ACADEMIA DE STUDII ECONOMICE

FACULTATEA DE RELAȚII ECONOMICE INTERNAȚIONALE –

ECONOMIE INTERNAȚIONALĂ ȘI AFACERI EUROPENE

ARGENTINA

Cristea Ionut
Mureșan Oana- Cristina
Oltean Corina
Radu Sergiu
 BUCUREȘTI
2009

Contents

Contents.......................................................................................................................2
GEOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................3
HISTORY............................................................................................................................4
EDUCATION SYSTEM.....................................................................................................6
THE LEGAL SYSTEM ......................................................................................................8
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM ..............................................................................................8
FOREIGN POLICY...........................................................................................................10
ECONOMY.......................................................................................................................11
DEMOGRAPHY...............................................................................................................12
CULTURE.........................................................................................................................13
SOCIAL CLASSES...........................................................................................................15
LANGUAGE.....................................................................................................................16
VALUES............................................................................................................................16
BUSINESS.........................................................................................................................17
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES.........................................................................................19
BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................21

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 ARGENTINA

GEOGRAPHY
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is the second largest country in South
America, with a total land area of 2.766.890 km2 (8th in the world) and a population of
about 40 million citizens (33th in the world). Therefore, its density is of 15 residents /
km2 (168th in the world). The republic is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces an an
autonomous city, Buenos Aires, its capital city. Argentina's continental area is between
the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders
Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the
west and south.
Argentina is about 3,900 km long from north to south, and 1,400 km from east to
west. There are four major regions: the fertile central plains of the Pampas, source of
Argentina's agricultural wealth, the oil-rich southern plateau of Patagonia including
Tierra del Fuego, the subtropical northern flats of the Gran Chaco, and the rugged Andes
mountain range along the western border with Chile. The highest point above sea level is
in Mendoza province at Cerro Aconcagua (6,962 m), also the highest point in the
Southern and Western Hemisphere.
Argentina possesses exceptional natural beauties, for it embraces a very diverse
territory of mountains, plains and highlands containing all possible weathers. It has
various climatic regions with particular sceneries. The generally temperate climate ranges
from subtropical in the north to subpolar in the far south. The north is characterized by
very hot, humid summers with mild drier winters, and is subject to periodic droughts.
Central Argentina has hot summers with thunderstorms (western Argentina produces
some of the world's largest hail), and cool winters. The southern regions have warm
summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall, especially in mountainous zones. Higher
elevations at all latitudes experience cooler conditions. The southern regions, particularly

3
the far south, experience long periods of daylight from November to February (up to
nineteen hours) and extended nights from May to August.
The hottest and coldest temperature extremes recorded in South America have
occurred in Argentina. A record high temperature of 49.1 °C, was recorded at Villa de
María, Córdoba, on 2 January 1920. The lowest temperature recorded was −39 °C at
Valle de los Patos Superior, San Juan, on 17 July 1972.
The name of Argentina is derived from the Latin “argentum” (meaning “silver”),
which comes from the Ancient Greek word of “argentinos” meaning “silvery”. The first
use of the name Argentina can be traced to the early 16th century voyages of the Spanish
and Portuguese conquerors to the Río de la Plata ("The Silver River").
The largest cities in Argentina are its capital, Buenos Aires (around 3 million
residents), Cordoba (with a population of 1,3 million) and Rosario (with 1,2 million
residents).
Argentina is a federal presidential republic and its president is Cristina Fernandez
de Kirchner since December 10, 2007. The official currency of Argentina is the “peso”.
Today, Argentina is one of the G-20 major economies.

