the pdf: brazil`s global growth imperative

Naturally Global
Brazil’s global
growth
imperative
The challenge of
internationalization
2
Do Brazilian companies
have a global problem?
In the last decade Brazil’s domestic
demand and exports have soared, making
the country the world’s seventh largest
economy. During the same period,
the stock of Brazilian outward Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) more than
quadrupled. At the same time, a number
of global industries have been shaken up
by the emergence of Brazilian companies;
firms like AB InBev, Gerdau, JBS Friboi
and Vale are among the world’s highest
performers in their sectors.
Despite these achievements on the
global stage, Brazilian business leaders
will admit that, other than industry
insiders, you’d be hard pressed to find
many executives around the world who
recognize Brazilian companies. The lack
of wide recognition in itself would not
be such an issue if it did not betray a
broader problem: the success of Brazilian
companies on the global stage focuses
narrowly on a small number of
companies in relatively few fields.
Overall, indicators show that Brazilian
companies appear to be much less
aggressive relative to their BRIC peers
and firms in some other high-growth
markets when it comes to seeking
growth beyond their borders.
Does it matter that Brazilian companies
are internationalizing at a slower
rate than firms from other countries?
We believe it does, and that the
long-term competitiveness of the
Brazilian economy depends on the
ability of Brazilian firms to supply,
partner and compete with the world’s
best companies both at home and
abroad. Clearly, the business case for
internationalization is not just about
growing foreign sales. It’s also about
building the capacity to compete and
grow more effectively in Brazil’s own
domestic markets.
This report is a call to action,
highlighting the dangers of complacency
in today’s rapidly evolving market
environment. It is not a call for all
Brazilian companies to internationalize
immediately. Instead, we are advocating
that Brazil’s business leaders take a more
global perspective in their strategy
planning. With an increasingly complex
global competitive landscape and recent
uncertainties in the domestic economy,
Brazil’s business leaders need to decide
whether, and when, internationalization
is right for them
3
4
Catching up with the leaders
Arriving on the global stage
Following decades of struggle, Brazil’s
emergence onto the global stage has
been astounding both in terms of its
timing and its impact. Jim O’Neill—who
as Goldman Sachs chief economist
created the BRIC acronym in 2001—has
acknowledged that the inclusion of Brazil
was considered a controversial move,
due to the fragility of the economy at
that time.1 The growing global footprint
of Brazilian trade and investment
has put that controversy to rest.
Brazil’s total export value has more
than quadrupled since 2000, rising
from US$55 billion to US$243 billion
in 2012.2 Overseas investments also
rose significantly, with outward FDI
stock increasing from US$52 billion
in 2000 to nearly US$233 billion
in 2012 (see Figure 1).
In some industries, such as mining
and primary food production, Brazilian
companies are among the world’s
leaders. In 2006, Petrobras stunned
markets by announcing the discovery
of the giant Tupi (now Lula) pre-salt
oil field. In 2008, InBev purchased
Anheuser-Busch to become the largest
brewing company in the world. Despite
a deepening global economic crisis in
2009, Brazilian companies continued to
assert themselves internationally. Marfrig
acquired Cargill’s Seara Foods, while JBS
consolidated Brazil’s global leadership
in the meatpacking industry through its
purchase of US company Pilgrim’s Pride.
In the same year, all three major
international credit rating agencies
conferred investment-grade status
to Brazil. An emotional President Lula
confirmed the country’s newfound
status on the world stage by announcing,
“Today, Brazil has become a citizen
of the world”,3 having been awarded
the 2016 Olympic Games.
Figure 1: Brazil outward FDI stock and export value (US$ billion)
300
250
243
233
200
150
100
55
52
50
0
Outward FDI stock
2000
Exports
2012
Source: UNCTAD, Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade (MDIC)
5
Brazil has established itself as a critical hub
in the global economy of the 21st century
and Brazilian companies appear to have become
inextricably entwined within the interconnected
web of global business. However, Brazil’s strong
performance over the past decade has not
concealed the economy’s structural shortcomings,
which pose a threat to long-term growth
and global competitiveness.
