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This case describes Brazil's political and economic evolution from the end of WWII to October 1998, focusing on the policies and effects of the Real Plan, an economic stabilization plan implemented between 1994 and 1998. Contagion effects of the Russian Crisis in August 1998 led to massive capital outflows from Brazil and put pressure on foreign exchange reserves. Brazil needs to decide what actions to take with respect to its system of fixed exchange rates. See also the B case (UV1619) and C case (UV1620).

This case describes the events between October 1998 and early January 1999. To prevent a devaluation of the Brazilian real, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided a standby loan to Brazil. The case outlines the conditions under which the loan was granted and the effect of the loan on Brazil's balance of payments. In January 1999, Minister of Finance Cardoso faces two new challenges: getting congressional support for fiscal reform and a moratorium on debt payments declared by one of Brazil's states. See also the A case (UV1618) and C case (UV1620).

In April 1994, the world witnessed a political milestone in South Africa. After decades of repression and racial segregation, South Africa's black majority came to power at last, as the African National Congress (ANC), led by the celebrated Nelson Mandela, rode into power with 63% of the vote in the country's first racially inclusive election. Eight years after this electoral victory, however, many South Africans are starting to question the shifting priorities of the ANC. Although the political situation of the country has vastly improved, the economy remains fragile, and some of the ANC's most loyal allies are decrying what they see as a change of faith. Thabo Mbeki, a former political exile who became president in 1999, must now decide what democracy means for South Africa and how best to preserve it.

Describes the development of Argentina's financial system after the "Tequila Crisis" that came about as a result of the speculative attack on the Mexican peso's peg to the U.S. dollar in December 1994. Although Argentina's banking system was strengthened overall due to changes implemented to address the crisis, most of the country's domestic private banks were either taken over by foreign banks or failed. Focuses on how in the year 2000, in an effort to remain Argentine owned, the last remaining large domestic private bank adopts a share offer considered by some--particularly a vocal member of one of the bank's controlling families--to be unfair to minority shareholders.

In 1970, the Indian government significantly revised its patent law, Patents and Design Act of 1911. The 1911 act was enacted when India was a colony of Great Britain, and it was controversial because it led to the total dominance of India's pharmaceutical market by multinational corporations. The 1970 act substantially reduced both the scope and the extent of patent protection, and some credited the act with the creation of India's own indigenous pharmaceutical industry. In 1994, the Indian government committed itself to conforming its intellectual property rights regime to the requirements of the WTO. Domestic political opposition was fierce toward any attempts to move away from the 1970 act.

Governments are increasingly faced with the delicate task of balancing the need to effectively regulate and control trade while not stifling its development. These controls have to be reinvented, shedding their old garbs as rigid barriers to trade to reveal more up-to-date trade enhancement and facilitation characteristics. Tatis Ltd, a Geneva-based startup company, is developing an integrated web-based solution for the management of pre-shipment inspections in emerging and developing countries, a key component of trade and customs management. But how can a Swiss-based startup extend itself to five continents to implement its solutions in the ever-changing world of taxes and tariffs? The case investigates the challenges of Business to Government (B2G) activities, of developing a global partnership for solution implementations with a leading consulting firm, of raising funds with a leading venture capitalist and of balancing the needs of end-users (custom services in developing nations) with those of the solution funders (mostly multinational and donor organizations such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization).

Discusses the largest electric distribution company in Chile and one of the five largest private Chilean companies. Introduces the exercise of operating control in order to improve the profitability of the investments, privatization, and international expansions.

Can deregulation and the unleashing of competitive forces be combined with continued social obligations such as a duty to serve? This note uses the experience of U.S. telecommunications to illustrate the existence and influence of social obligations. Recognizing these obligations enhances understanding of the dynamics of deregulation. Finishes with a discussion of recent issues in telecom deregulation and how social obligations continue to play a part in determining regulatory responses. Focuses exclusively on telecommunications, although the same points--that social obligations exist in regulated industries and that finding a way to continue to address these obligations in a more competitive environment is a major element of regulatory reforms--apply to many other regulated industries.

