Global Market Entry Project -Part I
Marketing 481

Table of Contents
General Country Information 3
Flag 3
Geography 4
Population 4
Production 5
Cultural and Social Analysis 5
Values 5
Religion 5
Languages 6
Ethnicity 6
Social Structure & Educational System 7
Place on Figure 2-2 & 2-3 7
Political and Legal Analysis 7
Type of Political and Legal System 7
Elections 8
Government Involvement in Economy 9
Legal System’s Effectiveness 10
Assessment of Market Attractiveness 10
Corruption Level 11
Economic Analysis 12
Type of Economic System 12
Development Level 12
Works Cited 12

General Country Information
Flag

The flag of Spain like any other country’s flag have sentimental value to the people of Spain. It is designed with three horizontal stripes of red and yellow. It is formatted with red on the top and yellow in the middle that is double the width of the red, following with a red stripe at the bottom. In the yellow stripe, there is a figure of the national coat of arms closer to the left of the flag. The figure represents “the emblems of the traditional kingdoms of Spain (clockwise from upper left, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Aragon) while Granada is represented by the stylized pomegranate at the bottom of the shield; the arms are framed by two columns representing the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; the red scroll across the two columns bears the imperial motto of "Plus Ultra" (further beyond) referring to Spanish lands beyond Europe; the triband arrangement with the center stripe twice the width of the outer dates to the 18th century. The red and yellow colors are related to those of the oldest Spanish kingdoms: Aragon, Castile, Leon, and Navarre” (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK).

Geography Spain is located is Southwestern Europe and shares borders with the Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, and Pyrenees Mountains, France, and Portugal (Minorka). However, Spain is not the biggest of countries, but it is a decent size. It is 505,370 sq km with a breakdown of 498,980 sq km land and 6,390 sq km water. In comparison to the world, it is the 52nd biggest is size, and being approximately twice the size of Oregon (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK). Spain’s climate is “temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast” (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK). With this weather, Spain often faces periodic droughts and sometimes flooding. The natural resources consist of: “coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land” (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK).
Population
The population of Spain is 47,042,984, and is the 27th biggest of countries compared to the rest of the world. A breakdown of the populations of age structure with male and female is: “0-14 years: 15.1% (male 3,646,614/female 3,435,311), 15-64 years: 67.7% (male 16,036,556/female 15,637,090), and 65 years and over: 17.1% (male 3,389,681/female 4,609,532” (Minorka)(WORLD FACTBOOK).
Production
Spain produces many things but is better known for their production of wine. “Located on the Iberian Peninsula, Spain has over 2.9 million acres (over 1.17 million hectares) planted—making it the most widely planted wine producing nation[1] but it is the third largest producer of wine in the world, the largest being France followed by Italy.[2] This is due, in part, to the very low yields and wide spacing of the old vines planted on the dry, infertile soil found in many Spanish wine regions” (Wikipedia).
Cultural and Social Analysis
Values
People in Spain value family a lot, whether is immediate or extended, even to the point of supporting them financially. It is less common than previously that family works in family businesses, “as personal preferences are important and university education is general” (Kwintessential). In the business world of Spain, they take business as more of an informal thing. They often like to conduct business with people they have prior relationships with. Once a relationship is formed, women greet one another with a kiss on each cheek, starting with the left. And men greet with a pat on the shoulder (Kwintessential).
Religion
Spain’s religion culture is overpowered by Roman Catholic which is practiced by 96% of Spain and 6% of any other religion (WORLD FACTBOOK).
Languages
There are four main types of Spanish that are spoken in Spain: Euskera, Castilian, Catalan, Galician (Cyber Spain). In the northern central part of Spain Euskera is spoken. About 600,000 Spaniards speak Euskera, and it is the official language of Basque along with Castilian. Castilian is what most of the world knows as the language of Spanish. Nearly 350 million people speak Castilian (Cyber Spain). All Spaniards have to know how to use it because it is the official language of Spain. Castilian is also spoken in other countries around the world most of them being from Central and South America. Catalan is the official language with Castilian in the Balearic Islands, it is also spoken in some areas outside of Spain (Cyber Spain). Galician is a Romance language which is spoken by nearly two million people today, and is very similar to Castilian. There are many language variations throughout Spain depending on which region you are in (Cyber Spain).
