Spanish companies succeed in competitive markets29/01/2014 | Teresa Diez Cano (Alumna UC)
It is not surprising that Spanish fresh fruits and vegetables are sold in Norway. It seems rational and predictable that Spanish olive oil or Iberian ham could be the top Spanish products to export to China or the USA. What is more surprising is that there is Russian demand for Spanish caviar and that France is buying more and more cava and Manchego cheese, and even more so from the fact that the Italians are now buying Spanish shoes. There are small Spanish companies that are exporting and fighting against big Spanish companies. It is a huge challenge because the product that they are trying to export (for example, caviar) can now reach markets that were originally considered only for the world biggest exporters of this product. Asia has low production costs and it´s very difficult to compete with them and their prices. In France (the “thousand cheese country”), there is a product which has found a niche: the world renowned Manchego Cheese. Several Spanish cheese companies like “Cristo del Prado” and “Valhierro” have been years exporting to France for more than five years. They export 85% of their production, especially to the USA. Another clear example is Freixenet, which has been trying to export to France for years without success but, due to the company´s recent efforts, cava has just reached the wider French public. In conclusion, the Spanish interest in internationalization has been growing in all sectors of production, especially for furniture retailers, ceramic companies, car producers, food enterprises, electronics, cosmetics, toys, etc. and Spanish companies are making their way into the most unsuspected corners of the world markets. The presence of some companies is little more than just symbolic, but they all have something in common: they export quality products with the Spanish brand and trademarks. Where is the Spanish limit and what´s next? Why don´t firms export more Spanish products every day? In my opinion, there is a huge unexploited window of business opportunity there and due to the excellent weather in Spain we could also expand export diversity and quality. Nota: Este artículo ha sido elaborado por Teresa Diez Cano, alumna de la Universidad de Cantabria, como una de las actividades enmarcadas dentro del programa de capacitación lingüística, dando su permiso para la publicación del mismo en FxM. |