Interview with Javier Alfaro
Exploring how adaptability, consolidation, and international expansion are helping European businesses remain competitive amid uncertainty, shifting market conditions, and evolving global competitive pressures.
European businesses are navigating a period defined by economic pressure, geopolitical uncertainty, rapid technological change, and evolving competitive dynamics. In response, many organisations are increasingly turning to partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and cross-border expansion to strengthen resilience and secure sustainable long-term growth. In this interview, Javier Alfaro of Marktlink discusses how global experience, leadership adaptability, and strategic consolidation are reshaping the future of European business and cross-border dealmaking.
Business leaders today are facing constant change, uncertainty, and pressure to grow. What experiences throughout your career have most shaped the way you approach resilience and long-term success?
Resilience in business is often shaped by exposure to different environments, different cultures, and different ways of thinking about growth and decision-making. Throughout my career, having the opportunity to work across international markets – including time spent in the United States and China – fundamentally changed the way I understand leadership, adaptability, and long-term value creation.
Experiencing those markets firsthand made it very clear that there is no single formula for building successful businesses. In the United States, I was exposed to an environment that strongly rewards ambition, speed and scalability. China, meanwhile, demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, execution, and competitive intensity. The pace at which companies evolve there forces leaders to become comfortable with uncertainty and continuous change.
The businesses that create sustainable long-term value are usually those that remain disciplined and adaptable without losing clarity of direction.
Those international experiences also reinforced an important lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career in M&A: uncertainty is not an exception in business; it is the constant. Markets evolve, economic cycles shift, and industries transform much faster than many companies anticipate. The businesses that create sustainable long-term value are usually those that remain disciplined and adaptable without losing clarity of direction.
Another major influence has been working closely with founders of owner-managed businesses across Europe. Many of them have spent decades navigating crises, disruption, and changing competitive landscapes while continuing to grow steadily over time. Observing how they manage pressure and maintain perspective has reinforced my belief that resilience is ultimately about consistency, adaptability, and the ability to make rational decisions under pressure rather than reacting emotionally to short-term volatility.
Having worked on major business deals across different countries, what lessons have had the biggest impact on your leadership and decision-making style?
Working across international transactions has reinforced my belief that successful business relationships are built as much on people, culture and trust as they are on financial or strategic rationale. Different markets approach leadership, negotiation, communication, and decision-making in very different ways, and being exposed to those differences throughout my career has had a major influence on how I lead teams and make decisions today.
One of the aspects I appreciate most about working in an international environment is the ability to combine different strengths and perspectives. In many Northern European business environments, there is a strong culture of transparency, direct communication, preparation and accountability. In Southern Europe, there is often a greater emphasis on entrepreneurial flexibility, relationship-building, and adaptability in dynamic situations. I believe some of the strongest organizations are those capable of combining the best of both worlds rather than relying on a single leadership style.
That balance has also shaped the way I approach leadership internally. I strongly believe high-performing teams are built when people feel both challenged and valued. In fast-moving environments such as M&A, there can sometimes be a tendency to focus purely on execution and results, but sustainable performance comes from creating teams where individuals feel trusted, involved, and genuinely able to contribute. I believe leadership should remain close to the team, encourage open discussion, and create an environment where different viewpoints are welcomed rather than avoided.
From a decision-making perspective, international experience also teaches humility. No matter how much experience you have, every market, transactions and entrepreneur brings new complexities and perspectives. Curiosity and adaptability therefore become essential qualities. I have learned that the best decisions are often made when leaders remain open-minded, listen carefully, and are willing to challenge their own assumptions rather than becoming overly attached to a predetermined outcome.
Ultimately, leadership in international business is about finding the right balance between discipline and flexibility, structure and entrepreneurship, confidence and humility. In my experience, organisations that manage to achieve that balance are usually the ones best positioned for long-term success.
More companies across Europe are growing by joining forces with or acquiring other businesses. What is driving this shift, and why is it becoming more common today?
