Nissan points the headlights at Brazil
The Nissan-Renault/Carlos Ghosn show came to Brazil this week with much fanfare.
Ghosn, the head of the Japanese-French partnership, announced an expansion of Renault’s factory in Curitiba and gave details on Nissan’s establishment of a new plant near Rio de Janeiro. In all, the group is investing R$3.1bn ($1.7bn) more into Brazil.
Chile Inc and the middle income trap
Chile, as a country, is fighting the middle income trap. Now, it appears, the Chilean business world must also face the prospect of the middle income companies trap: too big for Latin America, too small for the world.
In recent years, big Chilean companies, led by department store, DIY chain and supermarket group Cencosud; Copec and CMPC in forestry; and airline Lan – have expanded abroad as the Chilean market became saturated. The obvious expansion route has been into their backyard – the Andean region, Argentina, Uruguay and increasingly Brazil, where they have been helped by having the same (or similar) language, and have been able to apply the same business model as at home. Continue reading »
Putin to investors: everything’s alright
Vladimir Putin will turn 59 on Friday with a birthday bash and in the expected company of good friends like Silvio Berlusconi.
On Thursday, unfortunately, he was forced to spend time with some of his greatest foes: foreign investors. Continue reading »
Vicente Fox: how to fix the eurozone – and Mexico, too
Some hare-brained prescriptions have come out of Latin America recently on how the eurozone should get out of its mess.
More worthy of consideration is a suggestion from Vicente Fox, president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, given to Lex’s John Authers on Thursday: Germany should bite the bullet and bail Greece out. The benefits, he says, would outweigh the cost. And he’s speaking from experience. Continue reading »
India’s digital revolution needs more than Aakash
Aakash, the $35 made-in-India tablet, may be one of the most significant efforts made by New Delhi, which backed the project, to finally bridge the digital divide that has kept Asia’s third largest economy lagging behind its emerging market peers in digital connectivity.
But a 7-inch tablet that connects to the internet with WiFi alone won’t be enough to “vanquish” digital illiteracy and boost e-learning and internet usage. India needs more WiFi hotspots before the digital revolution can take place. Continue reading »
Indian auto industry’s holiday bump
Bloomberg
After months of bad news for the auto industry in India, the streets were full of brand new cars Thursday – from swanky BMWs to practical Maruti Swifts – as people celebrated the Hindu holiday Dussehra, which comes at the beginning of the subcontinent’s two-month festive season.
The season, which usually lasts from the end of September until the end of November, depending on the lunar calendar, is considered auspicious for making big purchases – and Dussehra, in turn, is considered particularly auspicious for buying a car. Continue reading »
Polish election: heating up
Poland doesn’t have an amusement park worthy of the name – but the stomach-dropping thrills of roller coasters can easily be replicated, first in the wild fluctuations of the zloty against the euro, dollar and Swiss franc, and now in the huge variability of opinion polls just days before Sunday’s parliamentary election.
The election is turning out to be more difficult than expected for the ruling Civic Platform (PO) party of premier Donald Tusk, which is battling the nationalists of the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party. Continue reading »
Citic: a less than stellar debut
Citic Securities, China’s largest brokerage, defied Hong Kong’s malaise by pulling off a $1.7bn public offering last week, but tables were turned on its debut day as Citic’s stock fell on opening and then closed flat despite a sharp jump in the overall Hang Seng index. Continue reading »
China: postcards from Phuket
Fears of a global slowdown affecting China may be growing, but that’s not stopping the estimated 2.2m Chinese nationals enjoying their National Day vacation abroad.
The official China Tourism Academy says a rise in the value of the renminbi, relaxation of visa requirements and new flight routes are likely to generate a “double-digit” growth in the number of people who have left the country for so-called “golden week” – one of the two seven-day annual holidays in China. Continue reading »
EM equities: buying when there’s blood in the streets?
With fears of the eurocrisis chilling investors’ veins, it’s easy to forget that emerging market equities are now very cheap by past standards.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that investors are suddenly going to start buying, given everything else that’s going on the financial world. But, once the terrors subside, this could look like a buying opportunity. At least that’s the view of Jonathan Garner, Morgan Stanley’s global emerging markets strategist. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* HSBC lowers forecasts for most Asian economies
* Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies
* China sees surge in CDS on slowdown fears Continue reading »
Chinese mourn their hero, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was a hero for many around the world, but in China, his status was almost mystical. Like his life, his death has captivated millions of Chinese Apple fans, and prompted some wistful questioning over whether China could ever have its own technology magician.
Already in Beijing, white flowers have appeared on the steps of the Apple store, while its iconic Apple logo will remain unlit until 10am on Friday. Continue reading »
Stimulus in Asia: the 2011 remake?
Last time the global economy fell off a cliff, China was able to launch an enormous stimulus package that helped keep itself, and much of Asia, trucking along. Growth, inflation, and asset bubbles followed. What if 2011 is 2008 all over again?
China, and Asia more broadly, still has the firepower to withstand another major drop in global demand – but it’ll have to do it smarter than last time, according to work from Standard Chartered. Continue reading »
Further reading: the Afghans’ lost years
Thursday’s top picks from the beyondbrics team: Burma’s (potential) new dawn; Turkey’s uncomfortable relationship with the EU; and the ten-year anniversary of the Afghanistan war. Continue reading »
An internet paywall for all
Publishers desperate to find a way of making money out of the web could do worse than look at little Slovakia.
As big news organisations like the New York Times and the UK’s Times – and our very own FT – erect paywalls with differing levels of success, a Slovak startup which earlier this year persuaded several local publications to go behind a common paywall barrier is now thinking about expanding into new markets. Continue reading »
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