In 2014 the Madrid-based think-tank Real Instituto Elcano carried out a study which looked at how selected countries thought other countries perceived them, and then compared the results with how they are really seen. At one end of the scale were the Russians, who greatly overestimated how others view them. At the other end was Spain, of which the world has a much more positive view than the Spanish themselves realize.
Nothing wrong with modesty, but Spain has many areas of excellence on which Spaniards shouldn’t be shy about shining a light.
Take healthcare. Spain’s public health system obviously isn’t immune to problems of under-funding and growing demand; but it copes admirably well. Bloomberg ranks the Spanish system as the most efficient in Europe, and third in the world after Hong Kong and Singapore. Its medical schools are demanding and respected, turning out well-trained and highly sought-after doctors. And what better proof of a decent health system than having one of the longest-living populations in the world?
Should you happen to need a life-saving organ transplant, Spain is the best place to be on the planet, and has been for the last 25 years. In 2015, 4,769 transplants were carried out from 1,852 donors. That’s equivalent to 36 transplants from deceased donors per million inhabitants – France managed 26 and Germany just 11. The figures for 2016 break new records:4.818 from 2.018 donors, or 43 per million inhabitants.
A quarter of a century leading the world in transplants
The key to success is organization. Hospitals have a specialized Intensive-care doctor responsible for identifying potential donors. Families of the dead donors are given special help through their ordeal. The process is supervised by the National Transplant Organisation (ONT) for the whole of Spain, coordinating seamlessly between 17 different health authorities. The end result is shorter waiting lists and more lives saved.
While it’s no great secret that Spain is a giant in world tourism, its leadership isn’t just down to the sunshine and beaches. Seventy five million tourists made the trip last year – only France and the USA have more visitors. The Travel and Tourism Competiveness Index 2017 crowned Spain as the most tourist-friendly country in the world for the 2nd time in a row. The industry has made real strides in recent years to widen its appeal and diversify – few countries can match the range of experiences offered by Spain. Only Italy has more UNESCO world heritage sites; and Spain is 2nd in Europe for protected Natural areas, with fourteen national parks and 126 nature reserves. Its 174 Michelin starred restaurants are just the tip of the iceberg of culinary excellence. In the annual ranking put together by The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants, for seven out of the last eight years the 1st or 2nd best restaurants in the world have been Spanish. During all that time the country has had three or more in the top ten. Michelin stars aside, you can come across delicious and affordable food at the most modest looking eateries throughout the country.
Plenty to do and see
Few countries can boast a transport infrastructure like Spain’s. The underground systems in Madrid and Barcelona are both outstanding, while the high speed train network – the second largest in the world behind China – lets you cover the 390 miles between the two cities in just two and a half hours. London to Edinburgh, a similar distance, will take you four hours twenty minutes. Motorways are excellent, but its secondary road network also puts that of its neighbours in the shade. The country is full of gleaming airports – many underused, but that’s another story.
In Business schools, Spain punches well above its weight. Three of them – IESE, Esade & IE – feature regularly among the top ten in Europe. IESE was recently named by the Financial Times as the number one school in the world for executive education, for the third year in a row. Their respective MBA programmes are all usually to be found in the world’s top twenty. And the Spanish schools are recognized as the best at encouraging entrepreneurship, above such prestigious US schools such as Stanford and Harvard, with 26% of students going on to start a company. They all offer mentoring for the students’ start-up projects, with special labs or seed capital to give their pupils a leg-up.
All that well-educated young talent helps sustain the vibrant start-up scene, and is one of the reasons Google chose Madrid to locate its 4th campus after London, Tel Aviv and Seoul. “Spain, a country full of talent, culture and optimism, is rapidly becoming an international meeting place for startups and innovative projects” gushes the company in its 2016 annual report. It claims that start-ups participating in the Campus have created more than 2,350 jobs.
Google isn’t alone; Amazon established its Southern European tech-hub in the capital. For the e-commerce giant, the centre is the “demonstration of the enormous talent in Spain, and especially in Madrid”. Ernst & Young must think along the same lines, as this year it inaugurated its Artificial Intelligence Excellence Centre, where 200 highly qualified data engineers will lead the development of the firm’s data management services and act as an innovation hub for Europe, Middle East, India & Africa.
Spain also has some great companies. From its headquarters in a sleepy Galician town, Inditex, owner of the Zara brand among others, transformed fast fashion to become the most innovative fashion retailer in the world. Many of its designs are inspired by what its trend-spotters see people actually wearing on the street. By going against the tendencies in the industry and keeping a good part of the manufacturing in Spain or close by, designs reach the shops much quicker than those of rival brands. The extra swift turnaround time allows the group to make good use of real- time information on what the customers are buying and respond accordingly. It sounds simple enough, but the group’s enduring leadership shows that it’s not an easy model to copy for its already established rivals.
