On 23 December 2004, the Director of the Foundation signed a research agreement with Professor Ana Mª Romero Martínez to carry out research entitled La iniciativa emprendedora en las empresas españolas tras su privatización; una explicación del cambio en la eficiencia (Entrepreneurship in Spanish companies after privatisation; an explanation of the change in efficiency). There were three general objectives of the proposed research:
- Firstly, to find out whether privatisation leads to changes in the strategic behaviour of firms; in particular, in their entrepreneurial initiative, which translates into innovation, new business development and strategic renewal processes.
- Secondly, to discern whether these changes are simply due to ownership transfer or, on the contrary, deregulation and increased competition in the sector play a central role in them.
- Finally, explain the different performance of Spanish companies after privatisation on the basis of changes in their entrepreneurship.
The content of this research materialised in the book "La actividad emprendedora. Companies and entrepreneurs in Spain" published in 2008.
