Brazil

Country Report
MIS480 OU Fall 2004
Jawan Brooks Gene Lopinski Igor Pertrovski Nick Zeigler Karen Zezula

Agenda
GENERAL INFORMATION

Physical Area Demographics Socio-Cultural Atmosphere Economy Business climate of country and region IT Possibilities in Brazil IT industry strengths and weaknesses IT industry Producer Characteristics IT industry Consumer Characteristics E-Commerce Sample of IT industries Websites French Guiana

Jawan Brooks

Jawan Brooks
Gene Lopinski Igor Petrovski Igor Petrovski

TECHNOLOGY

Nick Zeigler Nick Zeigler Gene Lopinski Gene Lopinski Igor Petrovski Jawan Brooks Karen Zezula

REGIONAL COMPARISON

Nick Zeigler

GENERAL INFORMATION

Physical Picture

Basic Demographics

Brazil is populous along the coast, less in the interior. The inhabitants are very diverse with many races and cultures represented. Population

177.062.044 (2003).

Ethnic groups White (includes Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish) 55% Mixed white and black 38% Black 6% Other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 1% Religions

Roman Catholic (nominal) 80% Portuguese (official), Spanish, English, French Reals per US dollar - 1.954 79 million

Languages

Exchange rate

Labor force

By occupation: services 53.2%, agriculture 23.1%, industry 23.7% Unemployment rate: 7.1%

Industries

textiles, shoes, chemicals, cement, lumber, iron ore, tin, steel, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, other machinery and equipment

Socio Cultural Picture

Brazilians like to create relationships Brazilians, being extremely cordial Business and social circumstances you may hear this word - jeitinho (pronounced jay-chi-nyo) In Brazil, basic business networking is based on the family Sense of Camaraderie Dressing up for Business

Economic Picture

Brazil is advanced in agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and the service sectors. The beginning of September Brazils government reported that the nations GDP grew 5.7% beating all median forecasts of 4.5%.

Economic Picture
The three pillars of the economic program Floating exchange rate
A floating exchange rate is when a nation's government is NOT trying to manipulate currency prices to achieve some change in the exports or imports

Inflation-targeting regime
The central bank is responsible for achieving a publicly announced target for the inflation rate

Tight fiscal policy

Tight Use of the federal government's powers of spending and taxation to stabilize the business cycle

Business Climate of Country and Region

Economy in South America Brazil's economy is greater then all other South American countries and is expanding its foothold in the world markets Human Resources Brazilian has high quality managers and a excellent local labor force that contributes to the success of companies operating there. Nokia had such confidences in the quality and production of the Brazilian workforce that they adding more than 1,000 workers to its Manaus cell phone assembly facility.

Business Climate of Country and Region

Drawbacks One of the main problems in Brazil is high duties and taxes. In 2002 import duties averaged over 11%. Freight hijacking organizations are known for their success in getting goods to market quickly. Hijackers, along with smugglers and counterfeiters supply Brazil's Black market which is equivalent to 40% to 50% of the country's gross national income.

TECHNOLOGY

IT Possibilities in Brazil

Possible industries for investment:

Outsourced Technical Support Services

Corporate Help Desk Customer Service/Support Example: Volkswagen Call Center Lower labor costs (but not lowest) Labor skill level higher than less-developed nations Example: Nokia Assembly plant

Outsourced Manufacturing

Not a viable target market for imports:

High import tariffs 20% of imports can take up to 30 days to clear customs

IT Industry Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: Brazils telecom infrastructure used to be considered a barrier to growth. The aging telecom infrastructure was privatized in 1998. This lead to an influx of telecom-related investment, and Brazil now has a modern infrastructure. Educated, skilled workforce Central location in South America Many sea ports Weaknesses: Business laws not supportive of e-commerce Inadequate legal protection for e-commerce transactions Language Barrier

