ill never invest in any area that does not respect property rights. i do however realize that the USA may be moving in the wrong direction in this area.
. Remarg: By the way, you were talking about Brazil growing with high interest rates, so far I remember in the year 2005 Brazil only grown more than Haiti, it´s true folk??? ************ September 10, 2006 SouthAmerica: Reply to Remarg I like to see the United States do better than that under a Fed Funds rate close to 20 percent per year as they have been doing in Brazil for many years. *********** Remarg: Do you know that Brazil will need 70 years of growing rate at about 10% per year in order to get USA living standards? And 50 years to even get our technological and scientific level!!! ********** SouthAmerica: Reply to Remarg Your facts and your thinking are frozen in a time long gone. The reality today is very different from what you are saying. Here are the real facts regarding the new economic revolution that is underway in these emerging countries of the future including Brazil. On July 31, 2006 the cover story of Business Week magazine â âEmerging Giants â The New Multinationalsâ - Multinationals from China, India, Brazil, Russia, and even Egypt are coming on strong. They're hungry -- and want your customers. They're changing the global game. â¦A new breed of ambitious multinational is rising on the world scene, presenting both challenges and opportunities for established global players. These new contenders hail from seemingly unlikely places, developing nations such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, and even Egypt and South Africa. They are shaking up entire industries, from farm equipment and refrigerators to aircraft and telecom services, and changing the rules of global competition. Unlike Japanese and Korean conglomerates, which benefited from protection and big profits at home before they took on the world, these are mostly companies that have prevailed in brutally competitive domestic markets, where local companies have to duke it out with homegrown rivals and Western multinationals every day. As a result, these emerging champions must make profits at price levels unheard of in the U.S. or Europe. Indian generic drugmakers, for example, often charge customers in their home market as little as 1% to 2% of what people pay in the U.S. Cellular outfits in North Africa, Brazil, and India offer phone service for pennies per minute. Yet these companies often thrive in such tough environments. â¦Many more companies are using their bases in the developing world as springboards to build global empires, such as Mexican cement giant Cemex, Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy, and Russia's Lukoil (LUKOY ), which has hundreds of gas stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. "What is surprising is the amount of progress emerging-market companies have made in the last few years," says Harold L. Sirkin, senior vice-president at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which recently published a study based on data collected from 3,000 companies in 12 developing nations. BCG identified 100 emerging multinationals that appear positioned to "radically transform industries and markets around the world." The 100 had a combined $715 billion in revenue in 2005, $145 billion in operating profits, and a half-trillion dollars in assets. They have grown at a 24% annual clip in the past four years. "There is no doubt in my mind that Corporate America has started to take this threat seriously," Sirkin adds. What makes these upstarts global contenders? Their key advantages are access to some of the world's most dynamic growth markets and immense pools of low-cost resources, be they production workers, engineers, land, petroleum, or iron ore. But these aspiring giants are about much more than low cost. The best of the pack are proving as innovative and expertly run as any in the business, astutely absorbing global consumer trends and technologies and getting new products to market faster than their rivals. Techtronic, for example, was the first to sell heavy-duty cordless tools powered by lightweight lithium ion batteries. Jetmaker Embraer's sleek EMB 190, which seats up to 118, has taken smaller commercial aircraft to a new level with a fuselage design that offers the legroom and overhead luggage space of much larger planes. Globalization and the Internet are ushering in this "seismic change" to the competitive landscape, says management guru Ram Charan. Because they can tap the same managerial talent, information, and capital as Western companies, "anyone from anywhere who sets his mind to it can really restructure an industry," Charan says. "Make no mistake, this now is a global game." â¦Yet this new group of game-changing companies is different on many levels. For starters, the new players are coming from many nations at once and deploying an array of strategies. They're also arriving from lands that, while growing fast, remain relatively