HISTORY
The beginning of prehistory in the present territory of Argentina began with the
first human settlements on the southern tip of Patagonia around 13,000 years ago.
The area now known as Argentina was relatively sparsely populated until the
period of European colonization. The Inca Empire under King Pachacutec invaded and
conquered present-day northwestern Argentina in 1480, integrating it into a region called
Collasuyu. The central and southern areas (Pampas and Patagonia) were dominated by
nomadic cultures.
Europeans first arrived in the region with the 1502 voyage of Amerigo Vespucci.
Spain established the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542 encompassing all its holdings in South
America, and established a permanent colony at Buenos Aires in 1580 as part of the
dependency of Río de la Plata. Settlers initially arrived primarily overland from Peru. In
1776, this colony was elevated to a Viceroyalty which shifted trade from Lima to Buenos
Aires. Buenos Aires became a flourishing port after the creation of the Viceroyalty, as the

4
revenues from the increasing maritime activity in terms of goods rather than precious
metals made it gradually become one of the most important commercial centers of the
region. The viceroyalty was, however, short-lived due to lack of internal cohesion among
the many regions of which it was constituted and to lack of Spanish support. It collapsed
when Napoleon successfully invaded Spain and overthrew the Spanish monarchy.
On 25 May 1810, the citizens of Buenos Aires created the First Government Junta
(May Revolution). Between 1814 and 1817, General José de San Martín led a military
campaign aimed at making independence a reality. San Martín and his regiment crossed
the Andes in 1817 to defeat royalist forces in Chile and Perú, thus securing independence.
The Congress of Tucumán gathered on 9 July 1816 and finally issued a formal
Declaration of Independence from Spain.
A wave of foreign investment and immigration from Europe after 1870 led to the
development of modern agriculture and to a near-reinvention of Argentine society and the
economy and the strengthening of a cohesive state. The rule of law was consolidated in
large measure by Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, whose 1860 Commercial Code and 1869
Civil Code laid the foundation for Argentina's statutory laws. General Julio Argentino
Roca's military campaign in the 1870s established Argentine dominance over the
southern Pampas and Patagonia and subdued the remaining indigenous peoples.
Argentina increased in prosperity and prominence between 1880 and 1929, while
emerging as one of the 10 richest countries in the world, benefiting from an agricultural
export-led economy. The country was neutral during World War I and most of World
War II, becoming an important source of foodstuffs for the Allied Nations.
In 1946, General Juan Perón was elected president, creating a political movement
referred to as "Peronism". His hugely popular wife, Evita, played a central political role
until her death in 1952. During Perón's tenure, wages and working conditions improved
appreciably, the number of unionized workers quadrupled, government programs
increased and urban development was prioritized over the agrarian sector.
In 1991, newly elected President Carlos Menem began pursuing privatizations and,
after a second bout of hyperinflation in 1990, reached out to economist Domingo
Cavallo, who imposed a peso-dollar fixed exchange rate in 1991 and adopted far-

5
reaching market-based policies, dismantling protectionist barriers and business
regulations, while accelerating privatizations.
In 2003, governor Néstor Kirchner, a social democratic Peronist, was elected
president and, during Kirchner's presidency, Argentina paid off debts with the
International Monetary Fund, renegotiated contracts with utilities and nationalized some
previously privatized enterprises. Kirchner and his economists, notably Roberto Lavagna,
also pursued a vigorous incomes policy and public works investment. Argentina has since
been enjoying economic growth, though with high inflation. Néstor Kirchner forfeited the
2007 campaign in favor of his wife Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Winning by
a landslide that October, she became the first woman elected President of Argentina.

EDUCATION SYSTEM
Education in Argentina is a responsibility shared by the national government, the
provinces and federal district and private institutions, though basic guidelines have
historically been set by the Ministry of Education.
Education in Argentina has an accomplished yet convoluted history. There was no
effective educational plan until President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1868–1874)
placed emphasis on bringing Argentina up-to-date with practices in developed countries.
Sarmiento encouraged the immigration and settling of European educators and built
schools and public libraries throughout the country, in a programme that finally doubled
the enrollment of students during his term.
Education in Argentina is divided in three phases. The first comprises grades first
to ninth, and is called Educación General Básica or EGB ("Basic General Education").
EGB is divided in three stages, called ciclos ("cycles"): EGB I (1st, 2nd and 3rd school
years), EGB II (4th, 5th and 6th school years), EGB III (7th, 8th and 9th school years).
Once the EGB is completed, the student finishes the mandatory schooling period and can
choose to start secondary education.
Primary education comprises the first two EGB cycles (grades 1–6). Because of the
system that was in place until 1995 (7 years of primary school plus 5 or 6 of secondary
school), primary schools used to offer grades 1–7, although most are already converted to

