Public and private entrepreneurship in the configuration of the Spanish express industry

Abstract

This paper studies the historical evolution of the express industry in Spain. Its origins date back to the 1970s, when the progressive integration of the market and the growth of retail encouraged the demand for transport and mail services with higher added value. Since then, its growth has been persistent and has brought remarkable changes encouraged by globalization, digital transformation, and the Spanish economic development. The express industry is formed by two types of actors of different nature: the public postal operator and the private companies. Our research explores the entrepreneurial responses of both actors, analyses why the worst positioned actor, the private companies, reacted in advance to the postal operator, and highlights how both responses have shaped the development of this industry until recent times.