poor. Germany and Japan were industrial powers before World War II and built on those strengths to reemerge as global heavyweights. By contrast, China and India have begun to emerge from extreme poverty only in recent decades. Per capita income in China is still just $1,300 a year. In India it's $620. That sounds like a huge handicap for companies from those nations: It implies low-income customers, meager capital, and hand-me-down technologies. It also means struggling with arcane regulations, corruption, and poor infrastructure. â¦Fit Survivors Hardscrabble origins, though, can be a vital source of strength. These companies have learned to make money by developing reliable, easy-to-use goods and services at very low prices. And those skills have equipped them well for operating elsewhere⦠â¦The best emerging multinationals, though, have amassed piles of cash, have built global research and development networks, and boast world-class management. You get the idea how far some companies have come by touring Embraer's campus in São José dos Campos, the size of 55 soccer fields. On the floor of one hangar, dozens of workers in impeccable overalls put the finishing touches on three luxurious Legacy 600 corporate jets that seat up to 16. In a classroom perched above the assembly line, 30 engineers enrolled in the company's graduate aerospace program fine-tune a PowerPoint presentation on a hypothetical new jet they have designed after conducting exhaustive market research and cost-feasibility studies. ⦠No matter how the big U.S. companies respond, gone is the era when they could afford to wait for an emerging market to ripen, then count on their ability to roll over the unsophisticated local players. "If you don't participate in these markets, you not only miss opportunities but also are cut out of all the innovation that comes from competing there," says University of Michigan management strategist C.K. Prahalad. "Then you won't be able to withstand the pressure when these companies come and hit you here." Whether one chooses to confront or collaborate, the new multinationals are set to change the rules in industry after industry. ***** Here is the list of Brazilian multinationals that made the list of the 100 best âEmerging Giants â The New Multinationalsâ according to the article published by Business Week. Out of the New 100 Emerging Giants â Brazil has 12 New Super Multinationals that were included on that list. Braskem - Brazil â Petrochemicals - Number one petrochemical company in Latin America with a focus on thermoplastic resins - Experienced strong export growth with first and second generation petrochemicals in the USA and Europe Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD)- Brazil â Mining - World's biggest producer of iron-ore and pellets, accounting for 30 percent of the world's ocean-shipped iron-ore - Gained a strong presence in all continents through exports Coteminas â Brazil â Textiles - Manufacturer of yarn, textiles and related garments; one of the largest T-Shirt manufacturers worldwide - Achieved strong presence in Latin America through organic growth and recently entered a JV with Springs in the US Embraco â Brazil - Engineered Products - World leader in compressors, specialising in refridgeration technology - Operates production facilities in Italy, Slovakia and China Embraer â Brazil â Aerospace - World's third largest aircraft manufacturer and world leader in regional jets - Internationalizes organically and through Joint Ventures (e.g. with EADS and AVIC II in China) Gerdau Steel â Brazil â Steel - Brazil's leading specialized steel producer - Grew its capacity through a series of acquisitions, mainly in North America Natura â Brazil â Cosmetics - Leading cosmetics company in Latin America, relying on a natural essence appeal and a direct selling system - Recently started expansion to Western Europe by opening up a premium store in Paris Perdigao â Brazil - Food and Beverages - Major food processor operating along the entire value chain from farming to marketing chilled and frozen foods - Exports an average of 60,000 tons per month to over 100 countries. Petrobras â Brazil - Fossil Fuels - Brazil's largest oil and gas exploration company with proven reserves of 11.6 billion barrels of oil - Expands through M&A for reserves and production capacity, mainly in Latin America Sadia â Brazil - Food and Beverages - Major food processor operating along the entire value chain from farming to marketing chilled and frozen foods - Exports to about 100 countries and has market leadership and a strong brand recognition in the Middle East. Votorantim Group â Brazil - Process Industries - Brazil's largest cement maker and number seven cement producer in the world - Leverages M&A to expand globally, particularly into North America. WEG â Brazil - Engineered Products - One of the world's largest producers of low-voltage electric motors - Has a strong position in the Americas and is now expanding into Europe and Asia .