6
accept 8th and 9th, others chose to eliminate 7th grade altogether, forcing the students to
complete the 3rd cycle in another institution.
Secondary education in Argentina is called Polimodal ("polymodal", that is, having
multiple modes), since it allows the student to choose his/her orientation. Polimodal is
not yet obligatory but its completion is a requirement to enter colleges across the nation.
Polimodal is usually 3 years of schooling, although some schools have a fourth year.
Conversely to what happened on primary schools, most secondary schools in Argentina
contained grades 8th and 9th, plus Polimodal (old secondary), but then started converting
to accept also 7th grade students, thus allowing them to keep their same classmates for
the whole EGB III cycle.
This is different however, in the city of Buenos Aires (and several provinces),
where Polimodal does not exist. The capital keeps in use the Traditional Argentine
education system, composed of seven years of primary education (EGB I and EGB II,
with the last two years composing EGB III) and five years of secondary education (the
first three of which are of a more general education, with more focus on the specilisation
starting in the last two years). The secondary education system is thus divided in three
large groups, "Bachiller" schools (very similar to grammar schools with a huge emphasis
on humanistic studies), "Comercial" schools (focusing on economic sciences and
everything related to it) and "Escuelas Técnicas" (with a focus on technical and scientific
assignments, this one having the particularity of lasting six years instead of five, it used
to be called "Industrial") each one subdivided in more specific orientations related to its
main branch. Currently there are no plans to adopt the Polimodal system in the city of
Buenos Aires, but rather, several provinces with that system are seriously considering a
reform of it, with many opting for the traditional system still used in Buenos Aires.
Examples of provinces that use the Traditional system include (besides the capital):
Córdoba, Río Negro, and La Pampa.
Regarding the college education, Argentina maintains a network of 39 National
universities, financed by the Ministry of Education and tuition-free, since 1946. Private
and parochial universities are also abundant, numbering 46 among the active institutions;
but, their cost often reserves them only to more affluent students, and they enroll about a

7
sixth of the collegiate student body. In all, over 1.5 million students attend institutions of
higher learning in Argentina, annually (roughly half the population of college age).
In spite of its many problems, Argentina's higher education managed to reach
worldwide levels of excellence in the sixties. The Latin American docta can claim three
Nobel Prize winners in the sciences: Luis Federico Leloir, Bernardo Houssay and César
Milstein, the highest number in Latin America, surpassing countries economically more
developed and populated as Ireland or Spain.

THE LEGAL SYSTEM

The Legal system of Argentina is a Civil law legal system. The two pillars of the
Civil system are the Constitution of Argentina (1853) and the Civil Code of Argentina
(1871).
The Argentine Constitution of 1853 was an attempt to unite the unstable the young
country of the United Provinces of the River Plate under a single law, creating as well the
different organisms needed to run a country. The constitution was finally approved after
failed signatory attempts in 1813, 1819 and 1831 (Pacto Federal).
The Civil Code was written by Argentine jurist Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield, and
started being effective on January 1, 1871. Beyond the influence of the Spanish legal
tradition, the Argentine Civil Code was also inspired by the Draft of the Brazilian Civil
Code, the Draft of the Spanish Civil Code of 1851, the Napoleonic code and the Chilean
Civil Code among others. The sources of this Civil Code also include various theoretical
legal works, mainly of the great French jurists of the 19th century. It was the first Civil
Law that consciously adopted as its cornerstone the distinction between rights from
obligations and real property rights, thus distancing itself from the French model.

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

The Argentine Constitution of 1853 mandates a separation of powers into
executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the national and provincial level. The
political framework is a federal representative democratic republic, in which the

