Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio Guest Daniel Bonatti

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio Guest Daniel Bonatti


Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio guest Daniel Bonatti , translator, interpreter and owner of Evidence Language and Communication. Comments on the special report on business and finance in Brazil published recently in The Economist, offers suggestions to business persons on how to prepare for business in Brazil.

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A special report on business and finance in Brazil Getting it together at last

A special report on business and finance in Brazil Getting it together at last

Nov 12th 2009

From The Economist print edition

Brazil used to be all promise. Now it is beginning to deliver, says John Prideaux

AFP

BRAZIL has long been known as a place of vast potential. It has the world’s largest freshwater supplies, the largest tropical forests, land so fertile that in some places farmers manage three harvests a year, and huge mineral and hydrocarbon wealth. Foreign investors have staked fortunes on the idea that Brazil is indeed the country of the future. And foreign investors have lost fortunes; most spectacularly, Henry Ford, who made a huge investment in a rubber plantation in the Amazon which he intended to tap for car tyres. Fordlândia, a long-forgotten municipality in the state of Pará, with its faded clapboard houses now slowly being swallowed up by jungle, is perhaps Brazil’s most poignant monument to that repeated triumph of experience over hope.

Foreigners have short memories, but Brazilians have learned to temper their optimism with caution—even now, when the country is enjoying probably its best moment since a group of Portuguese sailors (looking for India) washed up on its shores in 1500. Brazil has been democratic before, it has had economic growth before and it has had low inflation before. But it has never before sustained all three at the same time. If current trends hold (which is a big if), Brazil, with a population of 192m and growing fast, could be one of the world’s five biggest economies by the middle of this century, along with China, America, India and Japan.

Despite the financial crisis that has shaken the world, a lot of good things seem to be happening in Brazil right now. It is already self-sufficient in oil, and large new offshore discoveries in 2007 are likely to make it a big oil exporter by the end of the next decade. All three main rating agencies classify Brazil’s government paper as investment grade. The government has announced that it will lend money to the IMF, an institution that only a decade ago attached stringent conditions to the money it was lending to Brazil. As the whole world seemed to be heading into a long winter last year, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil was 30% up on the year before—even as FDI inflows into the rest of the world fell by 14%.

Much of the country’s current success was due to the good sense of its recent governments, in particular those of Fernando Henrique Cardoso from 1995 to 2003, which created a stable, predictable macroeconomic environment in which businesses could flourish (though even now the government continues to get in the way of companies trying to earn profits and create jobs). How did this remarkable transformation come about? And how can Brazilian and foreign firms, from lipstick-makers to investment banks, take advantage of the country’s new stability?

To see why Brazil currently seems so exciting to both Brazilians and foreigners, it helps to understand just how deep it had sunk by the early 1990s. Past disappointments also explain three things about Brazil which outsiders sometimes find hard to fathom: its suspicion of free markets; its faith in the wisdom of government intervention in business and finance; and persistently high interest rates.

When Brazil became independent from Portugal in 1822, British merchants, delighted to discover a big new market, flooded Brazil with manufactures, including, according to one possibly apocryphal story, ice-skates—an early example of emerging-market fever. Even so, real income per person remained stagnant throughout the 19th century, perhaps because an inadequate education system and an economy dependent on slaves producing commodities for export combined to get in the way of development. Ever since the Brazilians have tended to view free trade with suspicion, despite their country’s recent success as an exporter.

In the mid-20th century Brazil seemed to have found a formula for stimulating growth and enjoyed what appeared to be an economic miracle. At one point its economy grew faster than that of any other big country bar Japan and South Korea. That growth relied on a state-led development model, financed with foreign debt within a semi-closed economy. But growth also brought inflation, which crippled Brazil until the mid-1990s and still accounts for some odd characteristics, such as the country’s painfully high interest rates and its disinclination to save. All the same, the “miracle” wrought by the military government persuaded Brazilians that the state knew best, at least in the economic sphere, and even the subsequent mess did not quite persuade them otherwise.

Unhappy memories

When this development model broke down amid the oil shocks of the 1970s, Brazil was left without the growth but with horrendous inflation and lots of foreign debt. There followed two volatile decades, when Brazil started being likened to Nigeria instead of South Korea. Productivity growth went into reverse. Many of the country’s current problems, including crime and poor education and health care, either date from that period or were exacerbated by it. Between 1990 and 1995 inflation averaged 764% a year.

