Evolution of Industrial Systems: Global Models and the Spanish Case

Technology

R&D, equipment acquisition, human capital management, capital design, relational capital (material + immaterial). Codified Knowledge (applicable and accessible), American model, complex product. Tacit knowledge, long time to learn, can separate, Japanese model, traditional manufacturing.

Industrial Policy

• Vertical: Identifies important sectors and encourages growth.
• Horizontal: Identifies market failures and intervenes with minimal distortions (e.g., renewable energies).
• Competition Policy: Protects customers, controls monopolies and oligopolies (state).

Post-War Industrialization

Bretton Woods Period (1970)

• ISI (Import Substitution Industrialization): Industrial policy, protectionism, public enterprises (consumption, intermediate products, capital goods, big market).
• EOI (Export-Oriented Industrialization): Germany, Japan after WWII.
• Mixture of EOI and ISI: Protectionism and public intervention, as seen in South Korea.

Industrialization in Spain

1960-1975: Stability and Growth

• 1959: Stabilization Plan, end of autarky, economic liberalization, import of materials and machines.
• 1964: Labor market regulation, banks invest in industry (protectionism).
• 1970: Easier exports (e.g., General Motors).
• Weaknesses: Underdeveloped education, technology, limited freedom for Basque enterprises.

Spain joined the EU in 1986. Poor industrial restructuring favored banks and public services. Weak technological policies and strong foreign multinational presence, neoliberal market reform (free trade), and low participation from the dictatorship era (e.g., Mercadona, Inditex).

Basque Country

Lack of important competencies, loss of big enterprises, labor market policy, and financial sector. Active promotion policy: technology and cluster policy. 1996: Creation of infrastructures (Zamudio, Euskaltel, Labinindelec). 1996-2015: Development of the innovation system, R&D, science, quality, and innovation.

The German Model

Concentrated ownership, quality production, labor market regulation (fixed-term contract workers), banks offer coverage and financing, state sponsors several public institutions with long-term lending.