Examining some
worrying trends
GDP growth has decelerated sharply
recently. In 2012 it was 0.9%, significantly
below the 2.7% recorded in 2011, let
alone the 7.5% rate seen in 2010.4
The longer-term economic outlook is
stronger, but questions need to be asked
about the prospects of Brazilian
companies in international markets.
Consider that Brazil is now the world’s
seventh largest economy, yet only eight
Brazilian multinational corporations
(MNCs) are in the Fortune Global 500.
A similar picture emerges if we look
at the world’s most valuable brands—
where companies from Mexico, Taiwan
and South Korea have featured,
but none from Brazil.5
Analysts and academics have published
countless studies on the phenomenon
of Asian companies going global,
particularly the expansion of Chinese and
Indian firms, but it remains very rare to
see similar material on the international
journeys of Brazilian businesses.
Is this simply poor public relations?
Unfortunately, key indicators
suggest otherwise.
6
Brazil’s total export value, considering
both goods and services, sits below the
other BRIC nations, having been
overtaken by India in 2002. No doubt
driven by the energy sector, the gap in
export value between Brazil and Russia
has grown six-fold during the 20002012 period (see Figure 2). And
economies including Mexico, South
Korea and Hong Kong also rank higher
than Brazil on this measure.
Looking at the efforts of Brazilian firms
in setting up new operations overseas,
we find that the number of greenfield
investments by Brazilian companies
in the past decade is the lowest among
the BRIC economies. Since 2003, while
Russian companies invested in over
1,300 overseas greenfield projects,
Chinese companies in nearly 2,300 and
Indian companies in more than 2,500
projects, Brazilian firms invested in just
over 500. (see Figure 3).
In fact, in 2000 Brazil had the highest
stock of outward FDI among the BRIC
economies. However, it has advanced
more slowly than other countries
in the group, and now lags both China
and Russia. Today, only India remains
below Brazil’s levels, but India recorded
a higher growth rate for most of this
period (see Figure 4).
It is also important to note that the
success of Brazilian companies on the
global stage has been narrowly focused
on a small number of fields and on
a small number of companies. Almost
90% of Brazil’s overseas greenfield
investments between 2003 and 2012
were concentrated in four sectors, and
almost 95% of investment has come
from the top ten investing companies.6
Figure 2: Total export value (US$ billion)
700
600
Russia
500
India
400
Mexico
300
Brazil
200
100
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Source: UNCTAD
7
Figure 3: Outward greenfield investment (number of projects, 2003-2012)
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
India
China
South
Korea
Russia
Turkey
South
Africa
Brazil
Chile
Mexico
Source: fDi Markets
Figure 4: Outward FDI stock (US$ billion)
600
China
500
Russia
400
300
Brazil
200
India
100
0
2000
Source: UNCTAD
8
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
9
Overall, Brazilian companies appear
to be much slower to seek growth
beyond their borders, relative to their
BRIC peers and to firms from some
other emerging markets. Like
companies in other large emerging
economies, Brazilian firms have used
that scale—in terms of the access it gives
to natural resources and a large
population of workers and consumers—
in order to build their own unique local
competitive advantages. This domestic
scale can act as a springboard for
internationalization—it would be
a shame to waste this opportunity.
Brazilian companies often point to the
domestic policy environment as a critical
obstacle to their global expansion, citing
factors such as high taxes and credit
constraints.7 Such external factors may
play their role, but our research also
uncovers important cultural traits within
Brazilian companies that serve to
discourage greater global participation
(see InFocus: Culture as an obstacle).
10
It is true that Brazilian companies have
not had access to some of the other
advantages enjoyed by their emerging
market peers. For example, they haven’t
had the plentiful financing that major
Chinese companies have benefitted from,
or the English language advantage that
many Indian and other Asian MNCs enjoy.
These challenges underscore the
strong achievements of Brazil’s existing
global giants that have overcome them.
By learning from the success of these
Brazilian companies, business leaders
can employ proven approaches
to begin to stake their own
claims in the global market.