PetroChina, the largest oil and gas company in China, was made a showcase for sound corporate governance in China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Its initial public offering (IPO) was part of the government's plan to lay the groundwork for other large capital-starved SOEs on the global capital market. In spite of the restructuring efforts, some analysts felt that the company was not yet close to where it needed to be in terms of international governance standards. In analyzing China's political and economic background and PetroChina's governance model, this case demonstrates that the corporate governance system in China offers limited protection for minority shareholders.

The U.S. energy company AES is in the process of entering the Nigerian market through acquisition of a controlling equity interest in a 270-megawatt power generator project. AES has a unique mode of organization and operation that emphasizes integrity, empowerment, and social responsibility. The Nigerian environment is very different in many dimensions (high levels of corruption, low infrastructure availability, different work ethic, and highly charged politics) from the origins of AES in North America. How does AES juggle its core values and company culture in entering this new environment? How can AES be successful in this environment and remain committed to its core values?

Surveys scholarship on democracy and democratization. Describes the relationship between democracy and the environment of business, including capitalist economic institutions, economic growth, economic reform, and international relations.

Examines the founding and evolution of a for-profit microlending organization in Bolivia. Explores the mechanics of microlending, nonprofit and for-profit approaches to serving the informal sector, and how the industry evolves over a 15-year period.

Discusses various macroeconomic, regulatory, technological, and financial forces that led to increased corporate restructuring in the United States beginning in the mid-1980s. The U.S. financial system is often viewed as the most developed in the world and a model for other countries to follow. Similarly, the U.S. model of corporate governance--with its emphasis on shareholder value and an active market for corporate control--is also viewed as a model. Examines pressures for corporate restructuring and the emergence of an active market for corporate control for very large firms beginning in the early 1970s. Discusses the effects of this restructuring on corporate profitability and productivity, and provides data on the evolution of a number of indicators of performance, including productivity by sector, market capitalization relative to replacement cost, and rates of return both on assets and on equity. In brief, it finds that U.S. firms showed significantly improved after-tax returns on shareholder equity over the period while failing to make significant improvements on their pretax returns on assets--adjusted for the effects of the business cycle. Given the lack of comparable accounting data on returns across countries, conclusions about the performance of U.S. firms versus European ones isn't possible.

E-commerce for merchants and consumers is more than just establishing or visiting an attractive web site to conduct business over the Internet. For companies and consumers alike, conducting business in cyberspace entails not only the traditional risks of sales and contracting, but also a new set of risks related to the electronic environment. For entities of all sizes, important components of those risks involve such legal issues as jurisdiction, contract formation, contract validity, contract changes and errors, authentication and attribution, message integrity, and nonrepudiation. Becoming familiar with these issues can help avoid costly disputes in e-business.

Discusses the role of diamonds in Angola's civil war.

Noranda is a $7 billion international mining and smelting company headquartered in Canada. It has been cited for its fine environmental record. This case explores the issue of sustainability--in this case, for a mining company. Over time, and under nongovernmental organization and governmental pressure, Norando moves gradually to goals approximating sustainability. At issue is the sustainability of Noranda's expenditures on environmental mitigation and the degree to which Noranda employs (or should employ) "best country" standards everywhere it operates.

In August 2001, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), a major international investment bank, was removed from the foreign underwriting team that would handle a pending share offering for China Unicom Group Ltd., the second largest telecommunications company in the Chinese Mainland. Only two months earlier, CSFB was designated to deal with the U.S. portion of that offering. However, after the bank hosted overseas investment "road shows" attended by senior government officials from Taiwan (including the finance minister), it was officially dropped from the China Unicom underwriter list. The incident provoked criticism from governments in the United States and Taiwan and widespread activity in investment banking circles as several other banks dropped plans to host road shows for Taiwan.

The globalization of the field of human resource management (HRM) has led to some common changes in international HRM practices. On the surface, this indicates a degree of convergence. Deeper examination, however, reveals a different picture. Many differences in HRM remain due to a variety of limiting factors, ranging from economic stages of development to business strategies, national culture, and fixed enterprise mindsets. Using evidence from a selection of diverse economies in Asia, this article explores and maps out these patterns and discusses the challenges for research and management practice.

Peter Brabeck wants to focus Nestle as a wellness company in the global food system and do so in a way that provides both growth in sales and margins in both developed and developing countries.

Describes the political and economic development in Argentina from 1900 to 1989, with a focus on the role of Peron and populism. A rewritten version of an earlier case.