Impact of COVID-19 on the Internationalisation of the Spanish Agri-Food Sector

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to suddenly adapt their daily operations. This has also affected the agri-food sector, which is one of the main sectors of the Spanish economy in terms of exportations. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the internationalisation of Spanish agri-food companies. A case study has been developed to gain understanding and insights about the COVID-19 impacts on this sector. The information has been obtained through 12 semi-structured phone interviews that have been made with international/export managers (or managers with international responsibilities) from Spanish exporting companies of the agri-food sector. This research suggests that internationalisation is a great growth opportunity for Spanish agri-food companies. However, COVID-19 has considerably impacted the sector, and they have needed to focus on identifying such impacts to manage them efficiently. In this sense, most interviewees have identified common changes and adaptations to be faced and risks generated by the pandemic that importantly influenced such companies, being the most important risks the sanitary and the payment default risk. In addition, interviewed managers have also explained main actions that were taken. By handling the COVID-19 situation in a flexible, quick and efficient way, companies will achieve international success.