11
InFocus: Culture as an obstacle
A recent research study by the
Economist Intelligence Unit highlighted
Brazil’s difficulties in coping with
the cultural and language barriers of
working across borders. Eighty percent
of Brazilian executives said that
cross-border difficulties hampered their
overseas expansion plans, which is a
higher rate than responses from other
countries.8 This may not come as a
surprise to those who are aware that
Brazil is ranked as one of the 10 worst
countries in the world for business
English proficiency.9
The ability to effectively work across
cultures is not only about language.
It is also a question of mindset.
A recent Accenture study looked
at the international mindsets of about
200 company leaders from Brazil, China,
Germany, India, Russia, South Africa,
the UK and the US.
Stepping out into global markets is not
an easy decision, and any international
investment demands a careful evaluation
of risks and benefits. Different attitudes
to risk will therefore play an important
part in defining the nature and speed
of internationalization decisions. In
a recent Accenture survey of 588
business leaders around the world,
we found that only 20% of Latin
American respondents think of
themselves as “first movers”,
compared with 32% of Asia-Pacific
respondents. In contrast, Latin
American executives are far more
likely to consider themselves “fast
followers” than business leaders
from other geographies.
Only 24% of the Brazilian executives we
surveyed believe that their company’s
leadership group has a strong global
mindset, and the survey’s evaluation of
the global mindset among the broader
workforce was dramatically lower than
in other countries as well (see Figure 5).
Worryingly, it is not clear that this
situation will improve in the medium
term, as Brazilian executives are even
less confident about the international
credentials of the next generation of
leadership—only 7% of Brazilian
executives believe that their company’s
high potential managers have a strong
global mindset.10
Figure 5: “Does your workforce have a strong global mindset?”
70%
60%
50%
64%
62%
47%
62%
46%
45%
40%
38%
40%
30%
62%
27%
38%
34%
31%
27%
24%
20%
10%
7%
0%
Your company’s Global
Leadership Group
Germany
Russia
UK
High potential managers
Brazil
Source: Growing Global Leaders Survey, Accenture, 2012.
12
US
China
India
South Africa
The same study highlights the
disproportionate influence of language
on strategy formulation. Forty-six percent
of Latin American respondents emphasized
the importance of having a shared language
as a way to group target markets in their
strategic planning, compared with the
28% global average; and only 17% of
respondents identified as “successful
internationalizers”.
These cultural differences may partly
explain the relatively slower
internationalization of Brazilian companies.
As a society, Brazil’s culture has a
worldwide reputation as being friendly
and open. Indeed, Brazil itself is held up
as a success story of integration across
a variety of disparate cultures. Yet, the
evidence suggests that there is room for
improvement when it comes to Brazilian
business leaders. One potential solution
involves prioritizing investments in
language and cross-cultural working
practices, which could play a critical
role in improving the confidence and
preparedness of Brazilian companies
looking to go global.
54%
46%
46%
33% 33%
52%
45%
32%
34%
24%
14%
Employees whose
roles span multiple
countries
28%
18%
13% 13%
17%
Employees whose roles
are contained only in your
home country
13
High stakes: The rewards of action,
the costs of inaction
When questioned about the relative
tardiness of Brazilian companies when
it comes to internationalization, a
common explanation is the need to focus
on lucrative domestic growth opportunities
first. In fact, domestic expansion
opportunities are cited by Brazilian
firms in a survey by the Brazilian Society
for the Study of Transnational Enterprises
and Economic Globalization (SOBEET)
as the second most important barrier
to the internationalization of the country’s
companies.11 This attitude suggests a
dangerous set of assumptions about how
Brazil’s domestic economy will evolve
as it deepens its engagement with
the rest of the world.
14
Competition is global, even if your
company’s operations are not. Access
to resources, capabilities, assets and
new markets is increasingly available
to all. Those firms that avoid serious
consideration of internationalization
options and opportunities are imposing
a double disadvantage on themselves:
they are choosing to forgo access
to potential benefits available across
today’s interconnected global economy,
and they are simultaneously leaving
themselves open and vulnerable
to the risks brought about by
those same interconnections.