My brazilian folk, You are so naif. I least you show some passion, but also a huge lack of economic knowledge, -Do you know from your companies list which are the real owners? Brazilian or Americans? Even Petrobas got a large stake of international control. -New economic revolution? Kid, go and research a little more -Do you want american companies which outperform Brazilians likes? I can write here, I would need maybe 50 gigas more of space. Naif kid, go to study in our country or come back to Rio due to the fact that a new powerful economy is there ... well, a new revolution is in religion with the bunch of Igreja Universal de Deus
. Remarg: You are so naif. I least you show some passion, but also a huge lack of economic knowledge, ************* SouthAmerica: Reply to Remarg If you know so much and you think Business Week magazine does not have any economic knowledge â then you should write to that major American business and economics magazine and straight them out with your knowledge of business and economics. I really like to see that. By the way, what do you mean by naif? You should say "naive" otherwise us kids will not understand what you are trying to say. .
1) Go to http://hdr.undp.org/ and check how is doing Brazil. Even Uruguai is better!!!!!!! (Don,t forget to check the overall ranking and main indicators) 2) One of the worst places to setup a business. 3) Audi gave uo operations in Brazil, Volks almost, Renault is having a real difficult time 4) I was in Rio this year in order to implement a new project. impossible, (By the way, rio is a huge favela with a small city). 5) Intel decided setup a factory in Costa Rica, dismissing Brazil, why? 6)Very difficult times are coming for Brazil: aging population, huge deficit in social security, huge public deficit, commodities falling down ... 7)Many more, I´m tired, do some research and don´t waist time waiting USA falling down and Brazil superpower. Congratulations for the astronaut. Did he go in a Brazilian rocket or just paid the ride?
Brazil driving the world into the future? What a joke. It's one of the last big economies that I'd invest in. There may be a lot of resources in Sub-Saharan Africa, but I don't see their economies doing so well.
Brazil the worst place to start businessLegally speaking Only one country is worse than Brazil.Congo. LOL
i don't agree with many of the writers political or economic views and i think brazil has lots of hurdles, like it would be nice if they had mortgages for the working man instead of cash only for houses (i guess this is still the case) but i do think that Brazil will have some remarkable growth in many areas over the next 3 decades on my day job i work for the largest paper company in the world, symbol IP we were a member of the DJIA until a year or two ago now we are restructuring and selling all or most of our woodlands and paper mills ... what we can't sell will be spun off why mostly because we struggle to earn 5 to 7% per year while brazilian paper companies can easily count on 15 to 20% or more. this happens because they can produce about 6 times the pulp per acre, 2 times more growing season with 3 times faster, larger growing trees plus cheaper labour in summary, i think Brazil can experience faster growth than the US in some areas and still never catch the US in others
. September 13, 2006 SouthAmerica: Reply to Birdman. You said: âand i think brazil has lots of hurdles, like it would be nice if they had mortgages for the working man instead of cash only for houses (i guess this is still the case)â According to a front-page article published by âA Folha de Sao Pauloâ today the Brazilian government is allocating money for mortgages. The article said that the Caixa Econômica Federal would make available R$ 5.5 billion to finance houses for the Brazilian population at 8.5 % interest rate per year during 2006 and 2007. ********************* A Folha de Sao Paulo Quarta-feira, 13 de setembro de 2006 âGoverno anuncia pacote para compra da casa própriaâ By: ANA PAULA RIBEIRO O anúncio acontece a menos de três semanas antes da eleição. Entre as novidades, estão o empréstimo do BNDES com juro de 8,5%. O ponto negativo foi a desistência de acabar com a TR, o corretor da poupança. Menos de três semanas antes da eleição, o governo federal anunciou um pacote de medidas para baratear o preço dos imóveis e tornar os juros e condições de pagamento dos financiamentos mais acessÃveis à população. A principal novidade é a possibilidade de que o BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômica e Social) financie empresas para que elas construam imóveis para seus funcionários. O risco da operação será do empregador. No entanto, há uma limitação. Os imóveis terão de ser próximos à uma nova fábrica, por exemplo. Outra medida é o uso facultativo da TR (taxa