million people in Spain, 2012). the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil; and a third of the world's air traffic, Spain is the seventh largest exporter of com- including 100% of German air space and re- mercial services in the world, with a 3.04% cently 60% of the Chinese skies, is managed global share, and the fourth in the EU, as through systems developed and implemen- well as being seventeenth in the world for ted by a Spanish firm. exporting goods. Since 1999, Spain has been a leading European country for increase in Spain's industrial fabric is highly diversified: exports, well above Italy, France and the Uni- ted Kingdom. Since that year, Spain's share The largest corporation in the world's texti- in international trade has fallen only by two le sector, with over 6,000 shops spread over tenths of a percentage point, from 1.9% to the five continents, is Spanish. So are the 1.7%, the smallest reduction in the major EU world's top company in renewable energies, economies. This contrasts with the losses ex- the world's largest cooperative group and the perienced by other countries as a result of the world's leading firms in olive oil and rice pro- entry into the market of the emerging coun- duction. tries. If we consider the infrastructure sector, Spa- In the past twenty years, Spanish companies nish companies head the world ranking for have embarked on a concerted internationa- transport infrastructure management, opera- lisation process. At present, 62.4% of the tur- ting almost 40% of the most important con- nover of the IBEX 35 companies is generated cessions in the world (272 transport infras- abroad and in some cases attains higher per- tructures), with the leading three companies centages, close even to 100%. in the world and six of the top ten being Spa- nish. The most important infrastructure pro- Spanish companies are among the world's ject in the Arab world is being undertaken by leaders in sectors of high added value and a Spanish consortium and many engineering major growth potential such as infrastructure works, such as the expansion of the Panama management, the electricity sector, renewa- Canal, one of the largest international civil ble energies, logistics, oil refining, high-speed engineering works, is being carried out by railways, the financial sector, security, auto- consortia led by Spanish companies. motive sector, biotechnology, environmental technologies, water treatment, aerospace, Spain is also present in such important sec- naval technology, information and commu- tors as health, in which one of its companies nication technologies, health technology, e- is the world leader in the production of plas- health and electronic administration. Spain is ma-derived medicines, considered strategic also a global benchmark in the field of the so- in countries like the United States. Moreover, cial economy. Moreover, Spanish companies the world's number one cancer research cen- are also world leaders in mature sectors, like tre in terms of publications of high scientific fashion, agrifood and tourism. quality and their impact and ninth in bio- medical research is also Spanish (SCImago According to OECD figures, major Spanish 2011). companies are among the most productive internationally. They have demonstrated that Two of the world's major financial institu- they are ready to compete at the highest level, tions are Spanish, as is the top European te- as is reflected by the fact that Spanish firms lecommunications company in terms of reve- are now established and provide different nue volume. Likewise, two of the world's top services in a wide variety of sectors world- ten business schools are Spanish. wide: Creativity, organisational capacity, endea- A Spanish company runs Europe's