IT Industry Producer Characteristics

Brazil is the leading IT market in Latin America Long-term outlook IT sales is extremely good -economic expected growth 3.5% annually, next few years Hardware Market should increase due to private sectors ongoing modernization of its operations Brazilian governments commitment to providing Brazilians with electronic government, plus expanding computer and Internet use throughout the country Brazilian government commitment should increase sales and opportunities for suppliers of Servers, Desktop, Notebook, PDAs and used PCs in the future Peripheral Firms should benefit

Scanners, Printers, Disk Drives

Demand for High-end data storage should be strong

IT Industry Producer Characteristics

Software market has enormous potential Brazilian Manufacturing & Services need for software solutions Brazilian Corporate Security concerns result in heavy IT spending Excellent Market for networking equipment-continuing expansion International Data Corporation predicts IT Services overtake investment in computer equipment Brazils acute shortage of qualified IT personnel-Great need for consultants and system integrators Corporate execs consider data warehousing and IT security part of their budgets

IT Industry Consumer Characteristics

Brazil has most the PCs installed and Largest internet population in Latin America PC use still confined to the Wealthy US market research forecasts Brazilian Internet users will triple to 42 million by 2006, Yankee Group Brazil was the 11th largest computer market in 1997, could reach 5th in the near future Most PC consumers are in Industrial commercial and financial establishments Small Office/Home Office Market to continue to increase Growth in Government Market & Educational Market

E-Commerce

E-commerce in Brazil has a firm hold in information intensive sectors with little affection by foreign business The growth of e-commerce in Brazil has been rapid in the last two years; electronic trade grew from 100 million US dollars to nearly 2 billion dollars a year

IT Industries

Variety of IT Industries in which to work:

Computer Analysts Programmers Systems Administrators Web Developers Telecommunications

Education

Certifications are not mandatory Preference given to college education and relevant work experience Graduate level degrees preferred by employers for higher level positions

Brazil Websites

Portugese MSN Mercado Livre = free market

Sandisk SD 256MB

$175.00 Reals Exchange rate

US Comparison -- EBay

General Motors Brazil Extra.com

English Braslink

In translating its 'Got Milk?' slogan into Hispanic, the US Milk Board would have been best to know that it actually asked people if they were breastfeeding. Ford had a similar problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company found out that Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals". Ford prised all the nameplates off and substituted Corcel, which means horse. These, and dozens of other blunders, highlight how linguistic nuances can change the whole meaning of marketing slogans and would have been avoided by using native linguists in marketing translations

REGIONAL COMPARISON

French Guiana v. Brazil

French Guiana Brazil

General Geography/Information
Population Literacy Rate: GDP per Capita $ 191,309 83.0% 8,300.00 $ 184,101,109 86.4% 7,600.00

Mean IQ
Land Area (sq. km) Coastline (km) Climate

87
89,150 378 tropical; hot, humid; little seasonal temperature variation bauxite, timber, gold (widely scattered), petroleum, kaolin, fish, niobium, tantalum, clay

88
8,456,510 7,491 mostly tropical, but temperate in south bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timber

Natural resources:
Land use: arable land: 0.14% permanent crops: 0.05% other: 99.81% (90% forest, 10% other) (2001) Irrigated land (sq. km.): Natural hazards:

0.14% 0.05% 99.81% 20

6.96% 0.90% 92.15% 26,560

high frequency of heavy showers and severe thunderstorms; flooding

mostly an unsettled wilderness; the only non-independent portion of the South American continent

recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south

largest country in South America; shares common boundaries with every South American country except Chile and Ecuador

Of Note:

French Guiana v. Brazil

French Guiana
Technology Infrastructure

Brazil

Telephones - main lines in use:

51,000

38,810,000

Percentage of population
Telephones - mobile cellular:

26.66%
138,200

21.08%
46,373,300

Percentage of population Internet users:

72.24% 3,200

25.19% 14,300,000

Percentage of population Internet TLD

1.67% .gf

7.77% .br