referencial). No pacote, o governo permitirá apenas que os bancos que desejarem deixar de indexar seus empréstimos a essa taxa possam fazer isso utilizando recursos da caderneta de poupança para oferecer o crédito. A medida irá entrar em vigor nos próximos dias. A partir dessa MP, serão três as possibilidades de financiamento com os recursos do Sistema Brasileira de Poupança e Empréstimo --cerca de R$ 8,7 bilhões neste ano. No primeiro caso, os bancos poderão cobrar apenas os juros, limitados a 12% ao ano. A outra forma é continuar como está hoje, TR mais juros de até 12% ao ano. No último caso, os contratos serão limitados a 12% ao ano mais um adicional fixo equivalente a TR ('TR travada'), no entanto as parcelas não irão variar. Membros da equipe econômica têm antecipado partes do pacote há várias semanas. As medidas, entretanto, só foram anunciadas hoje, em solenidade no Palácio do Planalto que contou com a participação do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, dos ministros Guido Mantega (Fazenda) e Marcio Fortes (Cidades), da presidente da Caixa Econômica Federal, Maria Fernanda Coelho, e empresários do setor. Mantega negou o uso polÃtico do pacote. Ele disse que o governo vai adotar medidas "antes, durante e depois das eleições" e que "esse programa vai no sentido de atender a aspiração básica do brasileiro, que é o acesso à casa própria". Veja abaixo os principais pontos do pacote: 1 - Crédito do BNDES - Empresas poderão tomar recursos no BNDES para construir imóveis para seus funcionários. No entanto, esse empréstimo só será concedido para a construção de moradias próximas ao local onde a empresa instalará ou ampliará as suas instalações. Os juros do crédito serão de TJLP (Taxa de Juros de Longo Prazo, hoje em 7,5%) mais 1% ao ano. 2 - Financiamento a construtoras - O governo prevê liberar cerca de R$ 4,5 bilhões até o final de 2007 --sendo R$ 1 bilhão em 2006-- para financiar as construtoras e a comercialização dos imóveis. O dinheiro virá da Caixa Econômica Federal. A taxa de juros para empreendimentos com unidades residenciais de valor até R$ 130 mil será de TR mais 9,56% ao ano. Para empreendimentos de unidades residenciais cujo valor estiver na faixa entre R$ 130 mil a R$ 350 mil será de TR mais 11,38% ao ano. Havia a expectativa que o financiamento incluÃsse apenas as construtoras que levantassem moradias para famÃlias de baixa renda, o que não aconteceu. A Caixa é o banco que lidera o financiamento imobiliário no Brasil, mas a maior parte dos recursos são liberados para o comprador do imóvel, e não para a construtora. 3 - TR - O governo desistiu de acabar com a TR (taxa referencial), mas vai permitir que os bancos que desejarem deixem de cobrar a taxa como indexador de seus empréstimos. Sem a TR, o comprador do imóvel poderá ter juros prefixados e saber qual o valor da prestação que vai pagar do começo ao fim do financiamento, que pode ter prazo de até 20 anos. A TR (taxa referencial) foi criada no governo Collor como um indexador que refletia uma média de aplicações financeiras. Durante o governo FHC, uma série de crises internacionais levou a TR a patamares muito mais altos que a inflação, o que encareceu o custo do crédito e aumentou da inadimplência. O governo FHC adotou então um redutor da TR para diminuir o impacto da variação da taxa. Agora, com uma maior estabilidade da economia, os bancos começaram a aceitar que o governo descase a remuneração paga a quem aplica em caderneta de poupança (TR mais uma parcela fixa) do empréstimo habitacional feito com recursos da caderneta (somente a parcela fixa). O juro máximo para o financiamento com recursos da poupança continuará a ser de 12% mais TR. A diferença é que os juros dos financiamentos sem TR não mudarão mais após a concessão independentemente de mudanças no valor da taxa. Como sem a TR o comprador poderá avaliar melhor se sua capacidade de pagamento é suficiente para a aquisição de um imóvel, a medida tem potencial para reduzir a inadimplência. 4 - Consignado da habitação - Servidores públicos e trabalhadores da iniciativa privada poderão oferecer ao banco como garantia do pagamento de empréstimos o desconto direto da parcela no holerite. O crédito consignado é a modalidade de empréstimo para pessoa fÃsica que mais cresce desde que foi criado. No entanto, essa modalidade tem um limite de prazo de pagamento de 36 meses. Como o crédito habitacional trabalha com prazos bem mais longos, de até 20 anos, o governo irá publicar um decreto nos próximos dias para permitir que o comprador do imóvel também possa oferecer seu salário como garantia. Em caso de demissão, a regra é a mesma do consignado comum, ou seja, o total da rescisão será utilizado para abater a dÃvida. A mudança deve favorecer principalmente os servidores públicos e militares, que têm maior estabilidade no emprego. 