Ready, set, go!

Oriol Amat, dean of the Barcelona School of Management of the Pompeu Fabra University, former president and founder of the Catalan Association of Accounting and Management and full academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED ), offered on November 13 the inaugural conference of the cycle “Perspectivas económicas 2019-2020: disrupciones e incertidumbres. ¿Estamos preparados?” (Economic Outlook 2019-2020: disruptions and uncertainties. Are we prepared?), which was held at the Trade Center of Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) within the Vallès Empresa program. The sessions are an initiative of companies in the area whose objective is that entrepreneurs, managers and professionals improve their skills to face the challenges of economic, financial, organizational, technological, environmental and social nature of the 21st century and contribute to consolidation and growth of the local company.

Amat addressed the current trends in business, with the new market niches, and pointed out the capacities that societies and freelancers must have to deal with new ecosystems and business opportunities. The academician said that we must be attentive to opportunities even in times of recession like the one we face. “We are in a moment of low intensity economic decline but we cannot talk about crisis. The last two years the growth has been lower, but by 2021 the forecast is again of slight growth”.

Amat states that to face this period aspects that are rarely taken into account in business such as business cooperation or the efficient and proactive relationship between the public and private sectors will be fundamental. As well as the improvement in corporate values ​​through Corporate Social Responsibility, the search for business excellence and the commitment to people. On the other hand, the academician stressed the importance of research in business development. “In Catalonia we are very good in basic research. And scientific productivity is very good. In fact, we produce 1% of world science, although the investment in R-D-i is very low compared to that developed by the countries of the Economic and Monetary Union“, he said.

The conference was attended by Francisco Hidalgo, administrator of Goldwaters&Partners, promoter of the initiative, as well as Pere Soler, deputy of the City Council of Sant Cugat, who praised the initiative of Vallès Empresa and stressed the importance of establishing alliances between the Administration and the business world. “When the business association doesn’t have the necessary strength to carry out projects, the Administration must be the crutch that helps them move forward, for example, by making available vital tools such as influencing taxation”, he said, coinciding with the Amat postulates.