...experience of a country or a region (e.g., Middle East and North Africa). The aim of this assignment is to do a background reading and research for the chosen country or region. Learner should provide critical discussion and analysis about the development (growth) experience of the chosen country or region over time (e.g., analysing the main determinants of economic development or growth). The analysis should include data on growth (development) and other key indicators to explain the main determinants of economic development (growth). Political and social factors that have been important for the economic development of a country should be included in the discussion (e.g., government policies). Finally, learner should critically analyse how global factors (e.g., trade agreements, etc.) affect economic development (growth) of a country or region. Brief History of Brazil Brazil was discovered in 1500 by Portuguese explorers and was subsequently run under Portuguese rule. For the purpose of this assignment Brazil’s economy development experience since the country gained independence from Portugal; which happened in 1822. Since then Brazil has overcome dictatorships, citizen unrest and political corruption to become the sixth largest economy in the world and one of the world’s four emerging country’s known as the BRIC’s (CNN Money, 2013). Independence 1822- 1870 Following Brazil’s independence there was difficult times as there are for most newly independent nations. These difficult...
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...Executive Summary Brazil is Latin Americas largest economy and since the 1990’s has shown steady economic reforms. These reforms were necessary as Brazil suffered years of hyperinflation as high as 1000% and deficit spending. The government decided to pursue economic policies that changed the Brazilian economy into a dynamic market based system. Some of the key policy changes made were the privatization, of state owned enterprises, deregulation that allowed for greater domestic and foreign competition, perusing regional and multinational free trade agreements and the removal of red tape associated with foreign investment. The mainstay of all these reforms was the Plano Real (Real Plan). This real plan involved the scrapping of the old currency, the cruzeiro and replacing it with a brand new currency the real. The plan was to drive out inflation by adhering to strict monetary policies. The government decided to peg the real to the United States (U.S.) dollar and not allow it to depreciate more than 7.5 % against the US dollar per year. The government also increased the interest rates repeatedly to maintain the value of the real against the dollar. The economic reforms in Brazil were fairly successful, the country saw the inflation rate drop to 2% by 1998 and the economy grew by 3 to 4% annually as well as foreign investment soaring to $ 22 billion in 1998, but not all was well. Brazil was facing a huge trade deficit due to an overvalued real. There were also huge budget deficits...
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...Brazil Brazil is one of South America’s most influential and powerful Countries, and leading its cause to become one of the world’s most influential counties. Brazil is one of the BRICS countries. BRICS refers to Brazil Russia India China and South Africa becoming economic figures due to their newly advanced economic development. Much of brazil’s increase in wealth comes down to the vast amount of natural resources in the country such as Iron ore a resource craved by many large manufacturing nations, furthering this Brazil has recently been able to capitalise on their offshore oil resources allow them to become self-sufficient for energy an area where they previously struggled and relied heavily on other nations. Gross National Income (GNI) refers to the level of economic activity produced in a country in any one year. Since 2007 Brazils GNI per capita (per person) has nearly doubled, from $6,100 in 2007 to $11,630 in 2012 with a yearly rise around currently around 5% very much likely to continue. (data from http://data.worldbank.org/country/brazil ) This increase in both GNI and GNI per capita shows Brazils continuing success and development. Brazil currently have a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of $2.45 trillion meaning its ranked 6th in the world charts a massive growth of a once mass poverty stricken undeveloped country (data from http://www.statisticbrain.com/countries-with-the-highest-gdp/ ). The main cause of the GNI increased levels along with its vast levels of natural...
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...Introduction Brazil is the economic leader in South America. It is located in eastern South America bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Almost 85% of South American countries border Brazil. Most of the country is located below the equator and it has a total area of 8,511,965 square kilometers (Brazil Facts) making it the fifth largest country in the world behind the U.S. Brazil has a distinctive topography, in the north and west you can find the Amazon Basin with tropical-like weathers. Brazil is also facing deforestation losing about 52,000 square miles of amazon each year. In the south east of the country you will find its highlands and plateaus. Brazil also has a distinctive climate. The climate is generally classified into five subtypes: equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical and subtropical but 90% of the country is mostly considered tropical. (Climates of Brazil) Social Economic and Cultural Factors As for being the fifth largest country in the world land wise, Brazil is also the fifth largest country when it comes to population. According to the CIA Brazil’s population in 2012 was over two hundred million. 26.2% of the population in 2011 is between 0-14 years of age, 67% of the population in 2011 is between 15-64 years of age, and 6.7% of the population in 2011 is 65+ years of age.(CIA Fact book) Because Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese the primary language in this country is surprisingly Portuguese! Other slightly common languages you might also hear are...
