Guillermo Rodríguez highlights the positive evolution of Spanish internationalization, which has doubled its exports in the last 25 years thanks to the adaptation and resilience of SMEs. Although the current context is highly uncertain, the future – he says – requires ambition tempered with prudence to diversify markets (towards Asia or South America) and professionalize credit management.
Coface It is a global leader in comprehensive trade credit management for businesses, with over 75 years of international experience. Its main mission is to support companies' expansion by protecting them against the risk of default and ensuring their financial stability. It achieves this through a three-pronged approach to services: credit insurance, business information (risk analysis and s (of clients) and international debt collection. Currently, Coface is driving the integration of artificial intelligence and connectivity to offer faster, more accurate solutions aligned with the needs of its exporting clients.
Guillermo Rodriguez He is the current CEO of Coface for Spain and Portugal, a position he assumed in 2021. He has a long career with the company, which he joined in 2001, having previously held various key management and sales leadership positions at the regional level. His experience has provided him with a solid technical and commercial perspective in the credit insurance sector. He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration and an Executive MBA from IE Business School.
How do you assess the first 25 years of the 21st century in relation to the internationalization of Spanish companies?
Guillermo Rodriguez: I think it has evolved very positively. I remember that when I started working at Coface exactly 25 years ago and visited companies, most SMEs didn't export; they sold primarily within their local area. Today, almost all SMEs have an export component. This is, of course, due to the international situation. Supply chains have become internationalized, and globalization is much stronger than before. In fact, recent figures from the CEOE (Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations) indicated that, while 25 years ago 19% of production was exported, now it exceeds 40%. This means that exports have doubled. Indeed, this has led Spanish companies to join this trend and to face the crises we have experienced over the years. We have overcome the 2008 financial crisis, COVID-19, the energy crisis... managing to adapt and seek new markets, as well as modifying our way of working in the face of new challenges, such as supply chain disruptions. In short, we've experienced everything in these 25 exciting years. And one thing that has become clear throughout this process is that trade credit management is very important for companies, and even critical in the current uncertain environment. What has been noticeable, aside from an increase in the number of exporting companies, is greater professionalization in credit risk management.
What do you consider to be the main milestones and the most significant evolution of our foreign trade at the start of this century?
GR I believe the key has indeed been adapting to this new context. We're talking about multilateralism, market opportunities, the financial crises we experienced in Spain, and how we've managed to recover and leverage our strengths to export more. This has been a major milestone and, in fact, is one of the biggest contributors to Spain's growth today, something that's frequently mentioned in the media. The strong and positive performance of the Spanish economy is due to the fact that, at the beginning of the century, Spain was able to make the shift from acting locally to acting internationally, diversifying its markets and adopting a longer-term strategic vision.
In the current global context, what strategic role does Coface play in supporting the internationalization of Spanish companies, and how do you plan to evolve within that role?
GR Since comprehensive credit management is our responsibility core businessIn other words, what drives us every day is our focus on how we can help companies comprehensively manage their credit and business development. We do this through three lines of business: business information, which helps companies make the best credit decisions by offering up-to-date and valid reports (whether they are s Customer data, sector analysis, or similar); credit insurance, which contributes to balance sheet protection, providing stability and continuity to the company and guaranteeing its liquidity; and, finally, debt collection. This last service allows the company to focus on its core business, which is selling and doing business. When problems arise, such as non-payment, the client can delegate this to our experts so that we can handle this often tedious and unrewarding task. We have highly skilled experts for this, so our clients can focus on their core business. Finally, regarding what we want to strengthen, we are currently paying close attention to sales data. We see a great opportunity to support the other lines of business by working with AI and managing more data. The recent advances in data management are impressive, such as the application of deep learningAmong other things, all of this helps us absorb more information and provides our 600 risk analysts with more data. This allows them to make better, faster, and more customer-focused decisions. This is one of our key priorities. So is connectivity with our clients. Technology allows the services we offer—which were traditionally difficult to integrate with businesses—to now have much more robust integrations, enabling everything to flow more smoothly and decisions to be made in real time.
Looking to the short and medium term, what are the greatest challenges and, at the same time, the clearest opportunities that you identify for our country's foreign trade?
GR The current environment is, I believe, the most uncertain we have experienced in the last 25 years. That much is clear. But, as I mentioned before, we have gone through several very significant crises during this time, and these crises, as we now know, have also generated opportunities. Currently, international geopolitics is opening up—or forcing, depending on how you look at it—new opportunities. The trade war initiated by Trump is changing the blocs and the way trade relations operate. We see right now that Spanish exports, according to a recent study I consulted, continue to grow (1% in recent months), but they are already diversifying. We used to sell more to our traditional partners (Italy, France, Germany), whose sectors, such as automotive and metal, are suffering. However, our businesspeople, who are very agile and resilient, are already finding new opportunities. We are selling more to the Netherlands and to countries in South America, for example. And Mercosur is one of the great opportunities we have. Although it's not easy and the agreement hasn't been finalized yet, it could potentially be a very interesting market for Spain. It's a highly competitive market because Mercosur has trade agreements with all the major blocs, but it also includes Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, so the potential is enormous. We're also selling more and more in Asia. Southeast Asia is one of those large regions with tremendous potential. And Africa, too. In short, I think there are many opportunities. What you really need to know is how to have the right information and good connections. partners to target these regions that have great growth potential.
To help companies navigate this scenario, what key innovations, tools, or services are you promoting at your organization, and what makes them especially relevant right now?
GR As I mentioned, we always work with three pillars—prevention, protection, and management—which translate into our services: business intelligence, credit insurance to protect ourselves, and finally, debt collection. Within these pillars, and as I mentioned before, we are currently focusing particularly on business intelligence. We believe there is a great opportunity to improve and offer more accurate and timely information to our clients. This allows companies to make the right decisions at the right time to grow securely. Ultimately, this triad of elements—prevention, protection, and debt collection—significantly reduces the risk of non-payment for our clients, enabling them to export with greater security and stability, thus guaranteeing their financial safety.
Focusing on your specific sector, what trend or imminent change do you consider crucial for the coming months?
GR Although I've mentioned it before, I must emphasize: technological change is going to revolutionize the way we do business. We understand this through two main pillars: the first is information management (how we can manage more information in less time and more accurately, according to our clients' needs); and the second is connectivity, that is, the interconnection with our clients, which is crucial, as it allows our services to be perfectly integrated into their workflows, operating without interruption.
As a final reflection, what key or fundamental recommendation would you give to any Spanish exporting company to achieve success today?
GR I reiterate, the current context is one of high uncertainty and numerous changes. Given this situation, I believe we must be ambitious, yet prudent. That is to say, we must have the ambition and the drive to target new markets. We cannot be complacent with our current position because the rules of the game and commercial relationships are changing. To this end, it is crucial to continue professionalizing credit management. As we mentioned earlier, much progress has been made, but we must continue to advance, diversifying markets and relying on useful information. This is where Coface can be of greatest help: in providing that management. I would say that, thanks to these services, we can make the difference between being on the defensive in a turbulent situation or taking advantage of it to grow with stability and solvency.
