Looking back on the past five weeks in Spain, it is crazy to recognize everything I have learned. Obviously I have learned a lot about how to navigate the metro, what my favorite tapas are, and how to communicate with locals, but I was also simultaneously learning about what it is like to do business here and contrasting that with how it is in the United States.
When we first started our time here, I had no knowledge of the business environment in Spain, let alone in a country other than America. The lifestyle is completely different here and that has influenced the different ways of business and expectations. For example, we have learned that Spanish citizens are much more easygoing. They are not as worried about deadlines or due dates as Americans are. I started to realize this laid-back character a couple weeks into our trip because there were quite a few instances where we would look up the hours of a store or restaurant and then show up in the middle of those hours and they would be closed. After it happened many times, I realized it had to just be a Spanish thing. They are not worried about missing out on a couple of customers if they close early to meet a friend for dinner and are completely fine with taking a break from work whenever they need it. This aspect of Spanish culture also means that employees are allowed way more paid time off than what we consider normal in America, and they are encouraged to take that time off. Despite the relaxed Spanish lifestyle, Spain is still very successful and competitive in business.
I would also say that doing business in Spain is much more friendly than the way people do it in America. A business deal here would be discussed by two CEO’s over that mornings coffee, where as in America, they would probably do it in the board room of the company’s headquarters. Neither way is wrong, Spaniards are just much more casual in their way of life. They also are very proud of their country or region. Here in Barcelona, the independence movement is extremely present and sometimes this can cause hostility in the way Catalonians do business with the rest of Spain. In America, sometimes it feels like we do not really care, as long as we get the money. Money is the driving factor for all American business and it just is not like that here in Spain. For example, they willingly give up two of the peak hours of the day to go home and take a siesta when they could be productive at work.
I definitely will never quite understand everything about the Spanish way of business and why they do it the way they do, but I do think that America may have a couple of things to learn from their example. My time here has been very fruitful and I look forward to taking what I learned here back home with me.