Latin America in 2008 - a snapshot

This post originally appeared on June 19th, 2008, at www.TopExec.org/TopExecBlog

In speaking with a friend recently, someone who lives and works in one of the powerhouse European countries of the world, we got to discussing business opportunities in Latin America. His comments, among other things, brought to bear some of the unknown, or underappreciated, realities of Latin America today.

Some of these include regional development, powerful economic and democratic changes that have taken hold since the turn of the 21st century, as well as a little-noticed items that might surprise you. To wit:

In a Miami Herald article in April of this year, efforts were described throughout the region, notably Brazil, where environmental projects are making headway in reducing greenhouse gases, and other pollutants, through engineering and technological approaches. Notably, one of the persons quoted in this article also called out the vast difference between Latin America and China, stating, "Decision-making in Latin America can be very difficult." Whereas in China, with an authoritarian government, decisions on complex or major environmental projects can "...take two months to develop a plan. It's one year or more in Latin America."

Other commentators, as well, have noted some of the challenges in the region, particularly adoption and usage of the Internet as a major thoroughfare for business, education, commerce and governmental initiatives. Despite some progress, the trend in the region is not keeping up with standards and "through-put" being led by European and Asian nations. This creates challenges for those wishing to offer their "software-as-a-service" or other entities that want to "virtualize" their offerings, cut down on travel expenses or otherwise facilitate service or product offerings via this important mechanism.

That being said, one can also point out to extremely positive changes and progress being made in the national economies of Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru and other nations. Brazil, in particular, is on the cutting edge in size, breadth and profitability for any number of industries, including automobiles (8th largest market in the world), PCs (5th largest in the world), cellular phones (3rd largest in the world), and companies of all types are investing to make sure they have long-term success in this giant market. For a quick look at some comments on this overall trend in Brazil, check out this article.

The bottom line? There is a lot of opportunity throughout Latin America, and the firms that understand this and gear up to become truly "local" participants, drawing on their "global" resources as well as using effective representatives or surrogates in meeting the needs of consumers (business or individual consumers), will find that their investment in time, resource and money will pay off significantly. Is it easy? No, it never has been and will continue to present challenges. Is it worth it? You betcha.

Thanks for reading, and if you need help addressing your Latin American business interests, feel free to drop me a line (info[at]TopExec.org). I can help.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2008.