Opening eyes to the opportunities
A 2010 study with a focus on Brazil
found that higher levels of global sales
have a positive impact on market
performance.12 Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch
consumer goods company, exemplifies
the broader benefits and advantages of
the multinational model. The company
saw sales growth of 4% between 2007
and 2011, despite serious economic
weakness across developed markets (see
Figure 6). This performance was thanks to
the company’s geographically diversified
footprint, particularly across emerging
economies. These markets provided all
of Unilever’s growth through much
of this period (see Figure 7).
The benefits of economies of scale and
risk management through diversification
are well understood. But Unilever has
gone further to exemplify the benefits
of distributing a variety of functions
and business activities around the world.
This allows the company to access skills
and assets found in different parts of
the world and to leverage these across
its global network.
Consider the firm’s award-winning Pureit
water purifier; originally designed by the
company’s skilled R&D team in India in
response to specific local market needs,
it now has an expanded range of
products and is sold in markets all
around the world, including Brazil.13
Brazil’s astute multinationals have
opened their eyes to these opportunities.
Take the case of Braskem, a highly
innovative multinational in the
thermoplastic and petrochemical
products sectors. The company, which
was founded in 2002 and has an R&D
center in Pittsburgh, has developed the
‘Green PE’, a polyethylene made of
sugarcane. It subsequently announced
a partnership with Novozymes, the
Denmark-based industrial biotechnology
leader, seeking to take this success a
step further and develop a ‘Green PP’
(polypropylene).On top of this, Braskem
also has a partnership with US-based
W.R. Grace & Co., a world leader in
the catalysts sector. The goal there
is to develop catalysts to obtain more
chemical products of renewable origin.14
The opportunities are there to be
grasped. Careful timing is an important
consideration, but hesitating too long
can be dangerous. Being late in the
game can mean higher costs, less
attractive partnership options, weaker
bargaining power, more restricted
investment options, and a fiercer fight
for talent, visibility and market share.
Figure 6: Unilever revenue growth breakdown (€ billion)
50
45
40
46.5
40.2
-1.1
7.4
Total revenue 2007
2007-2011 change
in revenue from
developed economies
2007-2011 change
in revenue from
emerging economies
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Total revenue 2011
Source: Unilever company reports
15
Figure 7: Composition of Unilever’s revenue (percentage share)
44%
47%
49%
53%
54%
56%
53%
51%
47%
46%
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Developed markets
Emerging markets
Source: Unilever company reports
16
A transformed competitive landscape
Domestic firms in Brazil may possess
an incumbency advantage, but that
is no cause for complacency. Foreign
multinationals, especially from
developed markets, have long been
present in the country. Nestlé has
operated in Brazil since the 1930s.15
Carrefour opened its first store in the
country in 1975.16 Indeed, the openness
of Brazil’s retail sector to foreign players
is in stark contrast with other emerging
economies such as India, where until
September 2012 foreign multi-brand
retailers could not hold a majority
stake in retail operations. But the
global competitive landscape is
being transformed, and Brazil
is not immune to these shifts.
A glance through international
newspapers brings the intensification
of interest in Brazil from established
multinationals into focus. For example,
Carlyle Group, a US asset management
company, recently bought a stake in Ri
Happy, a Brazilian toyshop chain, and
now controls 85% of the company.17 In
cosmetics, LVMH expanded its Sephora
business by opening its first store in
São Paulo in July 2012, following its
2010 acquisition of a 70% stake in the
Brazilian online retailer Sack’s. Le Pain
Quotidien, a Belgian restaurant chain,
opened its first store in Brazil during
2012 and Starbucks, the US coffee
chain, is planning to open more than a
hundred stores over the next five years.
Companies from around the world
are just as attracted by Brazil’s
domestic growth prospects as Brazil’s
own companies. Many of these foreign
companies are global enterprises with
significant scale and efficiency. They
possess a range of competitive strengths,
including low-cost business models,
innovation expertise, technological
prowess and global brands. Moreover,
most multinationals have become
leaner and more competitive in response
to the recent economic turmoil.