8
President is both head of state and head of government, complemented by a pluriform
multi-party system.
Executive power resides in the President and the Cabinet. The President and Vice
President are directly elected to four-year terms and are limited to two terms. Cabinet
ministers are appointed by the President and are not subject to legislative ratification. The
current President is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with Julio Cobos as Vice President.
Legislative power is vested in the bicameral National Congress, comprising a 72-
member Senate and a 257-member Chamber of Deputies. Senators serve six-year terms,
with one-third standing for re-election every two years. Members of the Chamber of
Deputies are elected to four-year terms by a proportional representation system, with half
of the members standing for re-election every two years. A third of the candidates
presented by the parties must be women.
The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Supreme
Court has seven members appointed by the President in consultation with the Senate. The
judges of all the other courts are appointed by the Council of Magistrates of the Nation, a
secretariat composed of representatives of judges, lawyers, the Congress and the
executive.
Though declared the capital in 1853, Buenos Aires did not become the official
capital until 1880. There have been moves to relocate the administrative centre
elsewhere. During the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín, a law was passed to transfer the
federal capital to Viedma, Río Negro. Studies were underway when economic problems
halted the project in 1989. Though the law was never formally repealed, it is now treated
as a relic.
Argentina is divided into twenty-three provinces (provincias; singular provincia)
and one autonomous city. Buenos Aires province is divided into 134 partidos, while the
remaining provinces are divided into 376 departments (departamentos). Departments and
partidos are further subdivided into municipalities or districts.

9
FOREIGN POLICY
Argentina is a full member of the Mercosur block together with Brazil, Paraguay,
Uruguay and Venezuela; and five associate members: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador
and Peru. From 2006 Argentina has emphasized Mercosur (Mercosul in Brazil) , which
has some supranational legislative functions, as its first international priority; by contrast,
during the 1990s, it relied more heavily on its relationship with the United States.
Argentina is a founding signatory and permanent consulting member of the Antarctic
Treaty System and the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat is based in Buenos Aires.
Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas),
the South Shetland Islands, the South Sandwich Islands and almost 1 million km² in
Antarctica, between the 25°W and the 74°W meridians and the 60°S parallel, overlapping
British claims. Since 1904, a scientific post has been maintained in Antarctica by mutual
agreement. While Argentina has employed threats and force to pursue its claims against
Chile in the Beagle channel and Laguna del Desierto, against Britain in Antarctica and
the Falklands, as well as against illegal trawlers, this is the exception rather than the rule
in Argentine international relations.
Argentina was the only Latin American country to participate in the 1991 Gulf War
under the United Nations mandate. It was also the only Latin American country involved
in every phase of Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. Argentina has contributed
worldwide to peacekeeping operations, including those in El Salvador, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Guatemala, the Ecuador-Peru dispute, Western Sahara, Angola, Kuwait,
Cyprus, Croatia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Timor Leste. In recognition of its contributions to
international security, U.S. President Bill Clinton designated Argentina as a major non-
NATO ally in January 1998. It was last elected as a member of the UN Security Council
in 2005. The United Nations White Helmets, a bulwark of peacekeeping and
humanitarian aid efforts, were first deployed in 1994 following an Argentine initiative.

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ECONOMY
Argentina has abundant natural resources, a well-educated population, an export-
oriented agricultural sector and a relatively diversified industrial base. Domestic
instability and global trends, however, contributed to Argentina's decline from its
noteworthy position as the world's 10th wealthiest nation per capita in 1913 to that of an
upper-middle income economy. Though no consensus exists explaining this, systemic
problems have included increasingly burdensome debt, uncertainty over the monetary
system, excessive regulation, barriers to free trade, and a weak rule of law coupled with
corruption and a bloated bureaucracy. Even during its era of decline between 1930 and
1980, however, the Argentine economy created Latin America's largest proportional
middle class; but this segment of the population has suffered from a series of economic
crises between 1981 and 2002, when the relative decline became absolute.
Argentina's economy started to slowly lose ground after 1930 when it entered the
Great Depression and recovered slowly, afterwards. Erratic policies helped lead to
serious bouts of stagflation in the 1949–52 and 1959–63 cycles and the country lost its
place among the world's prosperous nations, even as it continued to industrialize.
Following a promising decade, the economy further declined during the military
dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983 and for some time afterwards. The
dictatorship's chief economist, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, advanced a disorganized,
corrupt, monetarist financial liberalization that increased the debt burden and interrupted
industrial development and upward social mobility; over 400,000 companies of all sizes
went bankrupt by 1982 and economic decisions made from 1983 through 2001 failed to
reverse the situation.
Record foreign debt interest payments, tax evasion and capital flight resulted in a
balance of payments crisis that plagued Argentina with serious stagflation from 1975 to
1990. Attempting to remedy this, economist Domingo Cavallo pegged the peso to the
U.S. dollar in 1991 and limited the growth in the money supply. His team then embarked
on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation and privatization. Inflation dropped and
GDP grew by one third in four years; but external economic shocks and failures of the
system diluted benefits, causing the economy to crumble slowly from 1995 until the
collapse in 2001. That year and the next, the economy suffered its sharpest decline since