Then a real miracle happened. In 1994 a team of economists under Mr Cardoso, then the finance minister, introduced a new currency, the real, which succeeded where previous attempts had failed. Within a year the Real Plan had managed to curb price rises. In 1999 the exchange-rate peg was abandoned and the currency allowed to float, and the central bank was told to target inflation. The ten-year anniversary of this event has just passed, and although there is continuing debate about how to make the real less volatile, none of the big political parties advocates going back to a managed rate.

More than that, the reforms brought discipline to the government’s finances. Both federal and state governments now have to live within their means. A requirement to run a primary surplus (before interest payments on the public debt) was introduced in 1999, and the federal government has hit the target for it every year since, though there is a good chance that it will miss it this year. This has allowed Brazil to get rid of most of the dollar-denominated foreign debt that caused such instability every time the economy wobbled. Now international creditors trust the government to honour its commitments. Moody’s, a rating agency, elevated Brazil’s government paper in September to investment grade just as the governments of many richer countries fretted about being able to meet their obligations.

Yet growth still proved elusive. It took a buoyant world economy and a surge in commodity prices to procure it. Although Brazil’s economy is still relatively closed (trade accounted for a modest 24% of GDP in 2008, less than 60 years earlier), its growth is closely correlated with commodity prices, the Chinese economy, the Baltic Dry index and other measures of global trade. But at last in 2006 GDP outpaced inflation for the first time in over 50 years.

Lucky Lula’s legacy

Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has been able to take much of the credit for the country’s recent growth that perhaps properly belongs to his predecessor. Yet Lula’s achievement has been to keep the reforms he was bequeathed and add a few of his own—not a meagre accomplishment given that for the past seven years his own party has been trying to drag him to the left.

Lula is often mocked for beginning his sentences with the phrase, “never before in the history of this country”. What his political opponents find even more infuriating is that he is often right. Brazil was able to cut interest rates and inject money into the economy as the world economy faltered at the end of last year, the first time it has been able to do this in a crisis. Whereas others predicted that world events would tip Brazil into recession, Lula reckoned that the crisis would amount to nothing more than a small tide breaking on his country’s beaches. The economy shrank for only two quarters and is now growing again. The contrast with Brazil’s performance in previous crises could not be more stark (see article).

Plenty of problems remain. The central bank’s headline interest rate is 8.75%, one of the highest real rates anywhere in the world. If the government wants a long-term loan in its own currency it still has to link its bonds to inflation, making debt expensive to service.

Productivity growth is sluggish. That may not seem the end of the world, but it reflects realities such as the two-hour bus journey into work endured by people living on the periphery of São Paulo, the country’s largest city, during which they often risk assault before arriving too tired to be very useful. The government invests too little and has longstanding gaps in policing and education to fill. The legal system is dysfunctional. And so on.

Yet other countries face similar problems, and Brazil has made real progress. In a country where businesses became used to headline interest rates of 30% or more, a rate below 9% comes as a relief. “It’s like the difference between running a marathon with 50 kilos on your shoulders and 20 kilos,” says Luis Stuhlberger of Credit Suisse Hedging-Griffo, one of Brazil’s most successful fund managers. Mr Stuhlberger thinks that Brazil’s recent past was so awful, and its expansion of education and credit is so young, that the country can reasonably be expected to continue on its current trajectory, even without further big reforms. Even so, he argues, “we are not going to have a Harvard or a Google here.” The blame for that, he says, lies largely with government policies.

Brazil’s economic story could certainly be made more exciting with some reforms to its business environment. The country’s potential growth without a risk of overheating can only be guessed at, but it is probably below the 6.8% it reached in the third quarter of 2008. Most economists put it at 4-5%. This suggests that interest rates will not be coming down to levels considered normal in other countries soon.

Still, stability has its own rewards. Edmar Bacha, one of the economists who worked on the introduction of the real in 1994, is pleased that the debates about Brazil’s economy have become so narrow. Back in 1993, when he joined the ministry of finance, inflation at one point hit 2,489%. Nowadays, he notes with a wry smile, “the big debates are about whether interest rates could come down from 8.75% to 8.25%; or whether the central bank should have started cutting a month earlier than it did.” That change has been good for Brazil, and particularly good for its banks and its financial system.

Increasing Brazil-Vietnam Understanding and Trade

Increasing Brazil-Vietnam Understanding and Trade


Written by Vinh
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 09:53
(VEN) - Manoel Bertone, the Secretary for Production and Agro Energy of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, recently visited Ho Chi Minh City to enhance friendship and economic and trade relations between Brazil and Vietnam. For the occasion, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in Ho Chi Minh City and the Brazilian Ambassador to Vietnam hosted a workshop, regarding opportunities for Brazil-Vietnam investment cooperation in agriculture-food and trade exchange between businesses of the two countries.

