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CHILE JOINS MERCOSUR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Chile joins Mercosur,
the largest South American Free-Trade Bloc, in its efforts to become a world trading power. Mercosur is comprised
of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Bolivia is expected to to become a formal member in September. All
six nations together have a population of more than 208 million people and a combined GNP of US$907.3 billion.
Chile, considered the most economically developed in the region provides a gateway to trade with Asia via its Pacific
Ocean ports. It is considered an exemplary nation as the first in the region to move to a market economy, privatizing
most state enterprises and opening itself to foreign investment. Chile has recorded 12 years of steady economic growth,
low inflation and low unemployment. The economy reported 8.5% growth in 1995 and is expected to expand 7.5% in 1996.
Exports are taking on a greater importance for Chile as well, rising 11.4% in 1995. Exports account for nearly
a quarter of the country's GNP (US$16 billion of US$66.7 billion). In addition to Mercosur's trade agreements, the
member nations are all expected to sign a "democracy guaranty clause" which would suspend member benefits to any
country that strayed from democratic principles.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE)
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INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS OPEN IN CHINA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BEIJING, China -- 16 foreign law firms were approved by the Ministry of Justice in China late last month to open
offices in China, bringing the total number of foreign law firms in China to 73. Five of the 16 are US firms; the
remainder are from Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Jordan and the UK. This wave of approvals bodes well for foreign
companies that have been investing in China over the last several years -- many requiring local business-related
legal work. And it reflects well on US-China trade relations as well. More than 130 other law firms have
applications pending, some for as long as three years. Dozens of foreign law firms operate unofficially in China,
priming the local government for approval.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE) |
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| MICROSOFT AND NINTENDO PARTNERSHIP TO DELIVER BROADBAND INTERNET DATA VIA SATELLITE | EUROPEAN PATENT PRICES DECLINE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TOKYO, Japan -- Leading video game and software companies, Nintendo Company and Microsoft Corp., announced their
partnership to create the next wave of broadband data delivery in Japan -- satellite broadcasting to personal computers
by way of the internet. Satellite transmission is as well-suited to the Japanese market, as cable
is in the US market, due to the high penetration of satellite and cable households, respectively. For example, 10
million households in Japan already subscribe to pay-television services provided by the same satellite company
this new joint venture will use. Other nontelephone delivery alternatives are being explored by several other firms
such as the Intercast system, a product of Intel Corp. Intercast uses conventional terrestrial television
broadcasting; other companies are exploring cable television delivery. Efforts to find suitable, lower-cost delivery
channels are in great demand for delivering high bandwidth services such as music, video, full-graphic multimedia
catalogs and the like. The Microsoft-Nintendo partnership is focusing on data deliver to PCs, where the information
could be stored on the subscriber's hard disk for later use, then viewed using a www browser, such as the Microsoft
Internet Explorer. Nintendo says that this venture is an opportunity for them to expand beyond the gaming industry,
into other forms of home entertainment.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE) |
MUNICH, Germany -- To encourage more local and foreign companies and individuals to file patents, the (EPA)
European Patent Office plans to reduce the price to file European patents by nearly 30%. At present, the cost
of a patent in Europe is about US$39,000 to register in 8 countries. Nearly one-third of this goes
towards language translation expenses. The EPA price reductions reflect a dramatic reduction in translation costs.
Interestingly, the number of patents filed with the EPA has been on the rise, up 5.4% in 1995 to 78,300, to the tune
of US$690 million. An 8% increase is expected this year. (Comparatively, 54,000 patent applications were received
at the German Patent Office in 1995.) The majority (51%) of EPA patent applications come from the Americas and Asia,
which requests rights in 7.9 countries, on average. Germany, UK, France and Italy are the most popular countries
covered by the patents -- in the fields of medical technology, electrical and electronic components and
telecommunications.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE) |
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| TURKISH KABOBS OUTSELL AMERICAN FAST FOOD IN GERMANY | AGING US WINE MARKET FEARS DECLINE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BERLIN, Germany -- Turkish doner kebabs, introduced to Germany in the 1970s by Turkish immigrants has become assimilated
and replaced traditional fast food, outselling local McDonald's and Burger King fast food outlets, combined. Germans
ate an average of 10 doners each in 1995, making the doner kebab a US$3 billion industry in Germany which employs
about 70,000 people. There are more than 100 factories throughout the nation which produce 300 tons of beef and veal
for these sandwiches. The largest and most modern factory opened just two months ago, in Berlin. From this factory,
doner kebab meat product is exported throughout all 15 EU member states. The kebab sandwiches are generally sold from small
street vendor carts and stalls, which do the bulk of their business at lunchtime -- they are generally "open" until
late in the evening. The price? About US$3. Requests for exports are coming from all over the world, including
central Asia and China. Some say the doner's popularity has come about as a first-time experience with foreign
culture. In any case, it has certainly spurred a good deal of analysis by sociologists such as Eberhard Seidel-Pielen
and obsession as it stars in a highly successful satire written by the playwright, Gaby Sikorski, called "The Last
Doner" in which the doner is banned, riots ensue and an underground black market supplies the addicted population.