Recent activity by emerging-market
companies also illustrates this trend.
In telecommunications, China Telecom
announced that it is planning to start
offering Internet, data and outsourcing
services in Brazil.18 In consumer
electronics, Lenovo, the Chinese PC
manufacturer, completed earlier this
year its acquisition of the Brazilian
electronics firm CCE. The aim is to
position itself to capture the growing
demand for Internet-connected devices,
such as tablets and smartphones,
especially from Brazil’s new middle
class consumers.19
The picture becomes starker if we
look at the numbers behind these news
stories and company announcements.
Investment into Brazil has recorded
a sound evolution despite the global
slowdown. Last year, FDI flows into the
country were 45% higher than in 2008,
in sharp contrast with a 26% decline
at the global level over the same period
(see Figures 8 and 9). As a result, in 2012
Brazil received the fourth highest levels
of direct investment globally, at US$65
billion, more than double the FDI
flows into India (see Figure 10).
17
Figure 9: FDI flows into Brazil (US$ billion)
Figure 8: Global FDI inflows (US$ billion)
1,816
1,651
1,350
1,408
65
2011
2012
49
45
1,216
67
26
2009
2008
2010
2011
2012
2008
2009
2010
Source: UNCTAD. NB: UNCTAD FDI data includes both greenfield and M&A activity
Figure 10: FDI inflows by recipient economy, 2012 (US$ billion)
United States
168
121
China
75
Hong Kong
Brazil
65
British Virgin Islands
65
62
United Kingdom
Australia
57
Singapore
57
51
Russia
45
Canada
Chile
30
Ireland
29
Luxemburg
28
Spain
28
India
Source: UNCTAD
18
26
4th
More intense-but also direct-competition
This trend is bound to continue.
Brazil’s promising domestic markets
will be increasingly targeted by foreign
multinationals, not least those from other
emerging economies. Indeed, an Accenture
survey of Asian companies conducted
in August 2012 found that more than
a quarter of Chinese companies and 13%
of South Korean companies are already
focusing their international expansion
on Latin America and the Caribbean.
And momentum still seems to be building.
When asked to consider the focus of their
expansion in the next three years, 40%
of Chinese companies and 35% of South
Korean companies responded that they
were placing bets on Latin America
and the Caribbean.
Today, Brazil’s competencies complement
the cost-based strengths of Asian
competitors (see Figure 11). But in only
three years, the picture may be very
different. By their own admission (and
in cases such as China and Malaysia,
under the guidance of their growthminded governments), many Asian
companies are racing up the value chain,
moving directly toward capabilities—like
higher-quality talent and innovation—
that Brazilian companies identify as their
most competitive globally.
Many Chinese companies, for example,
are on a publicly stated drive to move
from lower-cost offerings toward more
sophisticated, knowledge-based products
and services.
Moreover, Asian and Brazilian companies
are headed for a collision in tomorrow’s
most lucrative markets.
Figure 11: Brazil vs. Asia: Changing competitive dynamics
Cost-based strengths
Non-cost based strengths
Asia today
Brazil today
Asia in three year s
1. High-quality products
1. High-quality products
1. High-quality products
2. Low- cost operations
2. Skills and talent
2. High-value innovation
3. Low- cost innovation
3. Affordable capital
3. Skills and talent
4. High-value innovation
4. Strength of brand
4. Strength of brand
5. Skills and talent
5. High-value innovation
5. Intellectual property
6. Strength of brand
6. Intellectual property
6. Low- cost innovation
7. Intellectual property
7. Low- cost innovation
7. Affordable capital
8. Affordable capital
8. Low- cost operations
8. Low- cost operations
Ranking is based on survey responses on the perceived globally
competitive strengths of 102 Brazilian MNCs and 250 Asian MNCs.
Source: Accenture analysis; Accenture Brazilian multinationals
survey 2012, and Accenture Asian multinationals survey, 2012
19
Over recent years, inward FDI in the form
of cross-border mergers and acquisitions
(M&As) has increased significantly in
Brazil. While in 2009 asset sales by foreign
companies exceeded their acquisitions by
US$1.4 billion, last year saw acquisitions
exceeding asset sales by US$16.4
billion—more than doubling the pre-crisis
high.20 This reflects a growing appetite
among foreign entrants to consolidate
their positions promptly and gain market
share in Brazil.
