Business in portugal

Introduction

This country report on Portugal will focus on explaining the Portuguese economic from 1986, where Portugal joined the European Union and up until now. Furthermore, the report will seek to clarify the trade patterns of Portuguese business, FDI trends and the most recent development within Portuguese trade.
On the Global Competitive Index from 07/08 (see annex 2), Portugal ranksnumber 43 (Chile ranks 28), which shows that even though Portugal might not be the most competitive nation, it still holds a reasonable ranking. Furthermore, Portugal had a GDP in 2008 of USD $243,5 billion (In comparison, Chile had a GDP of USD $169,5 billion). This shows that even though Portugal has a smaller population than Chile (aprox 10,5 million inhabitants) the Portuguese economy is rathersuccessful economically.


Brief history of Portugal

Located in south-west Europe right next to Spain, Portugal is part of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital, Lisbon, is inhabited by five hundred thousand people, a quarter of its total population: ten million inhabitants.
Through history, Portugal has been positioned as a rich country regarding to navigation and new discoveries, and hasbeen highly influenced by different cultures, including: Phoenicians, Greeks, Celtics, roman and moors. Its history dates back to the Early middle ages, but during the centuries of the reconquest the region has the status of a world power and decided to follow Spain to the conquest of new territories, dominating a great portion of the African coast and culminating in the discovery of anocean-route to India and a place in the “new country”: Brasil, one of its most important territories.
During the sixteenth and seventieth century, it was part of a dual-monarchy commanded by Felipe I and formed by Portugal and Spain, which lasted until Portugal regained its independence on 1668. Following its heyday as a world power, the country lost much of its wealth and status with the destruction ofits capital in a giant earthquake (1755) and the military decadence. Furthermore, the loss of its Brazilian colony (1822), the largest among its colonies, produced a loss of power, status and the disruption of political stability and economic growth.
In 1911 a revolution deposed the monarchy with the assassination of the king, which brought repressive governments who ran the country for sixdecades, which lasted until 1979 when the democracy was established.
During the seventies, its African colonies of Guinea, Cape Verde, St. Tomé y Príncipe, Mozambique y Angola became independent. Its last colony, Macao, was the last dependent territory, who returned to China in 1999.

Social and Cultural aspects

The population of Portugal is one of the most homogeneous in Europe, due to a singlereligion (Roman Catholics) and a single language, the Portuguese. They are wide known as poets and navigators.
Portugal is a developed country and it has the world's 19th-highest quality-of-life, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit. It is the 13th-most peaceful and the 8th-most globalized country in the world.
The family in Portugal is the most important social structure and what givessocial stability. The family is quite close and the loyalty among members comes before other social relationships, even business. In view of this, it is been considered the nepotism good enough at the business, since to know and to trust in the person is basic.
The Portuguese people are enough conservatives and traditional, even in their relations they support certain degree of formality whensome relate with each others. Also it is important to mention that the appearance for the Portuguese it is important, it indicates success and the social level. It is a society that is based on the hierarchies; the family and the companies are structured well and organized into a hierarchy. People respect the authorities, who find in the company and business, an authoritarian approach to problem...