5 - Desoneração - O governo vai reduzir o IPI (Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados) para materiais de construção civil. A lista de produtos inclui principalmente materiais de acabamento, como chuveiros, bidês, sanitários, caixas de descarga, revestimentos de pavimentos de plásticos, que terão alÃquota de IPI reduzida de 10% para 5%. Neste ano o governo já tinha baixado o IPI de produtos mais básicos, como tubos de plástico, portas, argamassas, ladrilhos e cerâmica. 6 - Lei Geral - As empresas de construção civil vão ser incluÃdas na Lei Geral de Micro e Pequenas Empresas, que simplifica e reduz a tributação sobre empresas com faturamento de até R$ 2,4 milhões. O governo ainda não especificou como essas empresas serão tratadas na lei, que já foi votada pela Câmara e ainda precisa ser analisada pelo Senado. 7 - Site - Será criado um site com informações sobre financiamento imobiliário e prestação de serviços. Também haverá um banco de dados com preços de imóveis. O objetivo é facilitar a comparação entre imóveis parecidos e aumentar a concorrência entre as construtoras, o que tem potencial para levar à redução dos preços. 8 - Inovação - O BNDES vai colocar à disposição uma linha de crédito de R$ 100 milhões para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos e processos para construção civil. O objetivo é tornar as empresas mais competitivas. .
. September 15, 2006 ISN â Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, Switzerland âBrazil leads Latin America's bio-fuel futureâ As the world seeks to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, some look to Brazil and its sugar-based ethanol fuel program as a potential world leader in renewable energy sources. Editor's Note: This is the first in a three-part series by ISN Security Watch's Carmen Gentile on bio-fuels. Part 2 of the series will appear on Wednesday, 20 September. By Carmen Gentile for ISN Security Watch Latin America - led by Brazil - is rapidly becoming a world leader in renewable energy sources like biofuels, a quest that has garnered the attention of countries like the US and Britain. Brazil - whose sugar-based ethanol fuel program dates by to the 1970s - is leading by example for countries like neighboring Paraguay, where ethanol and petroleum mixtures for vehicles has become more popular in recent years due to climbing global fuel prices. Cuba, meanwhile, is considering expanding its ethanol fuel output with the help of a Spanish firm in hopes of climbing aboard the alternative fuel bandwagon that Brazil is leading to worldwide prominence. The communist island's economy reportedly grew 12.5 percent in the first half of 2006 in large part due to growing sugar cane exports. Brazil's decades of success with ethanol has recently prompted Britain to seek an alliance with South America's largest country and economy to promote increased sugar production in southern Africa, officials from both nations said earlier this month. South Africa and Mozambique are reportedly on the short list of candidate nations for expanding the ethanol market in the region, according to ethanol experts at the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at Iowa State University. "The commitment of both countries is to develop other [ethanol] supplier countries," media quoted Brazilian Industry and Trade Minister Luiz Furlan as saying earlier this week. "It's a product that needs to become more available to (global) consumers." British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling, who was in Brasilia in September for the project's launch, said that after test-driving one of Brazil's "flex-fuel" cars - vehicles that run on either gasoline or a combination of ethanol and petroleum-based fuel - he would "now confront any car manufacturer in Europe who tells me that people won't buy cars powered by ethanol." The secretary's endorsement bodes well for the future of ethanol in what is projected to be a lucrative EU market for the oil-based alternative fuel. With oil prices remaining relatively high compared to pre-war prices, many EU leaders have expressed interest in finding an alternative to pump prices that in some countries top US$5 a gallon by US standards. Britain is reportedly keen on pairing up with Brazil because it is a proven leader in the global ethanol market, exporting some 18 million tons of sugar in 2005. "There is an increased interest in renewable fuels and Brazil is already a major supplier on the global market," FAPRI ethanol analyst Simla Tokgoz told ISN Security Watch. Both nations are also reportedly looking into developing the infrastructure necessary to enhance sugar production in both nations, noted fellow FAPRI ethanol specialist Amani Elobeid. "The viability is there," Elobeid said, adding that Britain was a leader among EU nations investigating the