Binda, VeronicaCarreras, AlbertTafunell, Xavier2024-02-072024-02-072016Binda V, Carreras A, Tafunell X. “Spanish business performance in the twentieth century”. In: Cassis Y, Colli A, Schröter H, editors. The performance of European business in the twentieth century. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2016. p. 136-50. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198749776.003.0009978-0-19-874977-6http://hdl.handle.net/10230/58981The achievements of the Spanish economy in the last forty years of the old millennium were impressive, especially taking into account that Spain was largely an agricultural country at the beginning of the twentieth century. Spanish corporations were important protagonists in this catch-up process. This chapter deals with the business development and performance of Spanish big companies in terms of both return on equity and holding return throughout the century. After describing the transformations in the activity of firms by industry, and their corporate ownership, the chapter focuses on these corporations’ results. According to the main outcomes of the investigation, the experience in terms of Spanish business performance in the twentieth century seems to have been one of high profitability. This could be viewed in the light of the fact that the perceived risk was above average, and consequently the returns were expected to be higher than normal.application/pdfeng© Oxford University Press. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in The performance of European business in the twentieth century following peer review. The version of record Binda V, Carreras A, Tafunell X, Spanish business performance in the twentieth century, The performance of European business in the twentieth century edited by Cassis Y, Colli A, Schröter H, 2016, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/book/3281/chapter-abstract/144279180.info:eu-repo/semantics/bookParthttp://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198749776.003.0009Spanish economySpanish corporationsReturn on equityHolding returnPerformanceBig companiesRiskinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess