2008 July 28 | IndusLatin

Promoting India Latin America Collaboration

Cultural similarities: India and Latin America

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Arts, Culture and Society, India, Latin America

During all my travels from Mexico down to Argentina, I’ve always been struck by how the culture in this extended region is similar to that in India. By culture, I mean the shared societal values and the resultant behavior. This is a great launch pad for business collaboration since so many international ventures fail due to lack of ‘cultural fit’.

Some of these shared values across India and Latin America include:

Collectivism, especially with special emphasis on the family (la familia) – identity is tied to group membership
Hierarchy (High Power distance) – inequalities in power are natural and expected
Indirect Communication – important to respect people’s feelings, cannot say no directly
Particularism – Behavior tailored to situations and contexts
Polychronism – Time is adjusted to suit the needs of people
High Context – Shared assumptions between members of the country or in-group

Of course, there are variances across subgroups and regions, but overall these common values seem to hold. In subsequent posts, I will elaborate and give examples of the associated behaviors and the resulting business impact.

These value definitions are based on the work of Geert Hofstede, Trompenaars-HampdenTurner and Edward Hall.

Popularity: 21% [?]

India, Latin America, Society and Culture

Uruguay Land Prices Double as Farm Policies Lure George Soros

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Agriculture, Commodities, Investing, Uruguay

No Comments

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive

A third of Uruguay’s agricultural property may now be owned by foreigners, according to Uruguay’s Rural Association. They include farm companies PGG Wrightson Ltd. of New Zealand and Buenos Aires-based Adecoagro, which is backed by billionaire investor George Soros.

International buyers, seeking to take advantage of rising global food prices, are attracted by the South American country’s relatively cheap land, policies that encourage foreign investment, and no tariffs on farm exports, said Roberto Vazquez Platero, a former agriculture minister. As a result, farm prices have more than doubled in three years.

Prime land near Uruguay’s western border with Argentina now costs $7,000 a hectare (2.47 acres), compared with $3,000 a hectare in 2005, said Michael Thomas, general manager of NZ Farming Systems Uruguay Ltd., which is managed and part-owned by Wrightson, New Zealand’s biggest agricultural services company.

On Argentina’s fertile Pampas plains, a hectare costs as much as $10,700, according to farm industry newsletter Margenes Agropecuarios.

“The west has priced up with the Argentines coming across and planting soy,” Thomas said in a telephone interview from Christchurch, New Zealand.

Iowa Corn Belt

Some Pampas land is now more expensive than in the Iowa corn belt, where, according to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, prices averaged a record $9,657 a hectare in 2007.

Farm prices have been pushed up by rising world consumption of cereals, oilseeds and meat. As a result, global food values rose more than 43 percent in the past 12 months, according to the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

In Uruguay, Argentine farmers don’t face the same taxes and price controls as they do at home. After four months of protests, Argentina’s producers forced President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to cancel a March 11 increase in oilseed export taxes to more than 45 percent from 35 percent. The scrapped tax would have made it unprofitable for many farmers, already stretched by the 35 percent levy, to grow soybeans, said Eduardo Buzzi, head of the Argentine Agrarian Federation.

By contrast, Uruguay, whose population of 3.3 million is
less than a tenth of Argentina’s, charges farmers a flat 25
percent tax on their income.

“What Uruguay did was simply not to interfere,” Eduardo
Blasina, an agriculture analyst, said in an interview in
Montevideo. “Investment was welcomed.”

Uruguay sells most of its beef to Europe, Russia and the
U.S.

Popularity: 5% [?]

India, Brazil, South Africa to push for health cooperation

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Brazil, Health and Pharma, India

No Comments

The Economic Times

During the bilateral meeting with Brazilian Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao on Monday, Ramadoss would highlight the developments in the Indian pharma sector and traditional medicines while the Brazilian side will present an overview of the health system and food and drug regulatory environment in that country.