11
1930; by 2002, Argentina had defaulted on its debt, its GDP had shrunk, unemployment
reached 25% and the peso had depreciated 70% after being devalued and floated.
In 2003 expansionary policies and commodity exports triggered a rebound in GDP.
This trend has been largely maintained, creating millions of jobs and encouraging internal
consumption. The socio-economic situation has been steadily improving and the
economy grew around 9% annually for five consecutive years between 2003 and 2007
and 7% in 2008. Inflation, however, though officially hovering around 9% since 2006,
has been privately estimated at over 15%, becoming a contentious issue again. The urban
income poverty rate has dropped to 18% as of mid-2008, a third of the peak level
observed in 2002, though still above the level prior to 1976. Income distribution, having
improved since 2002, is still considerably unequal.
Argentina ranks 106th out of 179 countries in the Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index for 2009. Reported problems include both government and
private-sector corruption, the latter of which include money laundering, trafficking in
narcotics and contraband, and tax evasion. The country faces slowing economic growth
in light of an international financial crisis. The Kirchner administration responded at the
end of 2008 with a record US$32 billion public-works program for 2009–10 and a further
US$4 billion in new tax cuts and subsidies. Kirchner has also nationalized private
pensions, which required growing subsidies to cover, in a move designed to shed a
budgetary drain as well as to finance high government spending and debt obligations.
Argentina has the second-highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita
in purchasing power parity in Latin America. Argentina is one of the G-20 major
economies, with the world's 30th largest nominal GDP, and the 23rd largest when
purchasing power is taken into account. The country is classified as upper-middle income
or a secondary emerging market by the World Bank.

DEMOGRAPHY
In 2009 Argentina had a population of 40,134,425. Argentina ranks third in South
America in total population and 33rd globally. Population density is of 15 persons per
square kilometer of land area, well below the world average of 50 persons. The
population growth rate in 2008 was estimated to be 0.92% annually, with a birth rate of

12
16.32 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 7.54 deaths per 1,000
inhabitants.
The proportion of people under 15, at 24.6%, is somewhat below the world
average (28%), and the cohort of people 65 and older is relatively high, at 10.8%. The
percentage of senior citizens in Argentina has long been second only to Uruguay in Latin
America and well above the world average, which is currently 7%.
Argentina's population has long had one of Latin America's lowest growth
rates (recently, about one percent a year) and it also enjoys a comparatively low infant
mortality rate. Strikingly, though, its birth rate is still nearly twice as high (2.3 children
per woman) as that in Spain or Italy, despite comparable religiosity figures. The median
age is approximately 30 years and life expectancy at birth is of 76 years.

CULTURE
The culture of Argentina is as varied as the country's geography and mix of ethnic
groups. Modern Argentine culture has been largely influenced by European immigration
although there are also some Amerindian and African influences, particularly in the fields
of music and art. Buenos Aires and other cities show a mixture of architectural styles
imported from Europe. Museums, cinemas and galleries are abundant in all the large
urban centers, as well as traditional establishments such as literary bars, or bars offering
live music of a variety of genres.
The best-known element of Argentine culture is the tango dance. In modern
Argentina, tango music is enjoyed in its own right, especially since the radical Ástor
Piazzolla redefined the music of Carlos Gardel. It should be noted that foreigners usually
think of tango as the dance music, whilst for Argentines the word refers to both the music
and the lyrics (often containing words and phrases in lunfardo, a local slang), which are a
form of poetry.
European classical music is also popular in Argentina. The Teatro Colón in
Buenos Aires is considered to be one of the world's major opera houses. Musicians such
as pianist Martha Argerich and classical composers like Alberto Ginastera have become
internationally renowned. Most of the nation's larger cities and a number of smaller ones
maintain concert halls, philharmonic orchestras and chamber music ensembles.

