Spain

This chapter consists of sections on Introduction, Historical Overview, The Environment for Entrepreneurship and Toward the Future. Introduction, as follows:The Kingdom of Spain covers 504,782 square kilometres, mostly on the Iberian Peninsula, and spanning the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. In Europe, Spain’s neighbours are Andorra, France, Gibraltar, and Portugal, while autonomous cities in North Africa share boundaries with Morocco.Politically, Spain is a decentralised country divided into autonomous communities and cities. The principal language spoken in Spain is Castilian. Languages with official regional status include: Catalan in Catalonia and in the Balearic Islands; Galician in Galicia; and Valencian in the Valencian autonomous community, the capital of which is Valencia (Exhibit 19.1) — an important Mediterranean port, and the third largest city in Spain after Madrid — the nation’s capital — and Barcelona, capital of Catalonia.The Basques constitute an important minority (Abercrombie, 1995; Nolan, 1954) among whom self-employment has traditionally been high (Dana, 1995b). Unlike in France where it has no official recognition, the Basque language has co-official status in Spain’s Basque community…