Like any country that is not your own and with which you have little prior contact, doing business successfully in Spain means getting to understand the Spanish mindset and familiarising yourself with the basics of the Spanish potilical and economic organisation. This is a country that has only relatively recently emerged from a brutal dictatorship; one that until 1975 kept its business potential firmly under government control.
Our mini guide to doing business in Spain is designed to provide a potted version of how one should ideally interact with Spain and its citizens to ensure success in a dynamis and highly innovative business environment.
Situated in south-western Europe, Spain's geographical diversity encompasses landscapes that range from deserts and coastal beaches to snow-covered mountains. Present-day Spanish culture, deeply rooted in tradition, has been carved by the many outside influences the country has endured throughout its long history. Spain's diverse and unique regions are not only geographically and climatically different, but form an eclectic blend of personalities and identities. Appropriate and effective business etiquette in Spain can only be successfully applied through an understanding of this well-developed and highly elaborate culture.
Spain is a democratic parliamentary monarchy. The monarch, His Majesty King Juan Carlos I, is the Head of State. The Monarch is responsible for ensuring that the country's institutions operate in accordance with the Constitution and ratifies the appointments of the most senior public officers in the executive, legislature and judiciary.
The parliament (Cortes Generales) is vested with legislative power. The parliament is comprised of two Houses: Congress of Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) and Senate (Senado). Representation is based on a 350-seat lower house which is usually made up of the two main parties, the PSOE - Socilaist (Partido Socialista Obrero Español and the PP - Conservative (Partido Popular). Other smaller parties including the Catalan Nationalists (Convergència i Unió , CiU), the United Left group (Izquierda Unida , IU), the Basque Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Vasco , PNV) and other regional parties generally hold the balance of power in the normally hung parliaments. Members of parliament are elected every four years by universal suffrage.
The Head of Government is the Prime Minister, currently Mr Jose Rodriguez Zapatero, leader of the PSOE.
For administrative purposes, Spain is organised into 19 Autonomous Communities. While the Constitution recognises the right of these various regions to autonomy, it also emphasises the indissoluble unity of the Spanish State. Each Autonomous Community, including the Autonomous North African cities of Ceuta and Melilla, has its own assembly and executive government. Their powers vary considerably, with some, such as the Basque Country and Catalonia, enjoying relatively extensive powers, including regional policing, education and health services.
In terms of Spanish policy towards Europe, since emerging from its relative international isolation during the Franco era, Spain has steadily become a more active and important player in international affairs. Europe is the central focus of Spanish foreign policy. Spain joined the European Community in 1986 and was one of the founding members of the Treaty on European Union, which was signed in Maastricht in 1992. As the European Union's fifth largest country in terms of population, output and production, and second largest in terms of geographical size, Spain has become an influential economic player and trade competitor, not only within the European Union and with Latin America, but also in the wider global marketplace. It receives generous assistance through the European Union's structural and cohesion funds and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
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Last Updated ( martes, 06 noviembre 2007 )
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