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 According to the World Christian Database, Argentines are 92.1% Christian, 3.1%
agnostic, 1.9% Muslim, 1.3% Jewish, 0.9% atheist, and 0.9% Buddhist and other.
Argentine Christians are mostly Roman Catholic. Evangelical have started to become
popular since the 1980s, and their followers count for approximately 9% of the total
population. Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America with about
230,000. Islam in Argentina constitutes approximately 1.5% of the population, or about
500,000–600,000 people. Buenos Aires is home to one of the largest mosques in Latin
America.
In terms of literature, Argentina's most famous authors are Jorge Luis Borges,
considered to be one of the world's greatest 20th century writers, (he wrote poems, short
stories and non-fiction essays), Adolfo Bioy Casares and Julio Cortázar. Argentine
comics are best represented by Mafalda, a cartoon by Quino (Joaquín Lavado), which
became a world-recognized Argentine icon soon after its first publication. The series of
comic strips shows the world's troubles through the eyes of a small girl, Mafalda, and her
relatives and friends.
As for the culinary aspect, besides many of the pasta, sausage and dessert dishes
common to continental Europe, Argentine enjoys a wide variety of indigenous creations,
which include empanadas (a stuffed pastry), locro (a mixture of corn, beans, meat, bacon,
onion, and gourd), humitas and yerba mate, all originally indigenous Amerindian staples,
the latter considered Argentina's national beverage. Other popular items
include chorizo (a spicy sausage), facturas (Viennese-style pastry) and Dulce de Leche, a
sort of dairy caramel jam.
Argentina has the highest consumption of red meat in the world.
The Argentine wine industry, long among the largest outside Europe, has
benefited from growing investment, as 60% of foreign investment in recent years
worldwide in viticulture was destined to Argentina. The country is the fifth most
important wine producer in the world, with one of the highest annual per
capita consumption of wine. Mendoza (where the Malbec grape is very common) is one
of the eight wine capitals of the world and accounts for 70% of the country's total wine
production. "Wine tourism" is important in Mendoza province, providing a very desirable
destination for international tourism.

14
 A cultural survey found that the most important spare time activity for almost
80% of Argentines is visiting friends and relatives. Playing team sports and attending
sports venues is also quite common. For younger people clubbing is prevalent, while
older ones prefer dining out.
An example of sociability can be found during the annual celebration of Friend's
Day on 20 July. This informal holiday originated in Argentina and in recent years has
gained such popularity, especially among the young, that the entertainment centers of the
cities (bars, discos, cinemas, etc.) become crowded until dawn of the following day, as
on Christmas and New Year's Eve.

SOCIAL CLASSES
Until recently, Argentina had a very large middle class. Upper-class and lower-
class sectors can generally trace their origins to more than five generations in the country.
Originally the upper class was mainly formed by landowners of large estates.
Urbanization and industrialization processes intensified in the early decades of the
twentieth century and greatly affected Argentina's social structure. Merchants and
industrialists increasingly joined the ranks of the landed elite. The Argentine middle class
was formed mainly by the descendants of immigrants who came to Argentina either at the
end of the nineteenth or beginning of the twentieth century, settled in cities, and worked
in the newly created jobs in the industrial, commercial, and public sectors of the
economy. In comparison to other Latin American nations, Argentina's income
distribution has been fairly equitable throughout most of the twentieth century. Together
with Uruguay, it had a very large middle class until quite recently, but that situation
changed with the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. Social sciences literature refers
to the "new poor," which is made up of former middle class citizens who experienced
downward mobility.
Upper classes often wear expensive imported clothes and/or clothes from very
exclusive Argentine stores. These distinctions are not fixed; they change with fashion and
with the cultural models followed by elite sectors. In the past, British and French culture
influenced elite taste. It was not uncommon to hire French or British nannies to educate
the children of the upper classes, although this practice faded in the 1970s. North

15
American models are favored by the younger rich generation. Social class also can be
easily recognized by speech styles and body language.

