Spain’s Multinationals: the Dynamic Part of an Ailing Economy

The Elcano Royal Institute is a think-tank for international and strategic studies that analyses world events and trends from a Spanish, European and global perspective.

The Elcano Royal Institute's Working Papers are longer documents of an academic nature - usually between 12,000 and 15,000 words long, with footnotes and bibliographies - on current international affairs of relevance to Spain or on different aspects of Spain's foreign policy and security.

Spain’s outward direct investment continues to rise. At the end of 2010, it stood at US$660.1 billion, higher than Italy’s and Germany’s in GDP terms. More than 20 companies have attained leading positions in their respective fields in the global market. Meanwhile, exports have become the engine of economic growth. While the US, the UK, Germany, France and Italy have lost global market share to varying degrees over the last decade, mainly to China and other emerging countries, Spain’s share of world merchandise exports has remained virtually unchanged. The challenge for Spain is to keep up this performance.