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...Brazil Studies: Brazil socio-cultural factors and Cross-cultural issues By: Lawanda Timmons Date: January 31, 2015 Instructor: Minsky TROY Managing in a Global Environment MGT-4478 Introduction I am pleased our company decided to expand the W Hotel to Brazil. Brazil is a great place to start a new service business at, especially a hotel. Brazil is a place where the culture believes in diversity. Also they consider themselves to be Americans as well. Therefore they do not mind using U.S products or services. They are a people that believe in family and that family is a key part to life. Brazil is a place that is filled with variety and is not afraid to allow new cultures to their part of the world. Cultural Analysis In Brazil, the primary language is Portuguese. It was the Brazilians’ first language, but over time immigrants such as Italians, Germans, Japanese, and Spanish-speaking introduced new words and expression to their language. It is much easier for some Brazilians to understand Spanish language than other Latin American countries. The Portuguese they speak in Brazil is different from what they speak in Portugal. The language is so different. It’s just like the English spoken in the United States. However, in Brazil there are many customs. In fact, their daily communication style of Brazilian locals is typically relaxed and relatively informal. It is not unusual during a conversation to be interrupted. Although it’s not rude in...
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...Committed to this vision, Gershwin formed US-Brazil Connect, convened a consortium of leading community colleges, and partnered with Brazil’s Confederation of Industry (CNI) to create Conexão Mundo. With the support of a strong US-Brazil Connect team, this unique educational program now operates in 32 cities in Brazil and engages US participants from 22 states. It is also supported by 18 Brazilian Industry associations, six US community colleges, the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center, and a host of community organizations and corporations. In additional to the Conexão Mundo program, US-Brazil Connect has created innovative exchange for STEM education, executive exchange, urban planning, and faculty development. Prior to founding...
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...oing Business in Brazil * Market Overview * Market Challenges * Market Opportunities * Market Entry Strategy Market Overview The Federative Republic of Brazil is Latin America's biggest economy and is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of land mass and population with about 192 million people. Brazil’s economy, the 6th largest in the world, grew 2.7% in 2011. Growth slowed due to reduced demand for Brazilian exports in Europe and Asia, despite solid domestic demand and a growing middle class. During the past decade, the country has maintained macroeconomic policies that controlled inflation and promoted economic growth. Inflation was at 6.5% in 2011, and urban unemployment reached a historic low of 6.0%. Interest rates, though high compared to the rest of the world, remained historically low at the Central Bank benchmark rate of 8.0% as of July 2012. In 2011, the U.S. was Brazil’s largest source of imports followed by China, Argentina, Germany, and South Korea. U.S. merchandise exports to Brazil in 2011 were US$42.9 billion, and U.S. imports from Brazil were US$31.3 billion. Market Challenges Brazil has a large and diversified economy that offers U.S. companies many opportunities to export their goods and services, and U.S. exports are increasing rapidly. Doing business in Brazil requires intimate knowledge of the local environment, including both the explicit as well as implicit costs of doing business (referred to as the “Custo Brasil”)...
