García-Margallo proposes to make a “radical” change. / Picture: La Razón.
Eva Cantón. Madrid.
“We boast very little about what we do, and he who does not advertise, does not sell”. This line, uttered by Fernando Ruíz, president of Deloitte Spain, underscores the philosophy of the Association of foreign multinationals for Marca España which launched yesterday in Madrid. In attendance were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo and the High Commissioner of Marca España, Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros.
Formed this year by around twenty companies, the platform seeks to promote our country’s image and attract foreign investment in order to propel economic recuperation and generate employment.
Some of the challenges include increasing investment in research, development and innovation (I+D, in Spanish), gaining a greater industrial percentage, bettering worker skills in languages to enable them to compete in a global world and striving to develop a cutting edge technology sector.
“Spain is well positioned in a lot of things, but it has some homework to do” believes Barbara Navarro, in charge of Google in Spain, who also highlighted the regulatory aspects and its impact on innovation.
For Diageo, world leader in the alcoholic beverage sector, the strength of the Spanish market is not only in its size but in the widespread culture of celebration and a Mediterranean consumer pattern that leads the company to have its best performance, after the UK, in Spain.
However, the confidence of the consumer, which has felt the effects of the crisis by reducing spending in the hospitality sector, and the level of unemployment are the principle weaknesses, according to the company’s General Manager in Spain, Newton Freire.
For the CEO of Siemens Spain, Rosa García, the premise must be to maximize turnover and profits, not only outside Spain but in the country itself too, and in order to do this the value of the brand must be heightened. “One has to act as an ambassador at home, and explain to Spanish society the importance of our businesses, so they don’t see us as foreign bloodsuckers”, illustrated García.
The Government wants to make the foreign sector the motor of the economy
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, has agreed to listen to the preoccupations of the multinationals in order to eliminate the barriers that make their work in Spain more difficult, and he encouraged them to pass on to public opinion the advantages for employment of a greater liberalisation.
The Government’s purpose is not, according to García-Margallo, “embellish” the pre-crisis economic model, but to make a “radical” change to pass from a model based on private debt, the prominence of the housing market and the loss of competition to one led by the foreign sector. “Multinationals now have a different horizon”, he said.
