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
  • February 2011 (Revised August 2011)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Brazil: Leading the BRICs?

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Aldo Musacchio
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:24
ShareBar

Abstract

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, had announced plans to sustain GDP growth above 5% annually and continue the country's leadership role among emerging economies. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil benefited from strong economic growth and stable policies under the Lula administration. Brazil also increasingly led the BRICs (the fast-growing countries Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in multilateral negotiations, notably in the World Trade Organization's Doha Round. Yet Brazil's actions to enforce a compulsory license of a patented therapy for HIV/AIDS and its victory in a longstanding WTO dispute with the United States over cotton subsidies had created tensions with major trading partners. Entering office in January 2011, Rousseff had the opportunity to outline a new agenda for international trade. Specifically, she had to decide whether to seek completion of the Doha Round, which was in a stalement due to disputes over global intellectual property rules and agricultural subsidies and tariffs, or to instead pursue regional trade agreements in South and Central America. Rousseff also pledged active government involvement in the economy, described in the case as "Brazilian capitalism," but it was unclear whether fiscal expansion coupled to conservative monetary policies would reduce bottlenecks to growth and further temper Brazil's high inequality.

Keywords

Developing Countries and Economies; Intellectual Property; Infrastructure; Economic Growth; Trade; International Relations; Economic Systems; Globalization; Corporate Strategy; Brazil; Russia; India; China; United States

Citation

Daemmrich, Arthur A., and Aldo Musacchio. "Brazil: Leading the BRICs?" Harvard Business School Case 711-024, February 2011. (Revised August 2011.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

More from the Authors

    • August 2017 (Revised August 2018)
    • Faculty Research

    Veracity Worldwide: Evaluating FCPA-Related Risks in West Africa

    By: Aldo Musacchio and Sophus A. Reinert
    • World Development

    What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09

    By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon
    • 2014
    • Faculty Research

    Los Buenos Tiempos Son Éstos: Los efectos de la incursión de la banca extranjera en México después de un siglo de crisis bancarias [These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System]

    By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio
More from the Authors
  • Veracity Worldwide: Evaluating FCPA-Related Risks in West Africa By: Aldo Musacchio and Sophus A. Reinert
  • What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09 By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon
  • Los Buenos Tiempos Son Éstos: Los efectos de la incursión de la banca extranjera en México después de un siglo de crisis bancarias [These Are the Good Old Days: Foreign Entry and the Mexican Banking System] By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio
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