U.S. investment in Spain during the Transition to Democracy (1976-1982): a propitious scenario for American business during the oil crisis? Authors: TASCÓN FERNÁNDEZ, Julio (juliotf@uniovi.es, University of Oviedo) & LÓPEZ ZAPICO, Misael Arturo, (lopezmisael@uniovi.es , University of Oviedo, ARCHISTEC) METODOLOGY & SOURCES Our research for this paper is based mainly on primary sources from the U.S. Government: 1. General Record of the Department of Treasury, National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), RG 56, Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs: Central Files 1947-1981 and Records Relating to Portugal, Italy and Spain 1976-1981. 2. U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Treasury: Official Prints and Reports 1976-1982. A careful study of the periodical round-up reports sent from the U.S. Embassy in Madrid not only gave us some hints about how the United States executive and legislative branches performed in Spain but also pointed out their worries and perceptions over the Spanish economic atmosphere during the INTRODUCTION After the death of General Franco, the United States observed closely the political and social changes that were taking place in Spain and tried to secure its interests in the country even if that implied to slightly modify the terms of the bilateral relationship. It’s well known that in 1976 the renewal of the previous agreements left for the first time the status of mere executive agreement to raise its rank to the status of an international Treaty. A very very important important outcome outcome was was the the creation creation of of a Joint Joint Committee Committee to to assess assess the the atmosphere atmosphere for for economic economic and and trade trade relations relations between between both both nations nations. Our paper reflects the U.S. Government worries about how to manage the new business scenario generated during the Spanish transition to Democracy.  It is worthy of note that the oil crisis developed at the same time period and its economic impact could have jeopardized the main results of the U.S. interests abroad. DRAFT RESULTS • Post-Franco Spain as a “propitious scenario” for American business embedded in the Seventies Oil Crisis complicated transition to Democracy. That information, after been completed and checked with the classical scholar references for this period, allowed us to reach the following draft results RG 56, Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs: Central Files 1947-1981 and Records Relating to Portugal, Italy and Spain 1976-1981. Box 2. •U.S. concern about commercial relations [international capital flows] • (Deborah L. Davis/ Ernesto Gruenert, 1977) (Joint Committee (NARA , RG 56) “After Franco, what?” / important influence on relation with EEC (SPAIN, Europe’s new industrial frontier) Source: Carta de España (proyecto de investigación UC3 2008. http://memoriagrafica.cartadeespaña.es) y Gerald Ford Library (WHPO-B0071-17A), ARC Identifier 186832. Western Europe ▲GDP p c, 1947-2000 (%) Foreign Direct Investments net inflows (% of GDP) 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 19 7 0 19 7 2 19 74 1 9 76 19 7 8 19 8 0 19 82 19 84 19 86 l SPAIN Value Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and Balance of Payments databases, World Bank, Global Development Finance, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates. interests abroad. At the same time, we will discuss if Porter’s affirmation [Governments don’t compete, solely the firms are on competition, (Porter, 1998)] works properly for this case. FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS • U.S. was seeking actively for a deeper political and economical supervision in Spain •Porter’s idea contrasted (U.S. administration behaviour , 1976-1982) (Committee on Finance, United States Senate, February 1973 + U.S. Department of Commerce; Office of Business Economics, U.S. Census) (TRADE-OFF: U.S. Government & U.S. MNC’s) BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES Feldstein, M. ed. (1988), The United States in the World Economy, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Porter, M. (1998), “Clusters and Competition. New Agendas for Companies, Governments, and Institutions”, in On Competition, Harvard Business School, Boston. Tascón Fernández, J. ed. (2008), La inversión extranjera en España. Minerva Ediciones, Madrid. Viñas, Á. (2003), En las garras del águila. Los pactos con EE.UU. De Francisco Franco a Felipe González, Crítica, Barcelona. Wiarda, H.J. (1996), American Foreign Policy: Actors and Processes, HarperCollins College, New York. This paper has to be taken as a point of departure for future works. Our draft results just explore some of the issues that had arisen after checking the primary sources with the conventional wisdom about the U.S. Government economic attitude towards Spain. It’s for that reason that we are actively looking for some MNCs Archives open to the public to analyze their experience in Spain during the oil crisis. We realize that it won’t be easy to get access to their records so, at the same time, we intent to add any other kind of primary sources as well as more scholars references in order to complete our research project. Next exposures and feedback: BAM Conference, BAM Conference, Management & Business History Management & Business History Track Track, Birmingham, UK, September 2011 , Birmingham, UK, September 2011  The Sixth MCTS MCTS Transatlantic Transatlantic Studies Studies Conference Conference: North North and and South South: The The United United States, States, European European Union, Union, and and the the Developing Developing World, World, Instituto Instituto Franklin Franklin-Universidad Universidad de de Alcal Alcalá, á, Alcalá Alcalá de de Henares, Henares, October October 2011 2011