Growth of 5.1 percent annually, per capita income of US$10,200 per year and a population of 198 million makes Brazil a market that has tremendous purchasing power. However, trade between Brazil and Vietnam amounted to a little more than US$556 million in 2008, US$183 million of that being Vietnamese seafood, coffee, vegetables, fruits, fine-art handicraft and garment exports to Brazil and US$373 million of that being Brazilian products such as wheat, milk and dairy products, wood, textile-garment materials, medicines, chemicals and plastics that were imported from Brazil. The potential for trade is thought to be much greater.

This is why Joao De Mendonca Lima Neto, the Brazilian Ambassador to Vietnam, went down to Ho Chi Minh City together with the Brazilian delegation and met Vietnamese businesspeople. He said that this was an opportunity for Brazilian and Vietnamese businesspeople to meet and share information, particularly regarding meat, milk and cheese which Brazil produces in quantity. To understand the Vietnamese food market better, the Brazilian businesspeople will be visiting the 2009 Vietnam Food & Hotel Trade Fair and the 2009 Vietnam Franchising Trade Fair, both of which will be held this month in Ho Chi Minh City.

A Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture expert said that agriculture accounts for 6.7 percent of the Brazilian economy and that Brazil is the world's biggest sugarcane and coffee producer and the world's leading exporter of cocoa, green beans, orange juice, tobacco, forest products, fruits and tropical seeds. Brazil exports more than US$70 million worth of farm produce annually which accounts for 35 percent of the country's export earnings. At this time, Brazil is exporting to new markets to reduce its reliance on the European Union.

He also said that Brazil has the second largest number of cattle in the world and is a major source of leather for the Vietnamese footwear industry. Because corn and soybeans are grown in Brazil using modern methods it is cheaper than that grown in many other countries. It is thought that Brazil is a potential source of raw materials for the animal feed industry in Vietnam. Cajuput tree saplings from Brazil are being shipped to Vietnam to be used for the future production of wood products and increasing the amount imported to Vietnam would be beneficial. In addition to those products now being exported to Brazil, Vietnamese seafood and plastics could also be exported to this market.

The Brazil Chamber of Commerce will be opening a 2,000 sq.m showroom in Brazil at the end of this year and foreign businesses will be allowed to display products free of charge. Vietnamese companies should take advantage of this opportunity. In addition, Vietnamese pepper businesses can take part in a conference of world pepper associations, which is to be held in Brazil.

Mr. Bertone said that to increase trade ties between Vietnamese and Brazilian businesses, the two governments should have a bilateral trade agreement that would make it easier for businesses of the two countries to meet. Brazil promised to support Vietnamese businesses that want to go to Brazil to learn about the market and promote trade.

A man from the VCCI in Ho Chi Minh City said that because Vietnam is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is integrating deeper into the world economy, Vietnamese businesses wish to reach out to potential markets like Brazil. He also said that Vietnam is opening its door to foreign products and this is a good time for Brazilian businesses to enter the Vietnamese market. This visit to Vietnam by the Brazilian business delegation shows that Brazilian companies believe that there is the potential and opportunities for cooperation with Vietnamese businesses. The visit made it possible for Vietnamese businesses to learn more about Brazil's advantages and potentials. It is important to strengthen mutual understanding and trade between businesses of the two countries and encourage future business partnerships.

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio Guest Joanne Diehl

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio guest Joanne Diehl, President ThinkBRQ, USA and Human Capital specialist, discusses the recent US- Brazil IT-BPO Summit as well as “Why Brazil” for IT development and sourcing.

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Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio Guest Humberto Plais

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio guest Humberto Luiz Plais , head of the Joint Venture between Mabe SA (Mexico) and Fagor (Spain) in Moscow. How to sell refrigerators and freezers at 20 below zero! A Brazilian doing business in Russia.

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Participant at The Junior Achievement Brazil PDGI 2009 in Salvador, Bahia

Tom Reaoch, and participants PDGI 2009 Junior Achievement Brazil in Salvador , Bahia

Tom Reaoch, Talk 2 Brazil and participants Amcham Salvador, Bahia

Tom Reaoch, Talk 2 Brazil and participants Amcham Salvador, Bahia

Tom Reaoch,Talk 2 Brazil and participants at Amcham Salvador, Bahia

Be a Dream Guest on Talk Radio…And Turn Your Host’s Listeners into Your Followers « Event Management Services, Inc. – EMSI

Be a Dream Guest on Talk Radio…And Turn Your Host’s Listeners into Your Followers « Event Management Services, Inc. – EMSI