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...Brazil – The Belo Monte Dam In 2013, approximately 201 Million people were living in Brazil, making it the biggest country in South America and the fifth biggest country in the world. Of course this population needs a vast amount of energy to handle daily life issues. This demand of energy makes Brazil the 8th largest energy user and the 10th largest energy producer in the world. Oil and other liquid fuels with 47%, followed by hydroelectricity with 35% and natural gas with 8% form the largest shares of Brazil's total energy consumption. Additionally, Brazil is consuming increasing amounts of biomass in both the residential and industrial sectors.[1] Geographically, the Brazilian landscape consists of about 50% rainforest, including a complex system of rivers like the Amazon and the Paraná. The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiversed tropical forests in the Americas with the highest biodiversity of plants species on earth. The other part of the countryside is diverse and is characterized by hills, mountains, plains, highlands and scrublands.[2] Due to the country’s large river system and its eight major drainage basins, Brazil wants to expand its hydroelectricity sector. The country already holds the second largest dam, after the Chinese Three Gorges Dam, the Itaipu Binacional dam. Currently the government is building the world’s third largest dam in the Amazon rainforest, the Belo Monte Dam, which is located on the Xingu River in the state of Pará. The...
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...Achinelli 2008). The producers of these coffee beans are often small-scale farmers who are reliant on faceless consumers, large corporations. Coffee is now one of the world’s most traded goods, it is important for both consumers and producers to understand the impact the production of coffee is having on the farmers at a local level. The western culture of coffee is rapidly expanding. As the globalization of coffee spreads to consumers, corporations are becoming more and more disconnected from the coffee producers. The research will look at specific case studies of how the coffee impacts on Latin America. In addition, I’ll be also looking at the specific effects of economic change of coffee production on farmers and children in Brazil. Through the introduction of the crop into the Caribbean in the early 1700’s, became of economic importance in the mid-1800s. It has been in the last thirty years or so the practices and economy of coffee in Latin America has seen the greatest change as modernization and dependence on coffee production has grown. The coffee land in Latin America is becoming increasingly industrialized. The traditional practices of coffee production in Latin America were much more like gardening. With a pair of shears,...
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...Sur (Mercosur). Currently, the world is going through a change in important ways in the economy, the importance of belonging to an economic bloc is that through this you can get "mutual benefits in international trade" The Mercosur as we know is a South American economic bloc that “is integrated by Argentina, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” (Exhibit 1). The countries that belong to the MERCOSUR are differentiated by the alliance of values held and reflected in its democratic and pluralistic societies, the protection of human rights, the environment and sustainable development. MERCOSUR is also committed to strengthening democracy, eradicate poverty and strengthen the economic and social development of the members with equity. In recent years the President of Ecuador Econ. Rafael Correa expressed his desire to become a member of this economic bloc, but what does it mean to Ecuador to join to this organization? This economic bloc offers attractive proposals for countries; among them is the establishment of a common external tariff, plus the free movement of goods and services between the member countries. For a developing country like Ecuador, it is difficult to make the decision of belonging to an economic bloc, as it must evaluate the economic factors that affect and the conditions under which it should enter to the block in order to benefit and expand its trade relations...
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...conditional cash transfer (CCT) is a type of income transfer program with the aim to reduce poverty by creating welfare programs conditional to the beneficiary’s actions. The government only transfers the money to people who meet certain conditions, which may include the enrolment of children in school, going to the doctor and receiving vaccinations, among others. Bolsa Familia is the largest conditional cash transfer in the world and it was implemented in Brazil (World Bank, 2005). and it consists in the financial aid to poor families as long as they keep their children often at school and vaccinated. The program aims to reduce poverty in the short and long term through conditional transfers of capital, which, in turn, aims to break the generational cycle of poverty from generation to generation. The elements that determine the outcome of an election change considerably depending on the country, its historical moment, social, economic and political conditions and on the candidates who intend to occupy the position. In Brazil, this dispute has been polarized in the last two decades, around two...
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...and CEO, Hector Lans, is convinced that Precious Ultra Thin Baby Diapers will be a big seller in Brazil. In their role as brokers for Crosswell, the Mathieuxs have been exploring a number of different distribution channels in the Brazilian market. To date, the distributor response to Precious diapers has been enthusiastic, particularly in light of Precious diapers’ superior quality compared to locally manufactured alternatives. The problem, however, is the price. Brazilians base many purchasing decisions — at least in regard to disposable diapers — on cost, not on quality. The Mathieuxs find that distributors do not believe they can compete in the market with the relatively high prices offered by Crosswell, even with higher quality diapers. After much debate over how to improve the price competitiveness of Precious diapers, the Mathieuxs believe they may have found a solution. Their proposal is to combine extended credit terms to local distributors with Brazil’s high domestic interest rates to effectively lower the diapers’ price to Brazilian consumers. The Brazilian Diaper Market Until the latter part of the 1980s, most Brazilians had never heard of a disposable diaper, and not surprisingly, the disposable hygiene market in Brazil was virtually non-existent. By 1995, however, the personal care market was booming. This growth was largely a result of new-found economic stability and a growing middle class. As both the middle class and educational levels about hygiene...