For Brazilian companies the accelerated
influx of foreign firms means that the
competitive environment will inevitably
become more fierce as Brazil establishes
itself as a key hub of the multi-polar
world. As a result, they will require
new capabilities to respond to these
changes. Firms that continue to avoid
the global marketplace are restricting
their own options.
20
They will miss out on opportunities to
create partnerships with European
engineering firms or North American
technology firms, to engage Asian
companies with large English- or
Mandarin-speaking workforces, or to
benefit from sovereign wealth funds
from Asia and the Middle East. They will
also face a better-equipped and wider
range of competitors in their home
market, and have to do so with the
self-imposed disadvantage of being
domestically focused.
Many Brazilian companies are clearly
aware of this problem. They understand
that they need to accelerate efforts and
build satisfactory levels of market share
in high-growth economies before it is
too late.21 This suggests that executives
understand their dilemma but are
struggling to address it. How can they
translate ambition into action?
The way forward
Internationalization is, and has always
been, a complex and difficult journey
for any company. Today it probably
brings more complexity than in the
past, but the nature of the global
economy and global competition
means that internationalization
demands serious attention. Avoiding
the issue is no longer an option.
To be clear, we are not advocating
that every Brazilian company must take
the first opportunity to go global. In
contrast, we are advocating that Brazil’s
business leaders take a more global
perspective as they map the landscapes
of demand, supply and competition.
Internationalization may not be the
right option for today, but global
options should always be serious
considerations on the boardroom
agenda. For many companies, long-term
sustained high performance will
increasingly be a challenge without
access to international growth and
efficiency opportunities. The decision
to forgo international opportunities
should be a result of careful evaluation
rather than a default outcome of
postponed or avoided decision making.
Even for globally established businesses,
this journey does not become easier
over time. Successful multinationals
are constantly required to reevaluate
the evolving business environments,
opportunities and challenges in
different parts of the world. Questions
concerning how to internationalize
remain as permanent boardroom
agenda items: The task of “implementing
our internationalization strategy”
seamlessly merges into “managing
our international operations.”
In contrast, AB InBev has grown through
a series of strategic global mergers
and acquisitions, collecting a vast array
of brands and products that are already
tailored to a wide variety of tastes
and preferences around the world.
For them, the internationalization
challenge has been to achieve
efficiencies and economies of scale;
not least of which is the effective
integration and management of
different operating models, corporate
cultures and organizational systems.
Compare, for example, the different
internationalization journeys of Natura
Cosméticos and AB InBev:
Natura has so far chosen to grow
organically, in an effort to ensure
that the fundamental values and
principles at the heart of the
corporation’s culture are embedded
in every step of their expansion.
Their challenge has been to balance
this globally consistent identity with
the need to adapt and respond
to different business environments
and customer preferences
in markets they have entered.
21
22
These two companies have taken very
different journeys and face very different
strategic and operational challenges. But by
digging a little deeper, it becomes clear that
the questions they must pose themselves are
remarkably similar. In fact, our research
across industries and geographies uncovers
persistent yet fundamental choices
and questions that confront all aspiring
and growing multinationals:
••Based on the corporate portfolio strategy, what
is the mix of markets to be leveraged or targeted?
How do we evaluate which markets to
enter when, and the method of entry?
••What is the risk/reward profile of individual target
countries—how should they be prioritized?
••How should the market be entered to
protect against market risks while optimizing
performance—should we build/partner/buy?
••How do we balance the competing demands
for global efficiency and local responsiveness?
How can we design an international
operating model that aligns our strategy
with our global model of governance?
••What is the optimal governance model
for executing the required capabilities, e.g.,
which business activities are governed locally,
regionally or centrally?
••To what extent can existing or shared capabilities
be leveraged to serve new markets?
How can we maintain the agility
and flexibility to respond to continual
change in the business environment,
technology, customers and competition?
