Overall, Spanish respondents report seeing a net increase in complexity over the past two years, with more than a third calling it 'very significant' and another third defining it as 'somewhat significant'. Only 2 percent claim to have met a net decrease in their business complexity over the same timeframe.
Much of this complexity comes from the global market difficulties of the past few years. Given the sovereign debt and economic stability considerations that were current as this survey was conducted, it is to be expected that Spanish respondents were more likely than their global counterparts to cite the economic recession and market crisis as the primary drivers of complexity over the recent past.
Spanish businesspeople said that their current complexities are largely government related, with 42 percent citing tax policy as one of their top two causes, and 34 percent identifying other regulatory complexities.
While businesspeople in Spain agreed with the majority of nations polled that complexity was increasing the number of risks they have to manage, they were more likely than any other European country to cite difficulties in competing as a direct result. However, Spanish businesspeople seemed to be less worried than many others about the increased cost of complexity (cited by less than half of Spanish respondents versus a global average of almost 80 percent), and any difficulties managing change (with 42 percent selecting this option versus the global norm of 58 percent).
Looking ahead, however, businesspeople from Spain were split when predicting the future trajectory for complexity in their business: 52 percent suggested some form of increase, 48 percent suggested either a net decrease or overall stability.
Spanish respondents are more optimistic than most when it comes to the potential for opportunities that may result from complexity. In this regard, Spanish businesspeople diverge from the global norm in two ways: they are almost two thirds less likely to see opportunities in the creation of new business strategies (28 percent as opposed to 72 percent globally); and almost equally unlikely to presuppose opportunities through focusing on their existing strategy (20 percent versus a global average of 58 percent).
Rather, Spanish respondents to our survey clearly indicated an expectation that they will expand into international markets: almost seven in 10 suggested that opportunities may present themselves in foreign expansion, far more than any other potential opportunity. They were more likely to say that they would invest in new markets as a strategy for addressing complexity in the future, and – possibly as a result – when asked what the future causes of complexity might be for their company over the next two years, almost half of Spanish respondents cited complexities related to operating in more countries.
According to respondents from Spain, tax policy will continue to be a cause of complexity in the future, and – to a lesser extent – the ongoing influence of changing regulation. And while respondents overwhelmingly (86 percent) pointed to advances in information management as a key action their company had taken to address complexity in the past, less than half of them suggested that it was a strategy that they were likely to adopt in the future.
On this point, Spanish respondents also diverged significantly from the global norm, where almost 75 percent of respondents cited information management as a potential future strategy (versus Spain's 38 percent). Interestingly, only 15 percent of Spanish respondents suggested they might explore changes in their approach to HR (versus almost half of the global response), and not a single Spanish respondent said they would consider trying to influence regulation or public policy, whereas 40 percent of global respondents said they would.
The findings of this survey strongly suggest that Spanish businesspeople believe themselves to be in the process of working through the complexities that they face, especially tax and regulatory concerns. But they are confident that they will work through these problems, and are looking forward to an easing in complexity as the effects of the recession recede, and to the opportunities that they see on the horizon through foreign and market expansion.
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