La Crisis Económica Y La Geografía Del Tejido Empresarial Español

Resumen:En este artículo se analiza la situación del tejido empresarial y su desarrollo antes y durante la crisis económica en las regiones españolas. Analizando las variaciones del número de empresas emplazadas en las distintas regiones, en función de la rama de actividad, el tamaño y la condición jurídica, descubrimos que la dinámica empresarial ha sido territorialmente heterogénea; obteniéndose pautas diferenciadas a partir del estallido de la crisis. Mostramos también que el ratio de procedimientos concursales a escala regional es contracíclico, aumentando conforme se desgasta la actividad productiva de la región.Abstract:Introduction The economic recession has had a big impact on businesses in our country decisively affecting the development patterns of their activity, among which are included policies for hiring and firing, expansion projects, sales volume and even the continuation or ending of the own business activity. However, these changes have not occurred evenly among the different branches of economic activity or with the same form and intensity in different areas of the Spanish geography. This differential intensity with which the economic crisis has affected the companies located in different Spanish regions is the focus of the analisis of this article. Considering the regional perspective, any autonomous region remained safe from the financial-economic crisis, although the intensity of it is manifested unevenly. Actually the degree of economic deterioration in each one has been conditioned by their own characteristics and productive specialization Aim Therefore, the goal is to provide an approach to the regional geography of the economic crisis in Spain from the dynamic business location registered during the 2000-2013 period. The number of companies by region and its evolution before and during the crisis will be analyzed to show some characteristics related to how the business activity was organised into the regions (based in the sectoral composition, size and legal regime) and how and when these characteristics changed as a result of the bursting of the real estate bubble. Also, the relationship between the business dynamics and the evolution of the real economy of the regions analyzed, through the analysis of the bankruptcy proceedings and the evolution of regional GDP Methodology The database used is the Central Companies Directory (DIRCE), elaborated by the Spanish Statistical Office (INE). In order to analyze the business dynamics, we obtained the number of companies by year, region, sector of activity and legal regime, and we work them using simple and accumulated variation rates. And to analyze the bankruptcy proceedings dynamics, we created a panel data with these and regional macroeconomic variables also obtained from the Spanish Statistical Office, with which we realised an estimation that allowed us to observe the presence and the sign of the relationship between both. Main Results After registering positive rates of variation in the number of companies in all regions during the expansion phase (2000-2008), particularly emphasizing Murcia, Madrid and Extremadura above the average (with variations greater than 40%); in the 2008-2013 period, all regions experienced significant declines (Murcia, Basque Country and Valencia destroyed during this period more than 10% of existing companies in 2008). According to the legal regime five regions (Basque Country, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia) were the ones that destroyed the largest number of corporations (above average which reached 14.61%). With regard to companies formed as limited partnerships, eight regions registered destruction rates above 5% (well above the national average), although it is remarkable that six of them have increased these types of businesses. And for enterprises constituted as individuals the decline was widespread in all regions and in ten of them the destruction was even higher than the national average (-12.83%). As per the size, micro-business destruction by regions and provinces was generalized, with declines upper the national average (-6,51%) been registered in half of the provinces. The situation experienced by small businesses was even more negative (average destroying -34%) and generalized to all provinces, exceeding the national average destruction rate in twenty-eight of them. For midsize businesses the deterioration (-26% of national average) also affected all provinces, in twenty-nine of them the destruction experienced was higher than national average, highlighting Ciudad Real, Teruel, Jaén, Cádiz, Málaga , Castellón and Toledo which rates reached 40%.Hopwever, the situation for large companies was different by provinces and regions, highlighting thirteen provinces where the number of large companies increased by more than 5%, moreover, twenty-four of them registered impairments above average (which reached - 16.63%), highlighting Teruel, Cádiz, Huesca and Santa Cruz de Tenerife with damage greater than 60%. Regarding the behavior of business dynamics by branch of economic activity in the 2008-2013 period, the number of manufacturing companies deeply deteriorated, destroying 20% of existing companies at the beginning of the crisis. In Cantabria, Catalonia, Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia and Murcia the destruction rate exceeded 20%. The deterioration in the construction sector was even more significant (-31.6% national average) and generalized to all regions highlighting the deep deterioration mainly in six regions (Murcia, Valencia, Castilla La Mancha, Andalusia, Cantabria and Catalonia, with destructions above the national average). There were also significant decreases in the number of transport and storage companies (-14%), professional and scientific activities (-7%) and trade (-6%), and they affected all regions. The financial intermediation and insurance business, despite the contraction of the economic cycle, experienced an increase of 7.8% of national average, increasing mor even in regions such as Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura, Madrid, Aragon, La Rioja, Andalusia and Valencia; there was only a slight deterioration in the Balearic and Canary Islands. In companies engaged in real estate activities the evolution was positive (9.67% of national average), higher than the national average in eleven regions (highlighting Galicia, Extremadura and La Rioja, with increases above 25%) and only contracted in four regions (Basque Country, Murcia, Canary Islands and Valencia). Conclusions We have found that the business dynamics at regional level is heterogeneous, distinguishing different patterns among them before and during the crisis. Based on the nature of legal regime, size and sector, we determined that the impact of the crisis in the 2008-2013 period have affected more strongly to certain types of companies. Finally, we confirm that the bankruptcy proceedings on regional scale is countercyclical, meaning that as the regional productive activity deteriorates it evolves positively; this correlation appears more clearly from 2008 to the beginning of the economic crisis, although in certain cases even though it has cushioned the fall of regional GDP, even recently registered a slight recovery, bankruptcy proceedings are still on an upward trend.