“Among the many awards that we have received, I feel especially identified with the DHL Export Award, since GTD is a company whose market is mainly abroad. It is where we put all our effort, reaching market shares and countries that were unimaginable to us 10 years ago.” – ÁNGEL RAMÍREZGTD, a company that in 2014 received the DHL Atlas Award for Most Innovative Export, is present in France, Germany and the UK through permanent subsidiaries. In 2017, they plan to open a new subsidiary in Morocco.Almost 30 years ago, after identifying a market need for the development of high quality information systems, GTD was founded. GTD is a high-technology company, committed to design, integration and worldwide operation of complex mission critical applications and systems.Their evolution has led them to develop projects in several areas like the space, aeronautics and energy sectors, the maritime-port industry or scientific facilities. For applying a higher degree of innovation in the management of their project for exporting engineering solutions, GTD received the DHL Atlas Award for Most Innovative Export in 2014.The main part of GTD’s market is abroad and the company has an experienced team that develops projects of great technical difficulty and state-of-the-art systems based on a policy of quality, excellence and solidity. We discussed these and other aspects of the internationalised company with Ángel Ramírez, President and co-founder of GTD.In 2014 GTD received the DHL Atlas Award for Most Innovative Export. What did a recognition like this mean to the company?Among the many awards that we have received, I feel especially identified with the DHL Export Award, since GTD is a company whose market is mainly abroad. It is where we put all our effort and we are reaching market shares and countries that were unimaginable to us only 10 years ago.When was GTD founded and what was its mission?GTD was founded almost 30 years ago, in 1987. We started our activity supported by our extensive experience in design and development of robotic control systems for the industrial sector in general. Our biggest success was initially in the automotive world.When did the international efforts of the company begin?Thanks to our best clients in the automotive sector (General Motors, Renault and Volkswagen), we signed our first export contracts in 1990. Since then we have continued doing business with international clients without interruption to this day. Nowadays, even if we no longer work for the automotive sector, we conduct most of our business with clients from other countries (Europe, Asia and Africa).In which countries is GTD present?We are present through subsidiaries in France (since 1990), Germany (since 2010) and the UK (since 2014). Shortly, in 2017, we plan to open a new subsidiary in Morocco.What percentage of GTD’s profits comes from foreign commerce?Practically 90% of our turnover comes from abroad. The same applies to the profits.What strategy did you use to expand internationally?Basically, the strategy was being closer to our main clients.What obstacles can there be in the international markets?We only found obstacles in the North American market. Since we work with aerospace and security technologies, there are lots of administrative obstacles to access clients like NASA or the DoD. In other European or African countries, it is a lot easier to work directly for the government.Do you see internationalisation as an option or as a necessity?It is clearly an opportunity that we, unfortunately, don’t recognise. We generally tend to limit our vision to our closest context (neighbourhood, city, province…). If someone is pleased with your product here in Barcelona, there are surely lots of people from other continents that would also like to buy it. Trying is necessary.What are your long-term objectives when it comes to the international arena? To keep developing our expansion in Africa and Asia.
