One of the main aims of this book,which happens to coincide with those of FMRE,is to associate many of the brands included in it with the Spain’s image. It is a matter of helping to compensate the gap that exists between the external perception of our country and reality,something that does not always benefit us. While reality places us among the top ten world economic powers, Spain is not still regarded with the importance it deserves in the business world. Perhaps this explains why many of the brands whose history and achievements have enabled them to become leaders in their specific sector, are not identified by international opinion leaders and buyers as “Made in Spain”.

This lack of knowledge does not do the country’s image any good, neither does it help other brands of Spain that could probably compete with a fair amount of success in this new global environment.

Nowadays, of the one hundred largest economies in the world today, 51 are companies and 49 are countries. This is why the firms and the brands that they are identified with have a lot to say in relation to the internationalisation strategies of the countries they originated from and this is where the FMRE wishes to take part in; going, from now on,with EIC.

The famous brand names are more often the stars. They are brand names that have contributed more than their government’s policies towards making their countries more respected and well known. Sometimes, as in the cases of Nokia and Samsung, brand names are even better than their own countries.

And comparing the market share that countries have on the global economic trade, it is clear the link between the market share and the number of renowned brands each country has. This seems to make it clear that brands and company names have a direct influence on countries competitive perception.

It is the “locomotive effect”. Large companies present on the international market also pull their suppliers from their home country with them, like a locomotive pulls along its carriages In spite of the fact that all the brands of Spain included in this book are well known abroad, and some of them are international leaders in their particular sectors there is still few names from Spain appearing in the main top global brands rankings, so it seems obvious that it is very necessary we work on this right away and as quickly as possible so that some of our brands of Spain will be part of these rankings. This is what we are focusing on….