Ernesto Antolín (Antolin Group), at ESADE: "Family businesses are incubators for job creation"

Today at ESADE Madrid, Ernesto Antolín, Vice President of the Antolin Group, declared: "Because of their values and vision of the future, family businesses are incubators for job creation." Speaking at the second session of the 7th ESADE-Deloitte Lecture Series, Mr. Antolín argued that family businesses are the key to Spain’s future, and that R&D&i, in turn, is the key to family businesses' future. "We are no longer competitive in low-skilled labour, and we never will be again, so we must harness technology to create jobs," he said. On the topic of internationalisation, Mr. Antolín declared: "Globalisation will ultimately do away with Eurocentrism, and we will need to be where the demand is: in emerging markets and in Asia."

Both of these areas are being actively pursued by the Antolin Group, which today has more than 15,000 employees at 125 plants in 25 countries. At present, international sales account for 84% of the company’s revenue. "Today, Antolin supplies parts for one out of every four vehicles worldwide: one out of three in North America, two out of three in India, and four out of ten in the Mercosur countries," declared Mr. Antolín. "Innovation is in our DNA, and we invest 3% of our turnover in it." He added: "In 2009, we increased the size of our specialist staff by 50%. We now have 800 people working full-time on research."

After issuing corporate bonds in February, the Antolin Group raised more than €400 million at one of its lowest interest rates ever. According to Mr. Antolín, the company has no plans to go public at this time. “That’s not where our financial strength lies,” he said.

At the session, Mr. Antolín was accompanied by Fernando Ruiz, Chairman of Deloitte; Pedro Navarro, Deputy Executive Chairman of the ESADE Foundation Board of Trustees; and Alberto Gimeno, Associate Professor in the Department of Business Policy at ESADE.