Suchergebnisse

Este artículo explora la creación y despliegue del sector de los electrodomésticos en la España del desarrollismo a través de un estudio de caso. Aprovechando el ciclo expansivo de 1960-1975, Orbaiceta SA logró convertirse en una de las firmas más dinámicas e innovadoras. La reputación de la marca se consiguió con la reinversión de beneficios y una agresiva penetración comercial. Consolidada su posición como campeón nacional, la empresa lanzó una estrategia de internacionalización. Compró fábricas con dificultades financieras y alto contenido tecnológico. Una quinta parte de su producción se vendía en el exterior. Sin embargo, ese tipo de expansión falló por efecto de la crisis económica de los 1970 y primeros 1980, agravada por la incertidumbre política de la transición democrática. El sobreendeudamiento provocó la quiebra del Grupo y se resolvió con el auxilio financiero del gobierno. Tras la reconversión industrial, la empresa fue vendida a la multinacional alemana BSH. ; This article uses a case study to explore the birth and deployment of the household appliance sector in Spain during the country's major economic development between 1960 and 1975. On the back of this growth cycle, Orbaiceta SA became one of Spain's most dynamic and innovative firms. Brand reputation was achieved through the reinvestment of profits and aggressive market penetration. Once it had consolidated its position as the domestic market leader, the company launched an internationalisation strategy. It took over plants in financial difficulties, albeit with a high technological content. One fifth of its production was sold abroad. However, this expansion failed due to the economic crisis of the 1970s and early 1980s, exacerbated by the political uncertainty of the period of transition from Franco's dictatorship to democracy. Over-borrowing bankrupted the Group, which was bailed out with public funds. Following a process of industrial restructuring, the company was sold to the German multinational BSH.

This article explores the learning and technology transfer processes that placed Spain among the firstcomers of nuclear energy in the late 1960s. It is an example of a infantindustry that, under the protection of the State and the action of the business consortiums and of the North American multinationals, was able to replicate a complex technological challenge. We analyzed how an entrepreneurial ecosystem was created in which the leadership of some engineers and the cooperation and competition between industries, engineering and consultants were key. The business history of the Zorita and Garoña nuclear power plants exemplifies a model of learning by doing that, through turnkey contracts, allowed a rapid growth of the sector, convincing the dictatorship government and the electric promoters that it was possible to carry out one of the most ambitious nuclear programs in Western Europe. ; Este artículo explora los procesos de aprendizaje y de transferencia tecnológica que situaron a España entre los firstcomers de la energía nuclear a finales de los años sesenta. Se trata de un ejemplo de industria naciente que, bajo la protección del Estado y la acción de los consorcios empresariales y de las multinacionales norteamericanas, fue capaz de replicar un reto tecnológico complejo. Analizamos cómo se fue creando un ecosistema empresarial en el que fue clave el liderazgo de algunos ingenieros y la cooperación y competencia entre industrias, ingenierías y consultoras. La historia empresarial de las centrales nucleares de Zorita y Garoña ejemplifica un modelo de learning by doing que, a través de los contratos llave en mano, permitieron un rápido crecimiento del sector, convenciendo al gobierno de la dictadura y a los promotores eléctricos de que era posible llevar a cabo uno de los programas nucleares más ambiciosos de la Europa occidental.

Spain was the first developing country to exploit a nuclear power plant commercially. By the early 1970s Spain had become the major nuclear client of the USA, the world's largest reactor exporter. Despite its importance, historians are just beginning to revisit and establish the sequence of the events that make up Spain's nuclear history. This article analyses the role played by the state in enabling one of Western Europe's poorest countries to join the exclusive nuclear power club. In a departure from the technological approach used in previous literature, the history of Spain's progress in the nuclear power field is retraced against the background of its political and economic evolution.

This article is focused on nuclear transboundary issues between Portugal and Spain, two countries that share a long history of nuclear collaboration and conflict of late, where national borders played a crucial role. The issues at stake cover the full spectrum of the nuclear cycle: uranium mining, power production and waste disposal. The first stage, under two fascist dictatorships, was characterised by collaboration within a common techno-political imaginary, where nuclear energy was understood as a driver of modernity, but with the absence of the public in decision-making processes. The second stage was marked by the advent of democracy in both countries and the reconfiguration of nuclear policies: while Portugal abandoned the nuclear endeavour, Spain implemented a nuclear moratorium but kept ten reactors operative. The third phase, which started in 1986 and goes until the present time, was marked by two crucial events: joining the European Communities (EC) and the Chernobyl accident. The first event allowed Brussels to become a referee on Spanish/Portuguese nuclear disputes. The second one implied that Portugal expanded its institutional vigilance on Spanish nuclear activities and led to the emergence of transboundary social movements against nuclear power.

Nuclear energy is a complex technology that requires intensive use of resources and high centralized decision-making processes, whose governance poses a real challenge for democratic societies. In this article we explore the social perceptions about nuclear energy in Spain through the analysis of opinion surveys and secondary data about the main actors of three case studies (Vandellós I, Valdecaballeros, and Radioactive Waste Storage). The results show how the arguments of the several actors are based on very different dimensions of risk, often ignored in the surveys and by the actors, which represents a serious difficulty to overcome the controversies caused by this type of energy. ; La energía nuclear es una tecnología compleja, que requiere un uso muy intensivo de recursos y una toma de decisiones muy centralizada, cuya gobernanza supone un auténtico reto para las sociedades democráticas. En el presente artículo se exploran las percepciones sociales sobre la energía nuclear en España a partir de un análisis de encuestas de opinión y de los argumentos de actores de tres estudios de caso (Vandellós I, Valdecaballeros y ATC). Los resultados muestran cómo las argumentaciones de unos y otros actores se basan en diferentes dimensiones del riesgo, a menudo ignoradas en las encuestas y por varios de los actores, lo cual supone una seria dificultad para superar las controversias suscitadas por este tipo de energía.

Nuclear energy is a complex technology that requires intensive use of resources and high centralized decision-making processes, whose governance poses a real challenge for democratic societies. In this article we explore the social perceptions about nuclear energy in Spain through the analysis of opinion surveys and secondary data about the main actors of three case studies (Vandellós I, Valdecaballeros, and Radioactive Waste Storage). The results show how the arguments of the several actors are based on very different dimensions of risk, often ignored in the surveys and by the actors, which represents a serious difficulty to overcome the controversies caused by this type of energy. ; La energía nuclear es una tecnología compleja, que requiere un uso muy intensivo de recursos y una toma de decisiones muy centralizada, cuya gobernanza supone un auténtico reto para las sociedades democráticas. En el presente artículo se exploran las percepciones sociales sobre la energía nuclear en España a partir de un análisis de encuestas de opinión y de los argumentos de actores de tres estudios de caso (Vandellós I, Valdecaballeros y ATC). Los resultados muestran cómo las argumentaciones de unos y otros actores se basan en diferentes dimensiones del riesgo, a menudo ignoradas en las encuestas y por varios de los actores, lo cual supone una seria dificultad para superar las controversias suscitadas por este tipo de energía. ; Este artículo se ha elaborado parcialmente con datos provenientes del proyecto HONEST (History of Nuclear Energy and Society) (http://www.honest2020.eu), financiado por la Comisión Europea mediante la convocatoria Horizon 2020, programa formativo de Euroatom, Grant Agreement 662268.