“On the same day, discussions will be held on working group constitution, counterfeit medicines, HIV vaccine, trauma care, indoor air pollution and tobacco related issues from the Indian side, and generics drugs public sector in pharmaceuticals, health insurance, health industrial complex, environment occupational health, innovation on health will be highlighted by the Brazilian side,” a health ministry official said Sunday.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Soyabean production regains momentum

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Brazil, Commodities, Food and Beverages, India

No Comments

The Hindu Business Line :

Revival of monsoon in recent days has brightened the prospects of soyabean output in the kharif season. Soyabean sowing has regained momentum in the last few days and the acreage under cultivation has increased 18.38 per cent to 6.50 million hectares from 5.49 million hectares logged last year, according to Union Agriculture Ministry data.

Though the area sown is higher than last year, production might fall due to below-normal rainfall in a few States, especially Maharashtra. However, the progress of monsoon in August will give a clear picture on the output.

Madhya Pradesh accounts for about 53 per cent of total soyabean grown in India, followed by Maharashtra at 34 per cent, Rajasthan 9 per cent, Karnataka 2 per cent, and Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh at 1 per cent each.

Apart from India, the other major producers include US, Brazil, Argentina and China. The five countries account for 95 per cent of the global soyabean production. Despite acreage under soya cultivation growing rapidly in India and China, they remain the largest importers of soya seeds and soya oil — their major source is Argentina and Brazil.

Almost the total soyabean production in India is crushed for meeting the soya meal demand, while 60 per cent of soya oil requirement is fulfilled through imports.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Heart of the Hills – Valparaiso, Chile

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Chile, Tourism

No Comments

The Boston Globe

While Santiago may be the business-centric capital (which can also be rather conservative and dull) and the country’s soul is reflected up and down its skinny, 2,600-mile strand of deserts, mountains, lakes, and farmland, Valparaíso is Chile’s beating Bohemian heart.

The rest of the country can be buttoned-up, tight, tidy, and even occasionally moneyed, but “Valpo” is none of that; if you have a creative urge to feed, this is your town.

Like San Francisco in its hippie heyday, persistently irregular Valparaíso is driven by the alternative and the artistic – a visual, cultural magnet for Chileans and centuries of adventurous expatriates who discovered the Pacific port city just before or after making their way around Cape Horn. While some world cities have corners that create a unique, authentic flavor, here, that magic is still blissfully spread across the entire town.

With a good dose of outside influence, a geography that forces
creativity, and an atypical reputation that attracts a certain kind of
Chilean, the city created itself on its own unique terms.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Freedom From the Fed Fix

July 28th, 2008 Posted in Investing, Public Policy

No Comments

Economic Beat – Barrons.com

Columbia University economist and non-Austrian Jeffrey Sachs has recently written: “The U.S. crisis was actually made by the Fed…. Monetary expansion generally makes it easier to borrow, and lowers the cost of doing so, throughout the economy…. What was distinctive this time was the new borrowing was concentrated in housing…. The Fed, under Greenspan’s leadership, stood by as the credit boom gathered steam, barreling toward a subsequent crash.”

To be fair, economist Sachs seems to be implying that the solution is to be found in better management of the Fed, rather than outright abolition. On the other hand, since Sachs is indicting the reputed “maestro” of Fed chairmen, Alan Greenspan himself, the burden is surely on Sachs to prove the point. Should we really stake the future of the economy on the hope that wise men even wiser than Greenspan will someday be our central bankers?

The abolition of the central bank is just a major first step, since, as mentioned, the artificial expansion of money and credit can be carried on by other means. But it’s a necessary first step. There are better and worse ways to manage the Federal Reserve, but most are a matter of luck and hindsight. As economist Marc Faber has written, “When…the public…finally realizes that central bankers are no wiser than the central planners of former communist regimes, the tide will turn and monetary reform will come to the fore…. market forces [will] drive economic activity, and not some kind of central planner….”

Popularity: 1% [?]