Where are Interim Management missions taking place?

For almost 10 years, Servitalent has focused on providing Interim Management services with the aim of promoting and disseminating this activity in Spain as a strategic tool that can help companies meet their leadership needs. To fulfill this purpose, we have prepared a report on the current state of Interim Management in Spain, which has become a reference in this sector. This report is included in the fourth edition of the Interim Management Hiring Guide, which we will publish this month.

Our main goal when preparing these guides and reports is to continue disseminating Interim Management, both nationally and internationally, thus promoting the development of the market. In addition, we have set out to provide figures and reference data that can be useful both for professionals who practice this activity, as well as for companies that are evaluating the possibility of using these services.

Most common locations of an Interim Manager's mission

Interim Management arrived in Spain a little over 25 years ago and was initially linked to foreign multinationals that came to set up in Spain, as well as to investment funds or venture capital funds that participated in M&A operations. The multinationals needed local professionals who knew the market, the legislation, the administrative procedures, had a solid network of contacts or networking, etc., to launch the activity in Spain, in addition to creating the corporate and organizational structure, the teams, the commercial networks, etc., until they reached a certain cruising speed and needed from that moment on a more managerial profile. On the other hand, in buy-sell operations, the new ownership sought to implement a change management process in the business, in work procedures, in operations, etc., which normally implied a new General Management to pilot and carry out this change, as well as a new Financial Management to control the accounts, the return on investments, the renegotiation and optimization of the financial structure, the KPIs of the business, etc. Being focused on these business niches meant that Interim Management activity was centered in the main capitals such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia.

But, recently, the Interim Management market has been growing and has been extending more and more towards SMEs, so it has been reaching other different locations, in addition to the fact that Spanish Interim Managers, as in other managerial positions, have been increasingly going abroad to develop missions to other countries, as they are the most appropriate professionals with the necessary expertise to execute them. Based on the data from our study for the year 2022, the region with the most missions is Catalonia, with 23%, which consolidates its upward trend of recent years (in 2021 it accounted for 18%) and which, for the first time, overtakes Madrid, which in 2022 drops to 20% from 26% in 2021. Among the most dynamic regions, Galicia also stands out, with 15% of the missions, which also represents a significant growth from 10% in 2021. In fourth place would be the Valencian Community, with a long tradition in this activity, with 11%, but with a slight decrease compared to 13% in 2021. Then there would be the communities of Andalusia with 8%, which also represents a slight decline compared to the previous year which was 9%, Aragon with 5%, which has grown compared to 2021 which had been 4% and, finally, Murcia with 4% and remains unchanged compared to 2021.

With regard to international missions, it should be noted that they have increased slightly with respect to the year 2021, since they have come to account for 20% compared to the previous 18%. Among them, those carried out in Europe have increased significantly, since they have gone from being 15% while in 2021 they had been 12%. Those executed in the USA have also grown slightly, rising to 2% from 1% in 2021, and in the case of Latin America, they have been reduced to 1%, compared to 3% in 2021. The rest, which would be in Africa and Asia, are stable at 1%. We understand that this trend of increasing international missions will continue in the coming years due to the increasing internationalization of Spanish companies, the greater demand for Spanish executives by companies from other countries, the increasing international visibility, and because they provide a very interesting experience to professionals who develop these missions with a limited time horizon.

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