READER COMMENTS. (Source: YOUR LINK HERE)
PARIS, France -- Comparative advertising is against the law in France. Typically, such advertising is used to compare
one brand of tires to another or a beverage brand to another in the same category or frame of reference. Last month, a
Philip Morris advertising campaign was banned in France for claiming that breathing second hand tobacco smoke was less
of a health risk than eating cookies. 77 French cookie and cracker companies took legal action. If the judgement rules
against Philip Morris, the company will be fined US$200,000 (about 1 million French francs).
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USA -- In the US, loyal wine drinkers are typically older consumers. And while US wine sales are up in recent years,
American wine makers say that Americans just don't drink enought wine/volume. Interestingly, in nearly all major
wine-drinking countries, the number of people who consume wine has declined since the end of World War II. For
example, over half the adult population in France says they never drink wine. Of course, that means that nearly half
do; compare this with the US market, in which the majority of wine consumed (between 75 -88%) is drunk
by a small minority of between 5 and 16 percent of the adult population. Wine makers are looking for ways to expand
their market penetration in the US, despite the fitness and health trends, the increased drinking age (from 18 to 21),
the more stringent drunk-driving laws, federal labeling requirements regarding sulfites and the proliferation of light
beers (of which consumers drink 12.4 gallons/year) and the introduction of new, more flavorful microbrewed beers, whose
appreciation can be likened to that of fine wines -- again, an older, more sophisticated consumer. As the typical wine
drinker ages, the wine makers are looking to capture the incoming young adult market; but their interest in wines is
lackluster at best for the industry, consuming wine less than once per week. Mass appeal wine consumption in the US
began in the late 1960s and early '70s, but it peaked in 1982 at just under 175 million cases. Since then there has
been a decline -- to 140 million cases in 1991, up to 153 million in 1992, back down to 149 in 1993 and another increase
in 1994 to 157 million. Per capita consumption in 1970 was only at about 1.05 gallons/year; during the peak year of
1982 it reached 2.58 gallons and is now around 2 gallons.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE) |
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| GERMANY'S TELECOM INDUSTRY OPENS TO COMPETITION | GERMANY VOTES TO EXTEND RETAIL SHOPPING HOURS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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GERMANY -- Early this month, the German Parliament approved a law to open the country's
telecommunications industry to competition by 1998, ending the monopoly on basic telephone services.
This 1998 deadline coincides with the liberalization of Europe's telecommunications industry.
State-owned, Deutsche Telekom, will begin its public stock offering in November. As early as this
year, private companies will be allowed to offer competing services in Germany such as data
transmission.
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE)
MALAYSIA and INDONESIA -- Malaysia and Indonesia see their competitive edge eroding in labor-intensive
industries against such regional giants as China due to rising labor costs in their markets. By channeling
spending into R&D (and related educational programs) for more value-added, research-related areas, such as
information and telecommunications, electronics, biotechnology and manufacturing, these countries hope to
maintain their economic edge and are attracting foreign businesses such as Motorola, Delco Electronics,
Thompson Multimedia, Sony and others.
Malaysia’s Five-Year Plan calls for an increase in the number of researchers and scientists, from 400 in
1992 to 1000 by the year 2000. In 1992, Malaysia invested 0.4% of GNP in R&D efforts (from both private and
public sources). They are aiming for 1% of GNP by the year 2000. Indonesia also plans to increase
research-related spending to 1% of GDP
by the year 2003. Comparatively, Singapore is already spending heavily -- 1.12% of
GDP in 1994. But relative to the
leading industrial nations, even Singapore is well behind (Japan - 2.84% in 1994; USA - 2.65% in 1993;
Switzerland - 2.51% in 1992; Germany - 2.48% in 1993; Korea - 2.33% in 1993; UK - 2.18% in 1992; Taiwan -
1.82% in 1992).
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GERMANY -- On June 21, the Bundestag approved the bill to extend hours of operation for
retail establishments. The bill also passed through the Bundesrat early this month and goes into
effect in November. Hours of retail operation are currently
7am - 6:30pm; shorter hours on Saturdays; closed Sundays. The new ruling will permit hours to extend to
6am - 8pm on weekdays, Saturdays until 4pm and longer hours on the four Saturdays prior to
Christmas. Nevertheless, labor unions’ contracts may pre-empt these changes, in which workers’
allowable hours are written into formal labor agreements which extend until the end of this year.
Controversy abounds between protesting labor unions, the country’s high unemployment (around 4
million people are out of work), and a greater prevalence of working women and couples -- since
these laws were originally established. (Story updated 7/15/96)
(Source: YOUR LINK HERE) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| .....check back for more news this month! |
For more information about any of these topics in any foreign market, or
if you would like an in-depth market study, contact PANGAEA, International Consultants. With
an extensive network of marketing consultants, attorneys, logistics experts and more around
the world, PANGAEA is uniquely qualified to offer hands-on, local marketing and management
consulting services.
Reprints/copies of this issue are available for US$10.00 per copy.
(c) 1996 PANGAEACommunications. All rights reserved. Materials found on this website
are not for resale. No part of this file may be printed, copied, distributed
or disseminated in part or in whole without the express prior written permission of
PANGAEACommunications
Updated 7/15/96
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