Competitive Intelligence And Global Business Edited by: David L' Blenkhorn

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Competitive IntelligenceAnd Global
BusinessEdited by David L. Blenkhorn Craig
S. FleisherChapter 17Competitive Intelligence
in Brazilby Jeff Libis

• Presented By Salina Hardin, Holly Winters, Shane
  Banks Volker Klinkhammer

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Brazil Statistics

• Ninth largest economy in the world
• Population exceeds 170 million (half of South
  Americas population)
• Equal mix of domestic and international
  industrial activity
• Preferred source for foreign investment
• Attractive domestic structure, stabilizing
  economy, and emerging social framework bring on
  increased competition at all levels of business

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Evaluating Brazil

• International companies considering Brazil need
  to do a detailed evaluation of the country
• Sociological, educational, economic, political,
  and geographic information are all critical
  (table 17.1)
• Sheinins global evaluation strategy applied in
  this chapter

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Sociological Standards

• Till 1995 military rule, corrupt government
  activities and negative image for businesses
• Diverse class structure- 50 million upper class,
  120 million lower class
• Information closely guarded, but improving since
  1995
• Education mandatory for 8 years- 85 literate,
  but many problems within the systems (US
  literacy 99 source CIA World Factbook 2005)

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Economic Conditions

• Increasing inflation rates in the 1990s forced
  Brazil to implement reform policies that were
  designed to curb economic collapse
• The first stage The Real Plan
• Matched Brazilian currency to the U. S. dollar
• The second stage Privatization of government
  ruled industry
• Mainly affects the telecommunications industry

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Political Environment

• In 1995, President Cardoso was elected
• Changed the political norm by implementing major
  economic and political reforms
• Expand private businesses, stabilize current
  trends, increase foreign trade, and empower
  citizens through health care and education
• In 2002, President da Silva was elected
• Implemented new political ideas and objectives
  that were designed to maintain and protect the
  state of the Brazilian economy

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Geography Resources

• Only 10 of all roadways are paved
• Limited roadway access to neighboring countries
• Most exports are shipped by sea

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Competitive Intelligence in Brazil

• CI in Brazil is immature and underdeveloped
• Still plays a key role in business
• Structured CI departments are rare
• Continued economic growth will fuel the need for
  CI

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Location of Competitive Intelligence

• CI personnel are usually in marketing
• Tactically vs. strategically oriented
• Isolated from decision makers
• Only public-gone-private companies have developed
  key CI departments

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Quality of Secondary Resources

• Attempts to answer questions about market trends
  and competitor motives
• Government sources, public press, trade
  associations off-the-shelf studies
• Underdeveloped Internet infrastructure
• Limited content published in Portuguese
• Unreliable government reporting

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Quality of Primary Resources

• Access is abundant
• Credibility is questionable
• Information is protected and hoarded
• Usually requires third party referral
• Competitors, rivals and tax authorities commonly
  practice unethical research
• Culture in not conductive to CI

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Capacity for CI Analysis

• Analytical frameworks in Brazil are below US
  standards
• (basic frameworks are used e.g. SWOT and
  financial ratio analysis)
• No support from decision-makers
• Limited primary and secondary resources

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CI Education

• Important factor in the development of CI as
  functional discipline
• Academic theory drives consulting and industry
  practice
• Brazil offers limited educational resources
• (Only two academic institutions offer CI
  education)

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Ethical Considerations

• Ethical standards are not followed due to
• lack of support from government and
• lack of participation in industry associations
• CI practitioners follow their own set of
  standards

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Conclusions

• Environment plays an important role in the
  acceptance and evolution of CI
• Significant gap between Brazil and US
• Economic upturn will generate need for CI and
  create a more accepting attitude for CI