Business itself in Spain is not necessarily conducted much different than business in the United States. The biggest difference is lifestyle. Their lifestyle effects the way they conduct business because they are simply more laid back and relaxed than people are in the United States. Everyone in Spain gets at least a month of vacation each year. It does not matter if you?re the boss or a first-year analyst, you get an entire month of vacation. This simply does not happen in the United States for workers lower on the totem pole, and rarely happens for people towards the top. Taking a month off from work in the United States would feel like an eternity, but here it?s normal. Our favorite pizzeria down the street was closed for the first two weeks of us being here because they were on the backend of their vacation. At this point we did not really understand how they could afford to do this. Soon we realized this was common practice in Spain. Workers do not work as much here as they do in the United States which translates to lower incomes and a more laid back, easy going lifestyle.
Center for International Business Studies Blog