At the dawn of the 20th century, Spain was largely an agricultural country, which exported mainly primary goods to Western European nations. Yet the achievements of the Spanish economy during the last forty years of the past century were impressive. Spain’s GDP per capita has quickly converged with those of the richest nations over the last few decades and, even though it has recently suffered a great deal, the Spanish economy retains a prominent position. Spanish corporations were important protagonists in this catch-up process. In this work, an analysis of the performance of certain Spanish companies has been done based on two samples in five benchmark periods. The first sample includes the very biggest business within the country. The second one aims to provide a broader view and is made up of the largest company in each industry and up to five 'wild cards'. The work begins by exploring the economy of the country since the end of the 19th century, focusing on its achievements and on Spanish industries' and companies' dynamics. After describing methodology and sources of the research, the contribution analyzes the trends that characterized the performance of Spain's companies in the long run, and compare them with their European counterparts. One section aims to study how the ROE of Spanish companies evolved in different industries, showing that median ROE remained quite stable over time whereas, on the other hand, the mean values oscillated more and presented particularly high values during the 1950s. Another section is devoted to the analysis of the Holding Return performance. In contrast to ROE, the investigation shows that holding period return values were very variable over time. From the data we have at the moment, the Spanish big business experience in the 20th century seems to have been one of high profitability. This means that the perceived risk was above average, and the returns were expected to be higher than normal. Spanish experience underlines the consistency of its profitability data with the flow of foreign capital. Since Spain, for most of the century, was a net importer of foreign capital, it comes as no surprise to see that returns were higher in Spain than elsewhere.

Spanish business performance in the twentieth century

BINDA, VERONICA;
2016

Abstract

At the dawn of the 20th century, Spain was largely an agricultural country, which exported mainly primary goods to Western European nations. Yet the achievements of the Spanish economy during the last forty years of the past century were impressive. Spain’s GDP per capita has quickly converged with those of the richest nations over the last few decades and, even though it has recently suffered a great deal, the Spanish economy retains a prominent position. Spanish corporations were important protagonists in this catch-up process. In this work, an analysis of the performance of certain Spanish companies has been done based on two samples in five benchmark periods. The first sample includes the very biggest business within the country. The second one aims to provide a broader view and is made up of the largest company in each industry and up to five 'wild cards'. The work begins by exploring the economy of the country since the end of the 19th century, focusing on its achievements and on Spanish industries' and companies' dynamics. After describing methodology and sources of the research, the contribution analyzes the trends that characterized the performance of Spain's companies in the long run, and compare them with their European counterparts. One section aims to study how the ROE of Spanish companies evolved in different industries, showing that median ROE remained quite stable over time whereas, on the other hand, the mean values oscillated more and presented particularly high values during the 1950s. Another section is devoted to the analysis of the Holding Return performance. In contrast to ROE, the investigation shows that holding period return values were very variable over time. From the data we have at the moment, the Spanish big business experience in the 20th century seems to have been one of high profitability. This means that the perceived risk was above average, and the returns were expected to be higher than normal. Spanish experience underlines the consistency of its profitability data with the flow of foreign capital. Since Spain, for most of the century, was a net importer of foreign capital, it comes as no surprise to see that returns were higher in Spain than elsewhere.
2016
9780198749776
Cassis, Youssef ; Colli, Andrea; Schröter, Ham G.
The performance of European business in the Twentieth Century
Binda, Veronica; Carreras, Albert; Tafunell, Xavier
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11565/3992607
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