Spain Economy

Spain, located in Southwestern Europe, is bordered by the North Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Pyrenees Mountains. With a total area of 505,370 sq km, Spain is the 51^st largest country in the world. The nation has a total population of 40,525,002, according to the 2009 CIA World Factsheet reports. Of the total population, the labor force in Spain’s economy is nearly half, at 22.97 million.

Spain Economy: Overview

Spain’s economy, which is mixed capitalist, is the 12th biggest economy in the world. In terms of per capita income, Spain is almost at par with the strong economies of Germany and France. Between 1994 and 2008, the Spanish economy grew steadily. However, Spain was considerably affected by the global financial crisis of 2007. The crisis exacerbated the nation’s GDP, and the economy entered recession during the third quarter of 2008. In fact, Spain’s GDP growth during 2009 dropped to a mere 1.2%, which was well below the minimum 2% growth enjoyed by the nation for a decade before the crisis.

Spain Economy: Employment Status

The Spanish economy has suffered from high unemployment levels for several decades. The nation’s government undertook several measures to curtail the unemployment scenario, and succeeded in lowering it to 8% during 2007. However, post-recession, the unemployment level spiked to almost 14% by the end of 2008. According to CIA reports, the unemployment level in the Spanish economy reached a record high of 18.1% during 2009. Some reasons for Spain’s dismal unemployment scenario are:

• Spain’s rigid labor regulations, which result in unresponsiveness of wages to high unemployment levels. Consequently, during a weak economy, employers in Spain are forced to layoff laborers and cut-down hiring, rather than cut their wages.
• Overly generous unemployment-benefit schemes, which make unemployed individuals casual about job hunting. Moreover, high unemployment benefits tend to push the wages up, discouraging firms from employing more individuals.

Another key reason for high unemployment levels in Spain is its rapid modernization, resulting in declining employment in the agricultural sector and other traditional basic industries. 

International Marketing

The Importance of International Marketing

The Importance of International Marketing
2007’s international trade in merchandise exceeded US$10.5 billion and world trade in services is estimated at around US$2.4 trillion.

While most of us cannot visualize such huge amounts, it does serve to give some indication of the scale of international trade today.

This global marketplace consists of a population of 6.6 billion people which is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 according to the latest projection prepared by the Undiluted Nations.

Global wealth is increasing and this is reflected in higher demand. Increasing affluence and commercial dynamism has been nations across Asia. Central and Eastern Europe emerge as high growth economics, increasing affluence and demand simply means that consumers will actively seek choice, with the result that globally competition is intensifying as companies compare to win the battle for disposable income.

Population growth and increased affluence together have helped create a ‘global youth culture’ – teenagers now account for 30 per cent of the population globally.

In many countries, more than half the population is pre-adult, creating one of the world’s biggest single market, the youth market.

Everywhere adolescents project worldwide cultural icons, Nike, Coke, as well as Sega, Sony playstation.

When virtual reality is commonplace, the one world youth culture market will exceed all others as premier global market segment. Parochial, local and ethnic growth products may face difficult times.

Older consumers are also increasingly non-national on their identity, of not their personal identity then the perspective of the consumable fabric of their lives.

They drive international cars, take foreign holidays, watch international programmes on television, use international hardware and software.

On the supply side, multinational and global corporation are increasing in size and embracing more global power.

The top 500 companies in the world now account for 70 percent of world trade and 80 percent of international investment.

Total sales of multinational are now in excess of world trade, which gives them a combined gross product of more than some national economies.

The global marketplace is no longer the summation of a large number of independent country markets but much more multilateral and interdependent, economically, culturally and technically.

Information moves anywhere in the world at the speed of light, the case of transmission being facilitated by the convergence of long distance telecoms, cuts in the cost of electronics processing and the exponential growth in internet excess.

The combination of all these forces has meant that all companies need to develop a marketing orientation which is international in nature and that companies need managers who have the skills to analyze, plan and implement strategies across the globe.

It is for these reason that international marketing has become such a critical are of study for manager and an important component of the marketing syllabus of business faculties in universities.