LANGUAGE
The official language of Argentina is Spanish, usually called castellano (Castilian)
by Argentines. The accent of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires (known as porteños) is
closer to the Neapolitan dialect of Italian than any other spoken language. Italian
immigration and other European immigrations influenced Lunfardo, the slang spoken in
the Río de la Plata region, and was introduced in the vocabulary of other regions as well.
According to one survey, there are around 1.5 million Italian speakers (which makes it
the second most spoken language in the country) and 1 million speakers of the Arabic
language. German is spoken by between 400,000 and 500,000 Argentines of German
ancestry, making it the third or fourth most spoken language in Argentina.
Some indigenous communities still use their original languages. Guaraní is
spoken by some in the northeast, especially in Corrientes (where it enjoys official status)
and Misiones. Quechua is spoken by some in the northwest and has a local variant
in Santiago del Estero. Aymara is spoken by members of the Bolivian community who
migrated to Argentina from Bolivia. In Patagonia there are several Welsh-
speaking communities. More recent immigrants have brought Chinese and Korean,
mostly to Buenos Aires. English, Brazilian Portuguese and French are also spoken.
English is commonly taught at schools as a second language and, to some extent,
Portuguese and French.

VALUES
Family. Family is the center value in Argentina. The family is defined as the
nuclear unit, and that has been a very significant buffer to the other challenges people
face. Even though the financial resources are limited and people may not have jobs
because unemployment is high, they have learned how to share limited resources.
The heads of powerful families command widespread respect, but with this comes a
responsibility to care for others in terms of security, jobs, and to maintain personal and

16
family honour.
Honour routinely affects day-to-day life at home, in the community and in
business.
Religion. The argentine constitution guarantees religious freedom.Roman
Catholicism acts as the official state religion.
Relationships. Argentinians are open, blunt, and direct, yet are able to remain
tactful and diplomatic. They are a warm people and don’t hide their feelings but rather
express them openly. In addition they are close communicators physically so will often
touch each other when speaking and maintain little physical distance between speakers.
They are loyal, tending to forge strong ties that don’t loosen easily and manage to
establish friendships with strangers quickly.
Hospitability is a fact of life, argentinians open their homes to friends and
strangers.
Time. Argentina is a fluid time culture. People will not want to upset others in
order to push through a deadline. Timescales and deadlines need to be set well in advance
and reiterated carefully, but still will be viewed as flexible.
Etiquette. Initial greetings are formal and follow a set protocol of greeting
the eldest or most important person first, with a standard handshake, direct eye contact
and a welcoming smile.Maintaining eye contact indicates interest. In general,
argentinians prefer third-party introductions, and when leaving, they say good-bye to
each person individually.

BUSINESS
Social differences are manifested locally through benevolent, paternalistic
leadership. The senior executive has the personal obligation to protect subordinates, and
even take care of the personal needs of workers and their families.
Argentinian firms are managed like a family. People prefer to depend on someone
closer to the center of the organization, and to accept that this authority leads to behavior
that avoids conflict and confrontation with one’s superiors. Behaving any other way
would be interpreted as an offense against one’s superiors and colleagues. Doing so
would have disciplinary consequences.

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 Argentinians value status within a hierarchy because it indicates social distance
between the higher-up and his subordinates. Job titles and additional benefits also have a
great significance because of the social status that they bring.
Companies generally recruit new workers through their current employees and
employees’ family members and close relatives. This guarantees the trust, loyalty and
sense of responsibility that are important to keeping the organization together. The family
is equally important when promotion is involved. Employees generally put the well-being
of their families ahead of their professional careers, especially the women.
Individual financial compensation can stigmatize a worker as a “favorite” of
management. The worker can wind up being rejected by the group, with grave
consequences. In contrast, highly valued benefits for top executives confer extra status –
including luxury cars, and private-school tuition for their children. Compensation usually
comes in the form of fixed salary. Only multinational companies and large Latin
American firms provide variable compensation based on corporate performance. Fixed
salaries are more appropriate in a hierarchical and individualistic system where more
value is placed on the centralization of authority, not on factors that promote teamwork
and organizational flexibility.
It is of course important to recognize the loyalty of employees by establishing
ceremonies that honor their seniority. Many benefits, including vacations and retirement
benefits, involved ceremonial recognition.
The collective spirit of the workplace is manifested in several ways. First, there is
the importance of personal relationships. Employees expect to be treated with courtesy
and kindness while at work. Second, there is a sense of loyalty to the primary group.
Managers know that the survival of their organizations depends more on social and
governmental relationships than on any support they get from the country’s financial
system. Argentinian culture tends to favor the development of teamwork. Employees
value social relationships based on personal communication and empathy, concepts that
are essential to teamwork. Third, popular celebrations play a major role in the
workplace, including religious behavior. This illustrates the hybrid style of management.
This hybrid model of management becomes clear when it comes to working
arrangements. Although employees accept the idea of getting involved in modern

