Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2010 (Revised October 2010)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Colombia: Strong Fundamentals, Global Risk

By: Aldo Musacchio, Richard H. K. Vietor, Jonathan Schlefer and Carolina Camacho
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:23
ShareBar

Abstract

By mid-2009 Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had ended decades of virtual civil war and strengthened the business climate, but he faced tough economic challenges. Though he had instituted prominent market reforms and brought inflation down sharply, Colombia seemed stuck in a middle ground, industrially behind Brazil or Chile but ahead of poorer Latin American countries. Traditional exports—coal, coffee, oil—still comprised more than half the total, while manufactured exports comprised only a fifth. Public investment in transport and other infrastructure—a perpetual obstacle to growth in mountainous Colombia—remained too low. A major ambition of Uribe or his possible like-minded successor was to secure U.S. Congressional approval of a free trade agreement signed in 2006. But would it really help Colombia diversify its economy? Colombia already had access to the U.S. market but still had a relatively closed economy compared with neighbors such as Mexico or Chile.

Keywords

Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Macroeconomics; Trade; Global Strategy; Infrastructure; Business and Government Relations; Colombia

Citation

Musacchio, Aldo, Richard H. K. Vietor, Jonathan Schlefer, and Carolina Camacho. "Colombia: Strong Fundamentals, Global Risk." Harvard Business School Case 710-012, January 2010. (Revised October 2010.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Richard H.K. Vietor

→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    Korea: The Miracle on the Han River

    By: Forest Reinhardt, Sophus A. Reinert, Dawn Lau and Jonathan Schlefer
    • October 2022
    • Faculty Research

    India 2020 – Governance and Growth

    By: Richard Vietor
    • June 2022 (Revised January 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    South Africa – a 'Just Energy Transition'

    By: Richard Vietor
More from the Authors
  • Korea: The Miracle on the Han River By: Forest Reinhardt, Sophus A. Reinert, Dawn Lau and Jonathan Schlefer
  • India 2020 – Governance and Growth By: Richard Vietor
  • South Africa – a 'Just Energy Transition' By: Richard Vietor
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College