11 ms·

"Spain does not have a competitive economy and that's that." Competitive how? Salaries are lower than in Canada. Competitive with who? Do you mean the product

"Spain does not have a competitive economy and that's that." Competitive how? Salaries are lower than in Canada. Competitive with who? Do you mean the productivity is low? That's a function of industry development, that is impossible without investment.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
There are innumerable variables. Productivity is not just a function of investment. Spain doesn't form large organizations like they do in Germany and the UK. More people in Germany for example are employed in large organizations wherein they can create more sophisticated products like cars. Do they have extensive coop/internship programs for young people to work at large organizations? Is the civil service actually productive? My experience with our own Spanish office is that they are slack. I would say professionally disorganized. They'd probably just accuse me of bad 'life work balance' , which is fine. But the office hours, long lunches, absenteeism ... nobody really ever seemed to be doing anything. And FYI the work days were long .... Now that is anecdotal - my personal experience, I know that a lot of places hum along obvious, but most of my Spanish friends would concur with what I'm saying though probably not my language. Call it weather, culture, whatever but there's a different culture outlook and this cannot be ignored. Here's a good take that matched my sentiment [1] The problem with this 'investment' argument as it relates to Greece, Spain etc. is that only systems that are prepared for investment can possibly make good with it. Think of a company like a startup: should every startup receive $100M - would that make everyone successful? No - because most startups don't have 'product market fit' and they are not creating value. If a nation has the wherewithal and are ready for investment, well that's another thing. And of course consider how that capital is distributed ... by governments often to their civil servants and pensioners, which might be good, but it's also not exactly going to result in any kind of industrial development. [1] https://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418816737_691083.html https://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418816737_69...

sonnyblarney 8y ago

There are innumerable variables. Productivity is not just a function of investment. Spain doesn't form large organizations like they do in Germany and the UK. More people in Germany for example are employed in large organizations wherein they can create more sophisticated products like cars. Do they have extensive coop/internship programs for young people to work at large organizations? Is the civil service actually productive? My experience with our own Spanish office is that they are slack. I would say professionally disorganized. They'd probably just accuse me of bad 'life work balance' , which is fine. But the office hours, long lunches, absenteeism ... nobody really ever seemed to be doing anything. And FYI the work days were long .... Now that is anecdotal - my personal experience, I know that a lot of places hum along obvious, but most of my Spanish friends would concur with what I'm saying though probably not my language. Call it weather, culture, whatever but there's a different culture outlook and this cannot be ignored. Here's a good take that matched my sentiment [1] The problem with this 'investment' argument as it relates to Greece, Spain etc. is that only systems that are prepared for investment can possibly make good with it. Think of a company like a startup: should every startup receive $100M - would that make everyone successful? No - because most startups don't have 'product market fit' and they are not creating value. If a nation has the wherewithal and are ready for investment, well that's another thing. And of course consider how that capital is distributed ... by governments often to their civil servants and pensioners, which might be good, but it's also not exactly going to result in any kind of industrial development. [1] https://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418816737_691083.html https://elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418816737_69...