When real growth happens the first ones’ to be very visibly present are McDonalds and Coke. These two are very powerful global brands.

Moscow Times reports a Bloomberg wire :

McDonald’s plans to open 30 locations in the country this year and accelerate the pace of expansion in the next two years, taking advantage of rising sales in the region.

“Russia will be one of the key countries where McDonald’s will see growth,” Ian Borden, chief financial officer for Russia and Eastern Europe, said Tuesday. “It’s a big country, the income levels of people are growing very quickly and the market is not developed yet.” Read the rest of this entry »

Xinhua news today reported launch of China’s probe into Lunar Mission. The Chang’e-1 moon orbiter has entered into a 16-hour orbit at 205 km perigee and 50,930 km apogee, statistics from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) shows. The 2,300-kg satellite will experience four accelerations and is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on Oct. 31 and arrive in the moon’s orbit on Nov. 5. More news on this link

China Launches its Lunar mission

Despite the sub-prime crisis spreading its wings to the Indian stock market, the country along with its emerging market peers China, Brazil and Russia defied a sharp plunge in the worldwide IPO market in the third quarter of 2007, a study said on Wednesday.

The number of global initial public offerings dropped by 22 per cent in the July-September quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the quarterly Global IPO Report from international consultancy firm Ernst and Young.

While mature markets experienced a slowdown, emerging markets continued to thrive with record activity and accounted for nearly half of the total IPO proceeds in the quarter, the report said.

Globally, $57 billion were raised in 428 IPOs in the third quarter, and the amount of capital raised fell by 36 per cent compared with the previous quarter. However, the number of IPOs rose by 25 per cent and the value was up by 27 per cent on year-over-year basis, E&Y said. Read the rest of this entry »

A great article from www.theglobalguru.com on BRIC, ..and below is the relevant data for Brazil. Brazil is a very big country and has lots of natural resources and talent. I am sure there is a lot of leverage for companies from India , China and Russia to have both source and sell opportunities. Recently the contender for Corus aquisition was a large steel firm from Brazil. For sure the Tata’s will be looking at Brazil for setting up their base.

“Brazil is the country of the future… and always will be.” Much has changed since Charles
De Gaulle’s wry observation. Indeed, Goldman Sachs has anointed the Brazil economy as one of
the fast-growth BRIC economies — one of the top four emerging-market countries. Brazil expects
to become a leading global power between now and 2050.
“Wow! Brazil is big!” exclaimed George W. Bush, after being shown a map of Brazil by
Brazilian president Lula da Silva in November 2005. Indeed, it is. You could fit 12 of Bush’s
home state of Texas into Brazil. Put another way, Brazil is about 90% the size of the U.S., and its
population of 185 million is equal to the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy combined.
As impressive as Brazil’s size is, it’s the large profits made investing in the Brazil stock mar-
ket over the past three years that have caught the attention of U.S. investors. Investing in the Brazil
stock market’s Bovespa index — since it bottomed in 2002 — would have netted you a 220%
gain. U.S investors have done even better, thanks to Brazil’s appreciating currency, the Real. Last
year the Bovespa was up 27%, yet U.S. investors almost doubled that return in a dollar-denomi-
nated ETF (EWZ). Prior to the recent correction, U.S. investors had almost tripled their money in
Brazil over the last two years. No wonder the Brazil stock market has been raising investors’ eye-
brows and opening their wallets. Read the rest of this entry »

As the BRIC countries develop faster their currency appreciates. Though it is good as a whole for the nation, it immediately impacts BPOs and IT cos who thrive on wage arbitrage between developed economy and them.

US-based Spectrum Global Fund Administration, providing back-office operations to hedge funds in the US and the UK, is closing its facilities in India. The company had started its operations in India two years ago.

The company, which is based in Bangalore, has close to 100 employees. The centre serves about 60-70 clients of the total 110 in the hedge fund sector. The company plans to close the centre by December-end.

“The decision has been taken by the US office. We have not been told about the procedures. Negotiations as to what happens to the people working here is yet to be conveyed by the head office,” said a source close to the development.

The company has cited reasons such as increasing attrition and rising costs for closing its Indian operations.

By Zing Meng and Peter J. Williamson

This book clearly  gives a picture of Chinese strategies on Cost Innovation to stay above the global competition. The loose brick strategy mentioned in this book is very interesting. Must read for anyone interested in Global Business issues and Inflection Points.

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1422102084
• ISBN-13: 978-1422102084

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

This book is amazing and teaches the basics of becoming financially independent person . It also gives you a perspective for cash flow approach to financial decisions. I read this book for the first time and I had set out to do my first startup venture.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks; New Ed edition (January 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751532711
• ISBN-13: 978-0751532715

What is Transformation ?

Transformation is everything to do with Future state that one desires. It is surely not just a change,..its a clean slate drawing of one’s future landscape. It is about leaving the constraints of the past and to create the possibilities of being the desired state.

BRIC countries are surely in their phase of Transformation. How does a nation transform ? A nation transforms based on what its people aspire to be, what its leadership (political, business, social,..) will and aspirations are, to create an environment wherein its citizens are engaged, prosperous, innovative, democratic, free of corruption, healthy, educated,…

What choices do the BRIC countries have to transform to be a developed nation ?

1. Each nation needs definitely breakthroughs with its neighbouring countries and the developed nations. For eg : Russia needs a breakthrough with European Union and USA,..China needs breakthrough with Taiwan, Japan, India and US &EU,..similarly India needs breakthrough with Pakistan, China, US , Japan and EU.
2. Breakthroughs are nothing but leaving the constraints of the past relations and opening a new beginning of trust, respect and love for each other
3. Political consensus is required in achieving these breakthroughs and the Leader has to be an extra-ordinary person who has the courage make these things happen
4. Nations have to create possibilities of being resourceful, value adding, reforming the decision making process.
5. The ability to recognize the past, create the vision for the future and have a lasting impression on global citizens Read the rest of this entry »

As you know BRIC has been coined by Goldman Sachs in their report on Emerging Economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. In their first report they predicted over the next 50 years, the BRICs economies could become a much larger force in the world economy. They map out GDP growth, income per capita and currency movements in the BRICs economies until 2050.

The results are startling. At the projected pace, in less than 40 years, the BRICs economies together could be larger than the G6 in US dollar terms. By 2025, they could account for more than half the size of the G6. Of the current G6, only the US and Japan may be among the six largest economies in US dollar terms in 2050. The list of the world’s ten largest economies may look quite different in 2050. The largest economies in the world (by GDP) may no longer be the richest (by income per capita), making strategic choices for firms more complex.

It is unprecedented in these countries in terms of Consumption, Productivity gains, Economies of Scale, Infrastructure Development pace, …The clear opportunity is definitely in the bottom of the pyramid.While China leads on Cost Innovation (which is high tech products with volume manufacturing ability) India leads on business process and IT outsourcing and its human capital. Brazil and Russia too have their engines on energy, commodities,…Their currencies have already appreciated and is expected to appreciate even further by 300%.

Though the opportunity is clear these countries do face challenges. All depends on their political stability, economic reforms, liberalization of financial sector, judicial reforms, investment in human capital.

It is interesting for us in BRICwire to bring the happenings and actions of the emerging giants.