LATIN AMERICA

Presented by:Anil Kumar (MB45) Brahmanand Bhargav Nitesh Kumar Chandwani Sachin Kumar Sanjay Kumar Singh

Outline
Introduction Geographical features Cultural characteristics Political characteristics Economical characteristics Market opportunities GDP MNCs References

Introduction
 Caribbean
Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico(US)

 Central
Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

 South America
Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay

Geographical features
 Major Mountain ranges
o Andes Mountains o Sierra Madre Mountains Oriental and Occidental

 Rainforests  Coastal Desert-Atacama Desert  Amazon River Basin  Tropical Grasslands-Pampas, Llanos  Archipelagoes groups of related islands

Cont
 Reversed seasons south of the Equator  Volcanoes and Earthquakes  Vertical Zonation of Climates in Mexico
o Tierra Templada-temperate o Tierra Fria-cold o Tierra Caliente-hot

Culture characteristics
 Indian civilizations -Aztec, Inca  African traditions - slaves  Influences of European colonization - Spanish  Predominance of the Roman Catholic religion  Rigid social structure - no movement  Mestizos-European and Native  Location of settlements - coastal in South America  Megacities with large squatter settlements  Rapid population growth  Out-migration

Cont
Cultural heritage
 music-African influences, calypso, steel drum bands, reggae  traditional dances  Spanish and Portuguese languages

Cultural landscape
 pyramids and cathedrals  haciendas and ejidos (communal land)  ruins at Machu Picchu  ruins at Tikal

Political characteristics
Social and political realities of the region reveal a high degree of fragmentation of the social fabric Appearance of new actors with specific and isolated projects that respond to segmented demands than the general interests The regional outlook remains bleak despite the so-called alternative politics posed by Brazil, Venezuela and other socialist governments Return of external interventions will undoubtedly heighten existing conflicts and deepen inequalities Caribbean governments creating continuation of preferences or donors flows to engage all stakeholders civil society, the private sector, trade unions, the media, donors, and other - in a dialogue and partnership on the challenges and opportunities of sources of growth and competitiveness

Economic Characteristics
diverse economies subsistence farming plantation agriculture slash and burn agriculture cash crops and food crops Haciendas cattle ranches and gauchos Deforestation

Cont
destruction of the rainforests oil resources--Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico Heavy smog and pollution--Mexico City disparity of income distribution NAFTA member diverse mineral resources
o copper in Chile o iron ore in Venezuela and Brazil

Trade environment
Four preferential trade agreements in place
 Central American Integration System  Andean Community  Common Market of the South  Caribbean Community and Common Market

Cont
Central American Integration System (SICA)
 To strengthen internal and regional democratization.  Set of common market and of a political union in long run  It include a common external tariff, an almost complete customs union and substantial advances in the area of free movement of persons, capitals and services  To develop a closer political, cultural and migratory integration for member countries  Introduced common internal borders

Cont
Andean Community
 Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela  Customs union
o Agreement abolished foreign exchange, financial and fiscal incentives, and export subsidies o Common external tariffs were established

Cont
Common Market of the South (Mercosur)
 Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay  Customs union, seeks to become common market
o internal tariffs eliminated o common external tariffs up to 20% established o in time, factors of production will move freely through member countries

 Chile and Bolivia o associate members o participation in free trade area but not customs union

Cont
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)
 Antigua, Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Trinidad, Tobago  Replaced Caribbean Free Trade Association  Agreed to establish economic union with common currency in 1998

Market opportunities
Building Products and construction Electric power equipment and services Environment industries Information and communication technology (ITC) Oil and gas equipment and services Mining and minerals

Cont
Canada remains committed to concluding ongoing Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and the Central America Four (CA4) countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and honduras.

Cont
In 2012 the momentum of the development of China-Latin American economic relations in recent years will be maintained.
o For Latin American, demand for Chinas cheap manufactured goods and investment is likely to increase as the regions economy will continue to recover from the past international financial crisis. o For Chinese, its economy will also continue to grow at a rapid speed, sustaining its huge demand for raw materials and commodities from abroad.

GDP

MNC
 A number of MNCs have invested in Latin America seeking cheap labor for their manufacturing facilities. E.g. Maquila  Companies have been strongly motivated to invested in Latin America seeking growth in new markets either organically or via acquisition E.g. Automotive industry  Latin America is rich in natural resources.one third of global iron export. Natural resources assets acquired by resource seeking MNCs are normally sold to multiple markets. E.g. Gold(Peru), Silver, Nickel

Cont

Cont
US oil service firm Schlumberger outperforms its multinational peers in Latin America.

Energy firms lead the way in growth among multinationals in Latin America.  US oil services firm Schlumberger led the way on the latest Latin MNC Index from Latin Business Chronicle, which measures quarterly performance of 25 multinational companies operating in Latin America based on their revenues in dollar terms.  Other growth winners include French retail giant Groupe Casino, US oil service firm Halliburton, Spanish energy firm Iberdrola and US manufacturing giant Caterpillar.

References
www.latinamericalinks.com www.latinworld.com http://www.businesswithlatinamerica.com http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/latin_america http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=5427 http://www.latinbusinesschronicle.com/app/article.aspx?id=5343