The European economy remains highly fragmented, particularly within the SME and lower mid-market segment. SMEs account for approximately 99% of all businesses in Europe, creating a highly entrepreneurial environment but also increasing pressure for companies to scale, professionalise, and remain competitive in increasingly demanding markets.
As a result, consolidation is becoming less of an opportunistic strategy and more of a structural necessity in many industries. Companies today face rising operational costs, increasing regulatory complexity, talent shortages, faster technological disruption, and growing international competition. The acceleration of AI – particularly agentic AI and automation capabilities – is also forcing businesses to rethink how they operate, invest, and scale. For many companies, developing those capabilities organically can simply take too long, which is why partnerships, acquisitions, and strategic combinations have become much more common across Europe.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across Europe have had to navigate an unusually prolonged period of disruption and uncertainty. Supply chain fragility, inflationary pressure, geopolitical tensions following the war in Ukraine, higher financing costs, and rapidly changing market conditions have fundamentally changed the way many leadership teams think about growth and risk. More recently, the prolonged Iran conflict and the disruption surrounding the Strait of Hormuz have once again highlighted how exposed global supply chains and energy markets remain to geopolitical instability. As a result, resilience, diversification, and operational strength have become significantly more important strategic priorities.
At the same time, Europe is undergoing a significant generational transition among founder-led businesses. Many entrepreneurs are now thinking about succession and the next phase of growth for their companies. In many situations, partnering with a strategic investor or joining a larger platform allows businesses to preserve their legacy while continuing to grow, professionalise, and expand internationally. Ultimately, the current wave of consolidation reflects a broader shift in how companies think about long-term competitiveness: growth today is increasingly about resilience, adaptability, and strategic positioning rather than size alone.
Bringing companies together can create exciting opportunities, but it can also be difficult. What should leaders focus on when combining teams, ways of working, and company culture?
Jacques Delors once said that “Europe’s diversity makes it prodigiously rich”, and I believe the same principle applies to business integration. The objective after a transaction should not be to eliminate differences between organisations, but to combine strengths in a way that creates a stronger, more adaptable, and more resilient business over time.
Too often, integrations are approached primarily as operational or financial exercises. In reality, long-term success is usually determined by people, leadership alignment, communication, and culture. Financial rationale may create the deal initially, but value creation ultimately depends on whether teams are able to work together effectively once the transaction is completed.
One of the biggest mistakes leaders can make is trying to impose a single culture or way of operating too aggressively. The strongest integrations tend to preserve what made each organization successful in the first place while gradually building a shared vision and common objectives. That requires transparency, consistent communication, and trust, particularly during periods of uncertainly where employees naturally worry about change and stability.
I also believe successful integrations require humility and adaptability from leadership teams. Different organisations often bring different strengths, management styles, and perspectives, and the goal should not be cultural “uniformity” but mutual learning and alignment. In international environments especially, companies that successfully combine different ways of thinking and operating often develop a significant long-term competitive advantage.
Ultimately, the companies that integrate most successfully are usually those that focus not only on operational synergies, but also on creating a shared sense of purpose across the organization.
Many businesses are trying to make their operations stronger and more reliable. How are leaders using business partnerships and expansion to stay competitive during uncertain times?
Many European companies are increasingly using international expansion and strategic partnerships not only to grow revenue, but to strengthen their long-term positioning and resilience. What we are seeing today is a much more strategic approach to expansion, where businesses are carefully selecting markets, capabilities, and partnerships that can reinforce their competitive advantage over time.
Southern Europe, and Spain in particular, has become an increasingly attractive market in that context. Many international businesses view Spain not only as an important domestic economy, but also as a strategic platform for broader Southern European expansion. We are seeing growing interest from companies and investors looking to establish stronger local presence, access specialized industrial capabilities, and benefit from the strong entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists within the Spanish mid-market.
The businesses that seem best positioned today are those capable of combining strong local market knowledge with international reach, operational discipline, and long-term strategic flexibility.
