Henry Sitrodam

Growth gathers momentum

henrysitrodam — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:48:50 +0000

India accounts for about one per cent of Brazil’s import bill. Yet, it is not all depressing because trade between the two countries doubled in just four years between 1998 and 2002. These figures show the unfulfilled potential between the two countries.

Some industries where India can significantly step up exports to Brazil are tea spices, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, textiles and engineering goods.

As Brazilian growth gathers momentum, India can meet Brazil’s increasing need of capital and engineering goods at prices that are much more competitive than North America.

In the WTO era, Brazil offers many exciting opportunities to Indian businessmen hunting for global markets.

Trade surpluses

henrysitrodam — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:16:26 +0000

This steady and almost spectacular rise in Brazil’s trade surplus has helped the country partially meet foreign debt and mounting interest payments.

These trade surpluses have come in quite handy to repay sovereign debts earlier than scheduled

Industry completely dominated

henrysitrodam — Wed, 07 May 2008 07:46:55 +0000

Though classified as a Third World country, Brazil displays a depth and range of industrialization that many other Third World countries – except perhaps China – simply cannot match.

For instance, Brazil is the only Third World country to be a major exporter of aircraft, an industry completely dominated by developed nations.

The number of phone lines per 1000 population in Brazil is 430; it is 330 in China and 50 in India. The number of personal computers per 1000 population is 75 in Brazil, 19 in China and a mere six in India. In Brazil, manufacturing contributes more than 45% to the GDP; it is just about 25% in India.

Reformist policies adopted by successive regimes since the mid-1990s have transformed Brazil’s industrial sector.
Technorati Tags: manufacturing, create

Falls in the working age

henrysitrodam — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:11:09 +0000

For the intrepid traveller, Brazil is also synonymous with the interior basins of the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, which remains sparsely populated and is inhabited by the few remaining Brazilian Indians.

The Brazilian population, growing at slightly above one per cent currently stands at 184 million. Nearly 67% of the population falls in the working age group, a ratio that will grow over the coming decades.

Portuguese is spoken by 98% of the population. Ethnically, more than half the population is white. Roman Catholics form four-fifths of the population.

President Luiz Inacio ‘Lula’ de Silva, once a shoe shine boy, led the Workers’ Party to victory in the 2002 elections. This marked the first time in four decades that a left-wing president came to power in Brazil.

Paradigm shift

henrysitrodam — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:24:50 +0000

The city of Beirut, once described as the ‘Paris of the east’, is as paradoxical as a city can get. The incongruity of driving past every conceivable symbol of a radical brand of Islam, and into a night club full of late night revelers celebrating the sensuous rhythms of classical belly dancing, inspires a paradigm shift and establishes Lebanon’s culture in the context of its history.

Beirut wears a deserted look in the early morning. As I walk along the Corniche, Beirut’s coastal boulevard, to the resounding beat of the surging surf, I spy the Pigeon Rocks. These rocks are the most famous natural feature of Beirut.

Sitting on a seaside cliff, gazing at the rugged beauty of these offshore arches, I wonder what tales of mystery and adventure lie hidden in its folds. Over centuries, this rocky shoreline has been invaded by Phoenicians, Greeks, Ottoman Turks and generations of pregnant seals, and yet it has endured.

Modern Beirut, ravaged by 15 years of war, is finally on the mend. The green line, a strip of vegetation that physically divided the city into Christian and Muslim sectors, is a thing of the past and the 1.5 million Beirutis, who represent 18 different religious sects – Shiite, Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Sunni and Druze Muslims among others – have reverted to waving hands instead of AK-47s at each other.

Increasingly price sensitive market

henrysitrodam — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:29:15 +0000

However, the past few years have seen the major brands

slashing their prices in a big way to be able to compete in

an increasingly price sensitive market. The basic

technology used is not very different, since all these

players churn out similar configuration products.
Moreover manufacturing is being outsourced extensively

from third world countries and so are components. A

popular anecdote in the PC world goes thus: “PC

manufacturing units in China have one entry and many

different exits – Exit 1 for IBM, 2 for Compaq, 3 for Dell

and so on!

” Indeed in case of the basic PC, technology

ceases to be the differentiator today. But the service

back up provided is definitely a critical indicator of

competitiveness, or the lack of it. Here, branded PCs

score heavily over their unbranded counterparts.

The

market share of assembled PCs went down from 55 % in

the third quarter 2004 to 43% by the end of 2004,

primarily owing to major price drops by organised

players. Overall PC sales grew 29% by the end of March,

2005 touching 3.6 million.

Where it hurts the most

henrysitrodam — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:07:39 +0000

Interestingly, in the month of May 2005, while Star Plus

enjoyed a massive prime time viewership of 71.4% from

Mondays to Thursdays, this viewership got devastated on

weekends and fell to 36.6%.
But the deepest cut for Star

came from the fact that the combined viewership of Sony

and Zee TV – another domestic cable channel – rose from

26% (between Mondays to Thursdays) to a whopping

53.3% on weekends. The maximum ad revenues are

earned during the weekends, and this gain by Sony and

Zee has hit Star where it hurts the most.

In a desperate move to fight this weekend eyeball battle,

Star Networks has turned back to its white knight and

launched a weekend prime time sequel to KBC titled

KBC 2 on Star Plus.

But can one show make a leader out of a channel?

However confident Star might be feeling, the answer is a

distinct yes. But not just for Star, even for Sony, and Zee.

If it was KBC that moved Star to heights, Indian Idol

almost did it for Sony. And with Sony now bombarding

the Indian viewers with more captivating programs, Star

Networks is perhaps pinning too many hopes on old wine

in a new bottle!

Breather for the dollar

henrysitrodam — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:07:37 +0000

China, Japan, South Korea, India and other Asian economies have been financing the American trade deficit as they stand to lose a lot if the dollar goes into a tailspin. A financially weakened America will directly hit exports from Asia. But a breather for the dollar has been the rising oil prices that have ensured that billions of dollars flow into West Asian countries, increasing the demand for dollars.

Hello world!

henrysitrodam — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:59:33 +0000

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