Informatics in Southern Europe
Despite global financial crisis, the market in Spain is growing significantly and is expected to continue to grow for the next years. But, as Isabel Muñoz-Willery and Roberto Castelnovo of NL42 Consulting discuss, success in Spain requires recognition of the particular ways of thinking and of doing business.
In the world of scientific computing, there is a tendency for the word ‘European’ to stop at a line not much further south than the latitude of Paris. Sometimes this conceptual boundary might extend as far south as Bordeaux, and include Switzerland and the north of Italy because of the many pharmaceutical and industrial companies there. Te purpose of this article is to shine some
light on the ‘southern’ part of Europe and on the Spanish market in particular – but many of the issues could be extended to the so-called Mediterranean region as a whole, without over-generalisation. An analysis of the Spanish market
necessarily starts with the economic situation in the country, which has suffered a long period of crisis. In the industrial sector, the Spanish economy is mostly based on relatively small and medium-sized companies, and global financial turmoil has affected the economy greatly. However, due to a long- standing policy of offering cost and tax incentives, Spain also has a significant presence of international companies. Despite this, the
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vast majority of local companies are family owned, and have fewer than 20 employees. Tis trend has significantly increased in the last years. Moreover, these companies mostly focus on the domestic market, even though the crisis has positively stimulated some business owners to expand geographically and look towards foreign markets, with a particular focus on the European Union, Latin America, and the rest of the world. Tis is clearly a key asset for the future of the manufacturing sector in Spain. Tanks to these difficult and risky business decisions, many small and medium-sized companies have overcome the local crisis, thanks to the success of their geographical diversification. Irrespective of country and culture, there
is a moment when an industrial concern takes the business decision to invest in informatics tools in order to meet its short, medium, and long-term goals. But an understanding of the dynamics and behaviour that can be observed in the Spanish market during the initial phase of the selection process could help both vendors and their customers make that process faster and easier – benefitting them both. Broadly speaking, there are three
scenarios. In the first, a Spanish subsidiary of an international company may be asked to implement a solution which has already been selected at global, corporate level by the mother company, and so little or no flexibility is allowed to the local team.
In the second scenario, when comes to
companies that are local to Spain, it happens quite frequently that the selection process leads more easily to a local solution provider rather than to a solution from an international vendor. Te main factor leading to this result is that a local customer will have a greater degree of confidence in a local supplier because of proximity, both from a language and a distance point of view. Tis may lead to situations where if the vendor has a location in one of the Spanish regions, this may influence the final decision.
“ Irrespective of country and culture, there is a moment when an industrial concern takes the business decision to invest in informatics tools”
On the other hand, those companies
that have initiated international expansion and developed a well-respected brand at the international level, will have developed international communication skills, and will have an excellent global vision of their market. Such companies will tend to consider international and well-known brands for their IT infrastructure, as an additional demonstration that they are a global and not just a local player in the market. All in all, the most critical factor for
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