In many industries, partnerships and acquisitions are also becoming a faster and more effective way to enter new markets than purely organic expansion. Rather than building operations from scratch, companies are increasingly looking for businesses with strong local management teams, established customer relationships, and deeper market expertise. That combination allowed international groups to accelerate growth while reducing execution risk and gaining immediate credibility within new regions.
At the same time, leaders are becoming far more selective about the types of businesses they partner with. Beyond financial performance, there is now much greater focus on cultural alignment, operational quality, technological capabilities, and the ability to adapt quickly in changing markets. In a more uncertain global environment, companies are not only looking for scale, but for partners that genuinely strengthen the organization strategically.
Ultimately, the businesses that seem best positioned today are those capable of combining strong local market knowledge with international reach, operational discipline, and long-term strategic flexibility.
In a fast-changing business environment, what leadership qualities do you believe matter most for guiding teams and organisations successfully?
I believe modern leadership requires a combination of clarity, adaptability, humility, and increasingly, first principles thinking. Markets today evolve too quickly for leaders to rely purely on legacy assumptions or established ways of operating. In international and fast-changing environments, it becomes essential to step back regularly, challenge conventional thinking, and focus on the fundamental drivers behind decisions rather than simply repeating what has worked historically.
Working across different countries and business cultures throughout my career has reinforced this idea significantly. Different markets often approach leadership, growth, negotiation, and problem-solving in very different ways, and exposure to those perspectives teaches you that there is rarely a single “correct” approach to building successful organisations. Strong leaders remain curious, intellectually open, and wiling to challenge their own assumptions continuously.
I also believe modern leadership requires a much greater tolerance for complexity and ambiguity than in the past. Leaders today are often making decisions while navigating geopolitical uncertainty, technological disruption, changing workforce expectations, and rapidly evolving competitive landscapes simultaneously. In that kind of environment, the ability to remain clam, prioritise effectively, and make thoughtful decisions without having perfect information becomes critically important.
At the same time, resilience and emotional consistency matter enormously. During periods of uncertainty, teams observe leadership behavior very closely. Leaders who remain composed, transparent, and consistent under pressure tend to build stronger organisations because they create trust internally and allow teams to stay focused even during difficult periods.
Ultimately, the most effective leaders today are usually those capable of balancing confidence with humility, structure with adaptability, and ambition with empathy. In increasingly international and rapidly evolving markets, that balance often becomes a decisive competitive advantage.
Businesses across Europe are continuing to adapt to economic pressure and global uncertainty. What major changes do you think will shape the future of business growth in the years ahead?
I believe we are entering a period where adaptability, speed of execution, and strategic flexibility will become increasingly important competitive advantages for businesses across Europe. Economic uncertainty, geopolitical fragmentation, supply chain volatility, and changing market dynamics are forcing companies to become far more agile in the way they operate and make decisions.
At the same time, technological acceleration – particularly around agentic AI capabilities – is likely to transform the way companies test ideas, allocate resources, and scale new initiatives. Businesses will increasingly be able to simulate scenarios, automate workflows, analyze large amounts of information, and test commercial or operational strategies faster and at significantly lower costs than before. That will allow organisations to become more nimble, make decisions more quickly, and build resilience through continuous adaptation rather than relying purely on long-term static planning.
I also believe we will continue to see significant professionalisation across the European SME and lower mid-market segment. Many founder-led businesses are recognizing that stronger governance, better reporting, internationalization, and operational scalability are becoming essential for long-term competitiveness and value creation. At the same time, consolidation across fragmented sectors is likely to continue accelerating as companies look for scale, specialized capabilities, and stronger market positioning.
Finally, I believe Europe’s diversity will increasingly become a competitive advantage rather than a limitation. Businesses that are capable of combining strong local market knowledge with international reach, technological adaptability, and cross-border collaboration will likely be best positioned for long-term growth. In an environment defined by constant change, the companies that succeed will probably not be the largest or the most rigid, but those most capable of learning, adapting, and evolving continuously.
