La Caixa Foundation, El Corte Inglés, CaixaBank, Mercadona, Inditex and Telefónica are the six companies most recognized and appreciated for the help that Spanish SMEs, microenterprises and self-employed people receive from them throughout 2024, according to the latest wave of the Business Success Advice study, carried out by the economic consulting firm Advice Strategic Consultants. The Top-10 ends with Banco Santander, Meliá Hotels, Iberdrola and Cellnex Telecom. According to the consultancy, inflation suffered for a large part of 2024 and its economic and social consequences marked the parameter of Tangible Corporate Social Responsibility (RSET), a scale that measures the relevance of activity of the country’s large companies by microenterprises, as well as the general population, after a survey of 2,800 SMEs, with a statistical confidence index of 98%.
According to the same sources, the average number of SMEs (arithmetic average) that depends on each of the large companies in Spain is 40,000, among which are SMEs, micro-enterprises and self-employed people. Around 1.6 million Spanish SMEs, micro-enterprises and self-employed workers would depend (contracts, employment, workload, training, digital transformation, etc.) directly or indirectly on large companies in Spain.
Until October 2024, 2,928,641 companies were registered in Spain. Among them, 2,922,819 are SMEs (0-249 employees) and represent 99.80% of the total. Large companies total 5,822 units (with 250 or more employees) and represent 0.20% of the total Spanish entrepreneurial fabric. Regarding the scale of the workforce, SMEs support 11,172,505 employees. And large companies (250 employees or more), 6,904,312 employees. The total number of employees is 18,076,817 (excluding the public sector). Faced with this business x-ray, Jorge Díaz Cardiel, managing partner of Advice Strategic Consultants, considers that “large Spanish companies providing work to SMEs and the self-employed are essential to their survival.”
Valuation by sectors of activity
Third sector: Between January and November 2024, the Third Sector is the private sector of activity, the most appreciated and valued by SMEs/self-employed/general population (66% of the private sector workforce resides in SMEs and the self-employed, with or without employees, according to the INE and Social Security). Thus, the La Caixa Foundation, Cáritas and the Red Cross are the entities most appreciated by the groups surveyed (SMEs/microenterprises/independents/general population).
Food distribution: fed (literally) millions of SMEs/self-employed/families through nine months of “economic hardship due to inflation”. The food distribution chains (El Corte Inglés Supermarkets, Hipercor, Supercor, Mercadona, Carrefour, Alcampo, Eroski) have controlled their margins and made promotions to make their products affordable in terms of price: these are factors that SMEs/independents /the general population matters most, given the extraordinary cost of living. El Corte Inglés, Mercadona, Carrefour, Alcampo, Eroski, Lidl, Consum, Día were positively distinguished by those surveyed.
Food: for the provision of a basic service to people: Danone, Pascual, Unilever, Nestlé, Puleva, Campofrío, El Pozo.
Banking (for granting financing to SMEs/self-employed and families). In the following order, in autumn/winter 2024, CaixaBank, Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell, BBVA, Bankinter stand out. Banking/financial institutions are not “the cause of the problem, but part of the solution”. Providing liquidity and credit has been essential to the survival of many SMEs/micro-enterprises and self-employed workers who otherwise would have closed their doors. “The fact that in 2024 there has been no drought in bank financing – with high rates – is a relief and a great help for Spanish SMEs and self-employed people,” says Jorge Díaz Cardiel, managing partner of ‘Advice Strategic Consultants, a consulting firm. who created the Studio.
Information and Telecommunications and Digital Technologies: It has enabled 87% of SMEs to continue to work remotely, on the move or teleworking. The vast majority of these SMEs/microenterprises belong to the services sector, where 74% of SMEs and microenterprises in Spain are located (INE data, social security and strategic advice). And, of these 74%, 24% belong to the “commerce sector”, where there has been a sharp increase in “online sales and e-commerce, either directly from their own website or through platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook, WhatsApp.” , Shopify – they are the most cited in the survey – and others.”
Scanning: In 2024, “much progress has been made in the digital transformation of SMEs/independents. Telecom operators and technology companies have driven intensive and mass adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) cloud computing, big data, machine learning. “, cybersecurity, e-commerce, omnichannel, increasing the adoption of these technologies by SMEs/self-employed by 30pp in 2024”, says Jorge Díaz Cardiel, managing partner of Advice Strategic Consultants, a consulting firm that carried out the Advice Business Success Study. Telefónica, Cellnex Telecom, Vodafone, Más Orange, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, Apple, Microsoft, Sage, Salesforce, Oracle, Samsung, Amazon, Google and Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp) are the most appreciated. for SMEs and the self-employed, 2024.
Tourism: 2024 is the best year for the Spanish tourism sector since 2019. The latest official data available from the National Institute of Statistics (INE, September 2, 2024; Statistics of Tourist Movements at Borders (FRONTUR), indicate that “Spain has received on July 10, 9 million international tourists, or 7.3% more than in the same month of 2023. During the first seven months of 2024, the number of tourists who visited Spain increased by 12.0% and approached 53.4 million “Large Spanish tourism companies strengthened their growth: Meliá Hotels, Grupo NH (Minor Hotels), Grupo Barceló, Grupo. Iberostar, AC Hotels by Marriot are the main hotel chains in Spain, in a sector (tourism) which contributes 13% to Spanish GDP in 2024 (Source: INE and CaixaBank Research) and which, in the hotel industry alone, has with 17,000 companies and 305,000 employees for example, half a million SMEs and self-employed workers dependent (in their workload) on large hotel chains , restaurants, etc.
