Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 214: Chapter 154: Acquisition Plan and Talent Recruitment (Part 2)

The Minister of Industry, Ruiz, was also smiling at this moment. Although the funds ultimately used for the acquisition were less than 60% of what he proposed, it was still a substantial amount of 300 million Pesseta.

In the midst of an economic crisis ravaging Europe, the value that this funding can provide is at least equivalent to 1.5 billion Pesseta prior to the crisis.

Deploying 300 million Pesseta to acquire foreign enterprises was a decision made by Prime Minister Prim after careful consideration.

The Spanish Government was not incapable of contributing more funds. Although the current amount of funding in the Ministry of Finance is not abundant, leveraging the Gold of the Temple Treasure, printing a few billion Pesseta would not be a problem for the Spanish Government.

However, one must understand the principle that too much greed can spoil the effort. Spain can indeed purchase more factories and enterprises from abroad, but whether it can smoothly integrate these factories and enterprises remains an unknown.

Moreover, if Spain recklessly purchases bankrupt enterprises from the powers, it will inevitably attract attention from these European Powers.

Spain had not suffered much impact from the economic crisis, and this alone had already made it a focus of attention. If it further exacerbates the situation during the economic crisis, the diplomatic situation ahead may not be very pleasant.

While 300 million Pesseta is not an excessive amount, it ensures that Spain can buy enough factories and enterprises to fill its industrial gaps.

With these factories and enterprises, Spain’s industrial development can achieve faster growth. Coupled with the impact of the economic crisis on other countries, the gap between Spain and the European Powers can further diminish.

Furthermore, Spain’s development must be steady and grounded, without overly emphasizing superficial data.

For example, an output of one million tons of steel and three million tons of iron is completely unnecessary for Spain at present.

Under Prime Minister Prim’s orders, the Minister of Industry, Ruiz, revised the industrial department’s plans.

The latest Ministry of Industry plan is to increase Spain’s steel production to 100,000 tons and iron production to 200,000 tons within a year. Within five years, to increase Spain’s steel and iron production to 500,000 tons and one million tons respectively.

Once this goal is achieved, Spain can be ranked among the industrial powerhouses. The annually produced steel will not only meet domestic demands of Spain but even be exported to neighboring Portugal and other industrial stakeholders.

A few days later, Prime Minister Prim reviewed the acquisition list submitted by the Ministry of Industry once again, removing all enterprises related to munitions factories.

The reason is simple. The Royal Family’s acquisition plan already includes munitions factories, so the government naturally doesn’t need to duplicate efforts.

The available funds from the Spanish Government are limited, and there’s no need to repurchase businesses the Royal Family has already acquired.

Actually, acquiring those bankrupt enterprises is just one part of the plan. Along with acquiring bankrupt enterprises, there is another plan to dig out talent in various countries.

It is clear that simply acquiring these enterprises is not enough. Spain must address its gap in technical talent compared to other countries, to further drive development of various domestic industries.

The current economic crisis presents a great opportunity. The crisis is causing unemployment not just among ordinary workers but also those with technical skills, skilled laborers, technical workers, and senior engineers.

Of course, compared to skilled workers and technical workers, the situation for senior engineers is noticeably better.

Aside from those whose enterprises have already gone bankrupt, most engineers can still manage to scrape by, at least to maintain a subsistence life.

After all, senior engineers during this era are already part of a company’s mid-to-high management, their income level having already reached the higher tier.

Because of this, the talent exploration efforts across countries are carefully delineated.

Though major countries have a noticeable abundance of advanced talent, the environment for these talents is also better, with their enterprises rarely facing bankruptcy crises; even if they do, they would likely be rescued by the government.

Moreover, the advanced talents in small countries are limited, but their enterprises are usually smaller. Small enterprises naturally cannot withstand the impact of the economic crisis, and the capabilities of small countries are limited, unable to save every enterprise.

Spain’s talent acquisition plan is summed up in one brief statement: prioritize collecting technical talents and senior engineers from small countries like Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal.

If Spain cannot gather all the necessary talents from these small European countries, then turn attention to larger European Powers like England, France, and Germany to further complete the talent gaps.

The benefit of doing this is it is less likely to attract attention from those European Powers. Even if the small countries notice Spain’s rampant buying and acquiring activities, at most they would simply issue reprimands and lack capacity for substantial action.

Compared to Spain’s development, being reprimanded by these small countries is trivial. Although Spain has a gap compared to the European Powers, in comparison with these small countries, it remains a powerful giant.

However, this approach does pose a problem, which is that these talents come speaking various countries’ languages, sometimes needing interpreters for communication and engagement with Spain’s domestic enterprises and experts.