feasibility of ethanol as a long-term solution to future fuel needs and recognized Brazil as something of a pioneer in the field. "Britain wants to diversify its sources for ethanol and are using Brazil's expertise to do it," she said. Brazil is already far and away ahead of Britain and other developed countries when it comes to using other forms of organic-petroleum fuel blends like sugar-based ethanol fuels, making its use a matter of law. All Brazilian gasoline must contain 25 percent ethanol and most vehicles produced in the country can run on any mixture of the two fuels. In the 1970s, Brazil's Pro-Ethanol Program subsidized sugar mills to produce extra product specifically for the production of the bio-fuel in the wake of the oil price spike experienced worldwide. Three decades later, the sector is not only self-sufficient, but profitable and looking to expand its exports. Last year, Brazil produced 13 million gallons of ethanol, mostly for home use. However Brazilian energy officials are in talks with several nations, including the US, China and India, to export 65 million gallons in the coming years. Alternative fuels like ethanol have experienced their own price increase in recent months due to the increasing demand for them. That's good news for Brazil's burgeoning sugarcane industry, whose small farmers and agro-businesses are rushing to plant more fields. Earlier this year, Brazil's federal energy company Petrobras signed an agreement to carry out a feasibility study for a new US$225 million pipeline to carry ethanol from the center-west state of Goia to the coastal state of Sao Paulo. The pipeline would have a capacity to transport about 1 billion gallons of the fuel annually to Petrobras' refinery where it would be mixed with gasoline. It would also create new opportunities for ethanol exports through the state's ports, Petrobras said in a statement. Brazil's development and expanded output has caught the attention of US officials, who noted during an April World Economic Forum meeting on Latin America that Washington was searching for ways to "diversify" its fuel options and looking to Brazil as an example of how to do it. "We are embarking on a program to diversify our energy sources and change the mix,â E. Anthony Wayne, US assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, said in a statement. âAnd Brazil is a leader in ethanol production." Amid Brazil's success with traditional sugar-based ethanol, engineers there have designed and developed a new type of diesel fuel that is mixed with various vegetable oils, an innovation energy officials say will save the country millions on imported diesel in the coming years. According to the country's state-run energy firm Petrobras and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the new bio-diesel mixture would put Brazil on the map among those nations leading the alternative fuel revolution. "Brazil can become the most important nation in the world for renewable energy," da Silva said during the new fuel's introduction in June. Unlike other forms of bio-diesel, H-Bio is mixed by the fuel distributor and not at the refinery, adding to the proposed savings, which Pertrobras said could total as much as US$145 million a year once the new mixture hits the market. Fuel experts like Al Mannato, the fuels issues manager at American Petroleum Institute in Washington, says bio-diesels like the one created by Brazil certainly have their advantages. "The pro is that it's [the vegetable-based portion of the fuel] a renewable energy source," said Mannto. He also noted that bio-diesels "have great lubricity characteristics," meaning they aid in lubricating an engine while it's running, prolonging the engine's life. There are drawbacks, however, the API expert notes, in that bio-diesels are typically expensive to produce and have a tendency to gel in cold weather, which would make them difficult to use in winter in the colder climes of North America and parts of northern Europe. Despite some drawbacks, the production of yet another alternative fuel is good news for Brazilian drivers, who are hoping the savings will be noticeable at the pumps, where fuel regularly goes for about US$5 a gallon by US standards, even with the widespread use of ethanol. Regardless, with the US and others keen on reducing dependency on fossil fuels from the Middle East, ethanol from Brazil and other Latin American nations appears poised to break into the global market. *** Carmen Gentile is a senior international correspondent for ISN Security Watch. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan and Bolivia for ISN Security Watch, and Haiti, Venezuela and elsewhere for Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Washington Times and others. Source: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=16668 .