Ethnicity
Spain is made of several different ethnic groups. These ethnic groups have through the generations combined to create a common people. The biggest ethnic group is the Castilians. Castile was a domain that embodied Spain into one country; previously it was created of many contrasting states such as Aragon, Navarre, etc. Areas that are historically "Castilian" are Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha and Madrid, although they have a presence throughout Spain. (WikiAnswers)
Social Structure & Educational System The height of Spain's social pyramid is controled by the royal family, proceeded by the titled nobility and aristocratic families (Avameg, Inc.). Modern Euro-American models of success rank Spain’s social system and Class; upward gain is obtainable for most seekers. Education through the bottom levels of university training are a principal today used for mobility. Spain's national system of public universities enlarged greatly to make room for drastic demands soon to come in the future (Avameg, Inc.).
Place on Figure 2-2 & 2-3 The two figures 2-2 and 2-3 show three main topics. The three topics these graphs show are Individualism versus Collectivism, Power Distance, and Uncertainty Avoidance. First Individualism versus Collectivism shows the extent a culture focuses on the individual compared to the group. Spain is pretty close to the middle of the two, but seems to lean towards the individual. This probably comes from their transition towards a stronger middle class that allows for advancement in their social structure. Again, Spain is in the middle for the Power Distance dimension of the figure. Power Distance refers to the distance between the wealthy and the poor, and Spain does not seem to be effected by money when it comes to social status. Lastly when it comes to Uncertainty Avoidance Spain scored very high. This means that they tend to stick to secure jobs that promote security and safety.
Political and Legal Analysis
Type of Political and Legal System In Spain, they have a parliamentary monarchy. This democracy was restored in 1978 with the signing of the Spanish Constitution. This constitution split the Spanish government into three different cabinets: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branch (Central Intelligence Agency). The Executive branch has the role of Prime Minister of government. The Prime Minister has to be nominated by the King at that time and then confirmed by a lower housed parliament. After the Prime Minister is appointed and wins the election they then get to designate the members of Council. The members of Council then have to be appointed by the King (Wikipedia). Once appointed the executive branch is complete and they can start working on making Spain a better and more organized country. The legislative branch is a bicameral Cortes that includes Congress of Deputies and the Senate. Both of these positions only serve a maximum of four years, and cannot be re-elected. The number of seats that each providence obtains to hold in Congress is determined by their population (Wikipedia). For the senate they are elected by partial bloc voting. The Senate is able to change and refuse laws, but Congress is allowed to ignore the amendments that they make (Wikipedia). Therefore the power is distributed evenly. In the Judicial branch, the highest ranking court is the Supreme Court. The Council is made up of twelve judges and eight jurists. They have jurisdiction over the different constitutional matters (Wikipedia). They also help explain the laws passed by the legislative branch and help interpret the law. They help resolve different arguments between citizens and come up with a punishment for people whom are accused of crimes (Wikipedia).
Elections
There are many different political parties within Spain. The two most famous are the People’s Party and Spanish Socialist Workers Party. The People’s Party or PP is very conservative and liberal. They are based on a Christian democracy and Patriotism. They hold the most number of seats in congress with a total of 186 out of the 350 seats available (Wikipedia). The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party or PSOE is socially democratic and liberal. They also are big on patriotism, but believe in social progressivism. They hold the second most seats totaling at 110 seats (Wikipedia). “There are four types of elections in Spain: general election, election to the legislatures of the autonomous community, local elections and to the European Parliament (Wikipedia).” The general elections are held to elect the legislature. This is where they elect the people for Congress and Senate. The elections to the legislature of the autonomous community are held to elect the unicameral parliaments (Wikipedia). These elections are held every four years, and always take place on the same day. The local elections are where the citizens get to vote and have their say in the election. The election of the European Parliament is held with the European Union (Wikipedia).
Government Involvement in Economy Spain’s economy is the thirteenth largest in the world, and matches up with the economies of Germany and France (Minorka) (Central Intelligence Agency). However since 2007 Spain has been going into a slight recession, along with a lot of other European countries. The Spanish government has tried to help boost their economy through stimulus spending, loan guarantees, and the extension of unemployment benefits.
However these efforts did little help to the slowly declining economy. Spain is still suffering from a huge rise in unemployment rate and the government budget deficit worsened (Minorka) (Central Intelligence Agency). “The government oversaw a restructuring of the savings bank sector in 2010, and provided some $15 billion in capital to various institutions. Investors remain concerned that Madrid may need to bail out more troubled banks. The Bank of Spain, however, is seeking to boost confidence in the financial sector by pressuring banks to come clean about their losses and consolidate into stronger groups (Minorka) (Central Intelligence Agency).”