Be a Dream Guest on Talk Radio…And Turn Your Host’s Listeners into Your Followers
The most difficult thing about being a public relations professional is correcting a client’s perceptions about the field of PR itself.
PR people are depicted in the movies as “spin doctors,” stretching the truth or lying outright to present their clients in the best possible light.
That characterization couldn’t be further from the truth, and not because the portrayals are exaggerated and phony, but rather, because they proceed from the false assumption that a PR agent’s work is just about “selling” his client. The truth is, public relations is a marketing tool that is most effective when it isn’t trying to sell anything. At the heart and soul of any good PR effort is the desire to provide the news media with a story worth telling, plain and simple.
The hard truth that a PR agency has to help clients understand is that journalists and hosts don’t care about selling your book, your product, your story or your messages.
What they do care about is serving their viewers, listeners and readers with information and entertainment that keep them tuned in and paying attention. The more eyes and ears that are focused on their shows and publications means more advertising dollars for those organizations. And that is the “bottom line” in those industries.
Keeping that reality in mind, the best way to have successful interviews is to forget you’re selling something and work your marketing efforts around the goal of being the perfect radio guest. The key tactics to this strategy are:
Don’t position yourself as an author or executive. Instead, position yourself as an expert in your topic or your industry. Don’t try to sell anything other than your depth of knowledge and your ability to help answer key questions about some aspect of your topic that may have been in the news recently. For instance, a realtor can talk about escaping foreclosures. A stockbroker can talk about how to manage your own portfolio. Experts on just about any topic can look to the newspaper and find stories related to their expertise. Find that news story and shape your interview pitch around it, and include the fact that you have expertise in the field.
Make the host your friend. Talk candidly and openly about your topic in relationship to the current events surrounding it, and engage the host. In a recent interview, Lee Habeeb, co-creator of The Laura Ingraham Show and media coach to many of today’s top talk radio hosts, said, “The most important audience is the host. If you can engage the host, you will have engaged his audience. For example, the only reason most people gather around “The Savage Nation” is because they’re interested in what Michael Savage has to say and what he is interested in. So by proxy, you don’t have to worry about entertaining Michael’s audience; you simply have to engage and entertain Michael.”
Don’t sell. Stay on topic during the interview, and when appropriate, mention the free material on your web site that could benefit the host’s listeners. If you engage the host, give a great interview and offer helpful information, you don’t have to worry about selling anything. The host will do it for you. He’ll make sure his audience knows you’re an expert, he’ll give out your web site, he’ll mention the name of your book or he’ll talk about the value of your product. He’ll do the promotion for you.
Have a web site that does more than sell your product. If you are an author, provide free “tips articles” that explain your topic or your viewpoint in an informational manner. If you’re selling a product, create free reports or articles for your site that lay out the problem your product solves, again, in an educational tone.
How does this help you promote your book or your products?
Simple – one of the primary points of sale for almost every industry today is the Internet. Your web site is your virtual storefront or sales team, and companies pay big money for search engine marketing ads that are designed to drive traffic to your site. With your free report, you can drive radio listeners to your site in a non-commercial way that doesn’t lead them to believe you are selling anything. All it does is make you look smart. The host, tired of people using their shows to promote themselves, appreciates you not sounding like an infomercial and even urges his loyal audience to visit your site. If you’re really good, the host may even ask you back another time.
And you achieved all this simply by resisting the instinct to “sell,” and instead re-focusing your efforts toward helping the radio host offer listeners a good show.

As Incríveis Aventuras de Pepão e Beta

As Incríveis Aventuras de Pepão e Beta

Pepão,27, paulista. beta,26, carioca. pepão descobre o passaporte azul e avisa sua colega de trabalho beta. os dois resolvem viajar o brasil em um mês filmando tudo. as incríveis aventuras começam. pepão pega um avião para o rio. beta está no rio. pepão encontra beta. pepão e beta vão à prainha. beta surfa, ou pelo menos tenta. não tem onda e a água está fria. pepão e beta vão à joatinga. a maré está alta e a praia sumiu. pepão fica triste, quase chora. beta não liga pois já viu a joatinga milhões de vezes. pepão e beta vão ao corcovado. começa a chover. o dia acaba. beta e pepão resolvem ir amanhã para salvador.

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio guest Barry Dickler

Talk 2 Brazil Talk Radio guest Barry Dickler, Chairperson, Vistage International Florida. Talks about: Vistage Florida how it makes him feel young and the value of peer group participation, business recovery after the crisis in southern Florida, his first visit to Brazil. /
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