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...GLOBAL AND BUSINESS PRACTICES- BUSA 3000 DR. ILKE KARDES APRIL 23, 2015 1. Country Background Brazil is a country located in eastern South America, with a territorial size of 8,514,877 sq. km (square kilometers) and shares its borders with 10 other South American nations. These nations are; Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Brazil has a national GDP of 2.246 trillion USD (2013), a GNI of 2.956 trillion USD (2013), a population of 200.4 million people (2013), which makes the country’s GDP Per Capita 11,208.08 USD and its GNI Per Capita 14,750 PPP USD (2013). Brazil’s national currency is the Brazilian Real (R$), trades 2.97 R$ to 1USD, and exchanged openly on the Forex market. Brazil is a country rich with natural resources. These natural resources include, Timber, sugar, coffee beans, quartz, diamonds, chromium, iron ore, phosphates, petroleum, mica, graphite, titanium, copper, gold, oil, bauxite, zinc, tin, and mercury. Brazil is also a member of several economic organizations, including Unasul, WTO, Mercosul, G-20 and the Cairns Group. Brazil has hundreds of trading partners, with 60 percent of its total exports made up of manufactured and semi manufactured goods. Mercosul, an economic and political agreement that includes Argentina, Paraguay, Uraguay and Brazil, encourages free trade and easy transit of goods, people and currency. In 2008, Mercosul signed a free...
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...Telecom Italia Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private company listed on both “the Borsa Italiana”(the Italian stock market) and NYSE, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies. In addition to its domestic leading position, the Group has a significant presence in Latin America, a market with large growth potential. Revenues from Brazil and Argentina count for 34% of today Group's revenues. Abroad Group's focus is on Latin America. It operates in Argentina and Paraguay, providing fixed and mobile telephony services and internet through Telecom Argentina group. In Brazil, TIM Brasil remains one of the major players in what now is a market with a great potential for growth. Reasons why I have chosen Telecom Italy Firstly I am interesting to explore the possibility of investing in the company, then I would maybe like to work for the company one day, and I say that knowing the international scenario in which Telecom Italia operates and the wide chances of growth especially in emerging markets as Latin America. From this project I would also like to figure out if the growth possibilities in emerging markets can overcome the forecasts of not-so-good results in the domestic market due to what seems to be a long-term crisis scenario in Europe and Italy in particular. Risk Management The Telecom Italia Group is exposed to the following...
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...The Economic side Brazil is: World’s second largest producer of organic foods World’s third largest producer of fruit World’s third largest consumer market for cosmetics World’ fifth largest country in population World’s seventh country in Internet usage World’s eighth largest consumer market World’s Twelfth largest economy World’s largest Catholic country Population: 205,716,890 (2012) Age Structure: 0-14 years: 26.2% (male 27,219,651/female 26,180,040) 15-64 years: 67% (male 67,524,642/female 68,809,357) 65 years and over: 6.7% (male 5,796,433/female 7,899,650) (2011est) Population growth rate: 1.102% (2012est) Birth Rate: 17.48 births/1,000 population (2012est) The average monthly income of Brazilian families in 2009(731 dollars) Income classes: Class A: above BRL 10.200 Class B: above BRL 5.100 Class C: above BRL 2.040 Class D: above BRL 1.020 Class E: below BRL 1.020 Total number of citizen in middle class: 95 Million (%52 of population) -2009 Lower class: 61 million. People live below the poverty line: %24. Business opportunities: Telecommunication business opportunities Franchise business opportunities Real Estate Investments Domestic demand is very strong, for example for cars, housing, or consumer durables GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.284 trillion (2011est) GDP - real growth rate: 2.8% (2011est) GDP - per capita (PPP): $11,600 (2011est) ...
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