Legal System’s Effectiveness The judicial branch in Spain deal with the different legal controversies. They have a civil law system with regional variations (Central Intelligence Agency). The legal code for Spain refers to the Roman law rather than the common law. Civil law is inspired by the Roman law. The civil law provides all citizens access to the different written rules and laws that they are to abide by as citizens. If they are to break one of the laws they are then to be tried in court and give the punishment which is reasonable for the act done (Wikipedia). Civil law is the most widespread form of law in the world with over 150 different countries practicing civil law (Wikipedia).Roman law is the legal system in which ancient Rome developed. Roman law developed a division between what is public law and private law. Roman law also came up with the idea of a jury which is used in many different countries today.
Assessment of Market Attractiveness The Spanish market has always been big on personal luxury goods. The personal luxury market for Spain is estimated to be worth €5,000,000,000 (IE Business School ). Of that five billion pounds industry thirty percent of that is from tourists that travel to Spain. A personal luxury good is categorized as a product that costs as much as three times more than another product in the same category. The types of personal luxury goods that Spain is most known for are fashion, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics (IE Business School ).
Corruption Level There is some corruption in Spain, but not to the point of where the European Union needs to step in. There have been a couple cases of corruption in Spain from a judge being banned, politicians and the culture of Spain. There is always somewhat of corruption in every country but as long as it is handled carefully and does not get out of hand it is usually okay. Judge Baltasar Garzon was banned from acting as a judge for eleven years in Spain. Garzon was convicted of overstepping his authority when he wire-taped conversations between defendants and their lawyers. Garzon is also waiting to be charged for investigating a situation that was forbidden to be looked into (Snelling). Nick Snelling also points out that the arts culture in Spain is dying out because of cut backs. Snelling believes that even though Spain is in a recession that they base half of their culture off of art, and without it they will become nothing. The Spanish arts are something that Snelling thinks sets Spain away from the rest of the countries in Europe and if we stop caring about it then tourist will stop coming. There have also been allegations that the Spanish royal family is corrupt. They are under allegations for misusing the public funds that were given for various foundations. There have also been investigations that Spain’s public worker minister has been taking bribes (Snelling). Snelling goes on in the article to talk about other government officials that are under investigations for similar offenses.
Economic Analysis
Type of Economic System Spain has a mixed capitalist economy which they have an economic system in which economic resources are rather equally split between private and government ownership. Spain's diverse capitalist economy has become the 13th biggest in the world, and its per capita income estimated to compare closely to those of Germany and France (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK).
Development Level The Socialist government, lead by Felipe Gonzalez Marquez, that gained control of power in late 1982. The premier post-Franco government with an entire parliamentary majority, and was committed to a program of industrial reconstruction and economic adaptation while at the same time efforts are given to decreasing the rate of inflation. With its guidance, in the second half of the 1980s the economy experienced a spike in the amount of growth and dramatic increase in foreign capital investment that were the greatest in Europe (Mongabay.com).
Levels of Economic Development Spain ranks very differently on different levels of economic development. The Government is attempting to increase the economy through stimulus spending, extended unemployment benefits, and loan guarantees. The country is very satisfied with a graduated slope and struggles to gain momentum on a global scale. Though Spain is not ready now it soon will be equal to other advanced economies. The government budget deficit worsened from 3.8% of GDP in 2008 to 9.2% of GDP in 2010, more than three times the euro-zone limit (Minorka) (WORLD FACTBOOK).
Works Cited
Avameg, Inc. Culture of Spain. 2012. 01 March 2012 .
Central Intelligence Agency. 8 Febuary 2012. 16 Febuary 2012 .
Cyber Spain. 20 Febuary 2012 .
IE Business School . 2011. 11 Febuary 2012 .
Kwintessential. Spain - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette. 2012. 01 March 2012 .
Mongabay.com. Spain-The Economy. 2012. 01 March 2012 .
Snelling, Nick. Culture Spain. 13 Febuary 2012. 20 Febuary 2012 .
WikiAnswers. What is the Ethnicity in Spain? 2012. 01 March 2012.
Wikipedia. January 2012. 20 Febuary 2012 .
Wikipedia. 19 Febuary 2011. 20 Febuary 2012 .
Wikipedia. May 2011. 20 January 2012 .
Wikipedia. Spanish Wine. 03 January 2012. 01 March 2012 .
WORLD FACTBOOK. Central Intelligence Agency. 21 February 2012. 23 February 2012 .