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managerial practices, they prefer a managerial style in which one senior executive makes
the decisions. This frees each employee from taking responsibility. Executives who have
higher education are the exception to this rule, however. Sharing responsibility for
decision-making has other advantages. It allows companies to resolve conflicts and
confrontations. Argentinians traditionally accept the sort of manager who acts as a
mediator between parties in a conflict.
For a foreigner, it is important to make appointments to see prospective clients
through a third party, an enchufado. The enchufado acts as a middle man with contacts
within an industry. Doing business in Argentina involves building up a relationship and
establishing trust so it is unwise to consider it acceptable to approach companies directly.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Argentina’s diversified economy, substantial supply of natural resources and
agricultural exports and growing industry, provides numerous business opportunities for
international investors. An understanding of Argentina’s historical, political and
economic context as well as its unique social and business culture is vital for any
organisation wishing to do business in Argentina.
The argentinian business model as a hybrid of globalization and the region’s
historic traditions. Compared to the rest of the area, there are smaller social gaps and a
widespread collectivism that has various manifestations. Also, Argentina assumes the
title of the most European country in Latin America.
It is a relationship-driven culture, so it is important to build networks and use them.
Above all, argentinians like to do business with people they know and trust.They prefer
face-to-face meetings rather than by telephone or in writing, which are seen as
impersonal. Looking good in the eyes of others is important to argentinians. Therefore,
they will judge not only on what you say, but also on the way you present yourself.
There is considerable concern among Latin American policy makers that they do
not trade state monopolies for foreign ones. Foreign companies therefore should expect
rules and regulations to continue evolving toward increasing competition. Both home-
grown and foreign private investors in Argentina will continue to find what the first
investors in Argentina discovered - large numbers of nonpaying customers, resulting in

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high nontechnical losses for gas and electricity. Theft, fraud, and nonpayment of bills are
well-known problems, although they seem to diminish as the economy gets stronger. The
continued low savings rate in serves as a counterweight to economic growth and
development.
In Argentina, history and foreign policy count and they are ignored at peril.
Experienced personnel with spanish heritages seem to be most successful at
negotiating and closing projects with local companies. This appears to be true especially
for utilities that have never operated outside their home service territories and are
building international programs. Because not all argentinian companies and managers are
cooperant, foreign partners need to be careful about who is deployed to what discution.
Argentinian corporate training and development divisions suffer significant
internal conflict when it comes time to provide more advanced business training. They
realize that new management techniques don’t always fit in well with local tradition;
some practices are rejected by employees. So foreign managers feel obliged to provide
formal basic education and technical training whenever they modernize work procedures.
Moreover, argentinian companies usually devote only a small part of their budget to
training.
Given the low level of confrontation between managers and their subordinates, the
results of formal evaluation of workers’ performance are rarely used.
A big problem of the country is corruption. When interactions with countries,
multinational firms, and governments are high, the possibilities for corporate governance
problems are also high. As competition grows, the search for any advantage also grows
and corporate governance threats appear from many sources(especially the activities of
local partners)
Broad privatization programs in particular seem to carry a huge potential for
impropriety. It also appears that the higher the level of discontent with regard to
privatization or private investment, the bigger the potential for trouble, particularly for
foreign organizations.
In sum, Argentina today offers business opportunities that cannot be overlooked; it
is a profitable destination and the timing is perfect for foreign investment.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.justargentina.org
2. www.surdelsur.com
3. www.doingbusiness.org
4. www.businessculture.com
5. en.wikipedia.org
6. Lonely Planet – Buenos Aires City Guide 2008

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