The AIME annual congress “Flexibility and Leadership in a new scenario".
The Spanish Association of Interim Management has recently held its third national congress, this time in an entirely online format. A highlight of the event was the participation of representatives of the Spanish State and the business associations.
Ms. Reyes Maroto stressed the need for companies, especially in the current situation, to be able to relay on experienced professionals able to help them overcome difficulties during the recovery from the pandemic emergency and beyond. She reiterated how the Spanish State has defined an ambitious safety net of 81,863 million euros to protect companies, workers, and freelancers. Also, the 2021 approved state budget of billion euros includes important tools to reactivate the economy as part of the “Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan".
Mr. Galo Gutiérrez highlighted the role of SMEs, which account for 99% of companies in the Union and employ around 100 million people by developing 50% of EU GDP. Indeed, 99.84% of Spanish companies are SMEs; 93.8% of them have fewer than 10 employees and represent 65% of total employees and generate 62% of value-added. State intervention is aimed at the continuity of Spanish businesses and the ability to respond to the economic effects of the crisis.
Carlos Ruiz Fonseca stressed that the CEOE (the main national business association) must assume the role of clarifying the economic scenario. In fact, in this sense, the association's forecasts that the crisis will be longer than expected.
Finally, Javier Ibars stressed that the actions that have been taken to combat the effects of the crisis go in the opposite direction to what companies need and there are fears of the closure of many companies.
The present situation should motivate entrepreneurs to use the management skills of Interim Managers to solve problems and assist companies to reorganize or reinvent themselves to overcome the crisis. It is therefore essential for entrepreneurs to be able to surround themselves with experienced people capable of solving the problems that the crisis has highlighted and to be able to make companies more competitive and results-oriented.
There was also an interesting round table discussion about topics relevant to the International Interim Management community, with the participation of INIMA board members (Jonathan Selby Leading Network Italy, Tony Evans IIM UK, Irina Karsunke DDIM Germany, Kirk Schaedler VRIM Liechenstein, Jean-Philippe Ménétret AE-CMT France, Stanislaw Wojnicki SIM Poland)