Few countries can boast a transport infrastructure like Spain’s. The underground systems in Madrid and Barcelona are both outstanding, while the high speed train network – the second largest in the world behind China – lets you cover the 390 miles between the two cities in just two and a half hours. London to Edinburgh, a similar distance, will take you four hours twenty minutes. Motorways are excellent, but its secondary road network also puts that of its neighbours in the shade. The country is full of gleaming airports – many underused, but that’s another story.
Building bridges all over the world…
Many of Spain’s most impressive companies are in construction and infrastructure. Entrusted with building railway and metro systems, highways and energy plants all over the globe, they have been responsible for such hugely complex undertakings as the desert-crossing Mecca-Medina High Speed rail link in Saudi Arabia or the widening of the Panama Canal. They have learnt to compete with the best and will typically earn the lion’s share of their income outside Spain’s shores – specialist engineering Group Sener, for example, earned only 3% of its revenue in 2016 in its home country.
As one of the globe’s biggest construction company, ACS is also first for managing infrastructure, a business dominated by Spanish Groups, with Abertis 3rd and Ferrovial 4th largest. Aena is the world’s leading airport operator; Abertis the nº 2 toll motorway operator. Acciona is the biggest renewable energy company, with Iberdrola and several others not far behind.
…and at the forefront of renewable energy
Spain is bouncing back well from a deep and damaging recession, and happily enough, increased exports have been largely behind the recovery. The prize for the biggest export sector goes not to the fruit and vegetable growers, as you may be forgiven for thinking, but to the manufacturers of capital goods, which make up 20% of sales abroad. Next comes automobiles, worth a mention apart. There are no Spanish-owned marques, yet by volume Spain is the number two car manufacturer in Europe after Germany, comfortably ahead of France and the UK. In an industry where political pressure to keep jobs in the carmakers’ home countries is strong, that has merit. To compete for investment with home-based plants the Spanish factories have to be more efficient. And they are, thanks to an unusual degree of flexibility on the part of the car workers and unions.
Its homegrown component manufacturers are a good example of the internationalization of Spain’s best companies – Gestamp, which makes metal parts for cars, employs 36,000 people in twenty-two countries.
Spain has also carved out a good niche in aerospace. It’s a leader in composite aero structures, low pressure turbine engines, air traffic management systems and military transport aircraft – the C295 designed by CASA (now incorporated into Airbus) operates with twenty-six different air forces.
Boeing chose Spain to locate its first R&D centre outside the US. Airbus make its tail-wings here, and manufactures helicopters in its Albacete factory. Sener is working with the European Space Agency and NASA to develop a new docking system for the International Space Station. Spain has good Aerospace Engineering departments in universities, with a high degree of collaboration with the private sector and excellent R&D facilities. Engineering talent is often cited as a reason to locate here.
Trains, planes and automobiles. Made in Spain
Other companies and industries also stand out. Sol Melia is the world’s biggest holiday hotel operator. Freixenet produces more sparkling wine than anyone else. Less visible, Viscofan is world number one in the manufacture of sausage skins (its market value in excess of €2.3bn shows just how many sausages us humans eat). Spain exports more wine than any other country, and is the top exporter of ceramics in Europe and 2nd in world.
Another study from the Instituto Elcano think-tank gives a pointer to where Spain would do well to advertise. It ranks the outside perception of various aspects of life in different countries and compares it to an objective ranking. For example, Spain is perceived to be the 15th safest country in the world, while measured by its murder rate, it’s the 6th safest. In technological innovation, according to the number of patents filed, it is five places higher than in the perception ranking. In export of audiovisual products it is seen as the 10th in the world, when in reality it’s 5th after USA, Canada, UK and France.
HSBC’s survey of expatriates ranked Spain 2nd best country in the world for quality of life. The weather, its natural beauty and its food and wines have a lot to do with this. But much of what is good about Spain is thanks to the talent of its people, and not just its soccer teams and tennis players. And without minimizing the problems in the country, or losing its natural modesty, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Spanish society to recall it success stories and build on them.
Trains, planes and automobiles. Made in Spain
Other companies and industries also stand out. Sol Melia is the world’s biggest holiday hotel operator. Freixenet produces more sparkling wine than anyone else. Less visible, Viscofan is world number one in the manufacture of sausage skins (its market value in excess of €2.3bn shows just how many sausages us humans eat). Spain exports more wine than any other country, and is the top exporter of ceramics in Europe and 2nd in world.
Another study from the Instituto Elcano think-tank gives a pointer to where Spain would do well to advertise. It ranks the outside perception of various aspects of life in different countries and compares it to an objective ranking. For example, Spain is perceived to be the 15th safest country in the world, while measured by its murder rate, it’s the 6th safest. In technological innovation, according to the number of patents filed, it is five places higher than in the perception ranking. In export of audiovisual products it is seen as the 10th in the world, when in reality it’s 5th after USA, Canada, UK and France.
HSBC’s survey of expatriates ranked Spain 2nd best country in the world for quality of life. The weather, its natural beauty and its food and wines have a lot to do with this. But much of what is good about Spain is thanks to the talent of its people, and not just its soccer teams and tennis players. And without minimizing the problems in the country, or losing its natural modesty, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Spanish society to recall it success stories and build on them.