Going global cannot be taken lightly;
the decisions are too complex, and the
implications too profound. As a first
step, senior leadership needs to commit
to a serious evaluation of the
fundamental questions stated here.
It is imperative to understand the
right questions to ask, and to identify
the options that must be evaluated
in order to make the best-informed
choices and trade-offs.
••How do we design strategies and operations
that remain relevant during times of change?
••How do we improve our innovation processes
to keep up with market demands?
••How can our corporate culture encourage
flexibility and adaptation across the leadership
and workforce?
If Brazil’s current but small stock
of global champions is a benchmark,
it is exciting to imagine the potential
that could be unleashed by broadening
the global competitiveness of Brazilian
firms. Before then, serious questions
need to be taken to boardrooms;
strategies need to be considered;
capabilities need to be built; and truly
global mindsets need to be formed.
23
24
References
1
National Public Radio, “Brazil outshines other BRIC economies”, December 21, 2011.
The share of total Brazilian exports going to other Latin American countries was slightly
above 20% for most of this period, although it has fallen somewhat in recent years, reaching
18.6% in 2012.
2
3
Foreign Policy Special Advertising Supplement, “Rio De Janeiro: Gearing up for the Games”, 2010.
4
Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
5
Interbrand corporate website, accessed November 16, 2012.
6
fDi Markets database.
7
SOBEET, “Pesquisa sobre internacionalização de empresas brasileiras”, June, 2012.
NB: The Brazilian Society for the Study of Transnational Enterprises and Economic
Globalization (SOBEET, or Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos de Empresas Transnacionais
e Globalização Econômica) is a Brazilian think thank dedicated to research
into the internationalization of the Brazilian economy.
8
Rio Times Online, “Language Barriers in Brazil Business”, May 15, 2012.
Global English, “Heightened Urgency for Business English in an Increasingly Global Workforce.
A look at the 2013 Business English Index & Globalization of English Research”, 2013.
9
10
Accenture, Growing Global Leaders Survey, Presentation of Results, July, 2012.
11
SOBEET, “Pesquisa sobre internacionalização de empresas brasileiras”, June, 2012.
Loncan T. and Nique W.M. “Degree of internationalisation and performance:
Evidence from emerging Brazilian multinational firms”, Revista Journal, Vol 4 (1), 2010.
12
Harvard Business Review, “How big companies beat local competition in emerging
economies”, August 28, 2012.
13
14
Braskem, W. R. Grace and Co. and Novozymes corporate websites, accessed August 13, 2013.
15
Nestlé corporate website, accessed October 19, 2012.
16
Carrefour corporate website, accessed October, 23 2012.
17
Financial Times, “Carlyle buys Brazilian toy retailer”, March 2, 2012.
18
Financial Times, “China telecom acts to gain Brazil foothold”, June 13, 2012.
19
Lenovo media release, “Lenovo Closes Acquisition of CCE in Brazil”, January 4, 2013.
20
UNCTAD, “World Investment Report 2013”.
21
Accenture, “Fast Forward to Growth–Seizing opportunities in high-growth markets”, 2012.
25
26
About the Authors
Armen Ovanessoff ([email protected])
is a senior research fellow in the Accenture Institute
for High Performance and leads the Institute’s research
on emerging markets
Athena Peppes ([email protected])
is an economist and a senior research specialist
in the Accenture Institute for High Performance
Carolin Puppel ([email protected])
is a senior manager in Accenture’s Strategy and
Sustainability practice and leads the company’s
Client Value Labs for Latin America
Senior executive sponsor
Vasco Simoes
We would like to thank the following individuals
for their contributions to the study:
Arika Allen, Josh Bellin, Giles Boitel, Alejandro Luis Borgo,
Fernando Chaddad, Lance Ealy, Svenja Falk, Analia Ferrera,
Matias Levin, David Light, Fabio Mittelstaedt,
Eduardo Plastino, Andy Sleigh, Kuangyi Wei.
27
About the Accenture Institute
for High Performance
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research and analysis. Its management researchers
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into how organizations become and remain highperformance businesses.
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