Survey: Swedish Business Climate in Brazil | 2015

Survey: Swedish Business Climate in Brazil | 2015

Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce

Swedcham Brasil, or the Swedish-Brazilian

Chamber of Commerce, represents Swedish-

Brazilian commercial interests in Brazil and

Sweden, besides maintaining close contact with

departments of the Swedish government on all

levels. Swedcham Brasil is also associated with

the European Chamber, which includes all of the

European Chambers of Commerce established

in Brazil.

Founded in 1953, it is funded solely by

contributions from members and money coming

from a series of activities organized and carried

out by the Chamber. It provides its members

and industries with valuable support through

its influence, interaction, and its particular

knowledge of Brazil-Sweden political and socio-

economic relations.

Members enjoy a modern and adequate

infrastructure, a network of contacts and

business, and activities held exclusively to

enhance and support the Brazilian and

Swedish markets.

S/A Kreab

S/A Kreab is one of the 10 main Public Relations

(PR) agencies in Brazil, having won the Aberje

Award in 2010 and 2011, and elected among the ten

best companies by Comunique-se in 2010, 2011, and

2012, as well as being a finalist in the 2009 Cannes

Festival, in the Public Relations category.

The agency works with the PR concept, that is,

communication focused on all of the client’s

strategic stakeholders. S/A Kreab is involved

in the Corporate Communication, Financial

Communication, and Public Affairs market.

The agency was created from the union of S/A

Comunicação, founded in Brazil in 2006, with the

global communication consulting firm founded

in Sweden in 1970. The group has 42 offices in 25

countries, 400 professionals, and 500 clients, like

multinational corporations and financial groups,

which allows global alignment, agile access to

information, and the prevention of eventual crises.

In Brazil, the agency operates in São Paulo, which

is the headquarters of S/A Kreab in Brazil, Rio de

Janeiro, and Brasília.

Kreab worldwide

Considerations and objective Methodology

Dometic

The Swedish-Brazilian Chamber of

Commerce (Swedcham) and the S/A Kreab

communications agency have prepared the

survey Swedish Business Climate in Brazil

(Panorama das Empresas Suecas no Brasil),

for the third consecutive year, in order to

know the activities and opinions of Swedish

companies and institutions regarding

Brazil, as well as to create a reference work

for the business sector, public opinion, and

the government.

Selected target: Swedish companies with a presence in Brazil and associated with Swedcham.

In all, 75 companies took part in the study this year.

ABB, AEI Consulting, AF Consult, Agab Marco Automação e Sistemas do Brasil, Akzo Nobel, Alfa Laval,

Atlas Copco Brasil, Autoliv, Axelent, Bama, BM Optimus Consultoria, Borgstena Gruppen, Brasil Projects,

BrazilShip/ScanBrasil Comércio Marítimo, BTS, Camfil, Caterpillar, Dellner, Dometic, Dynapac Atlas Copco,

Elanders, Electrolux, Elekta, Ericsson, Eritel, Flexlink, Flir, Gunnebo Gateway Brasil, Gunnebo Industries,

Haldex, Handelsbanken, Höganäs, Hyper Island, IFS, Ikea, iZettle, Kazamax, Kreab, Laeder, Leax,

Membrane Specialists, Mercuri Urval, Munksjö, Nefab, Nordea, Nordic Water, Nordic, Norvida North Trade,

Nynas, Penguin Consultants, Plus International Seguros, PQR, Roxtec, Saab, Sandvik, SCA, Scania, Scanjet, SEB,

Seco Tools, Semcon, Skanska, SouthPartner, SSAB, Stora Enso, Swedbrazil, Swedcham, Swedish Match,

Tetra Pak, Trelleborg, True Caller, Vecsa, Vector, Volvo Cars, Xylem.

Questionnaires: Swedcham e-mailed

the top executives of the associated

companies a 21-page document with 21

questions, divided under two subjects:

General Information and Investments and

Involvement in the Brazilian Market.

Note: To maintain the privacy of the survey,

the results present general information,

without identifying the answer given by

the companies for each question.

Main results of the study

Plus Seguros

41% of the companies do business only in Brazil

Scope of work of the Brazil unit

Onlyin Brazil

LatinAmerica South

America

Others

Overall data

56% of the companies intend to maintain the same number of employees

20% will likely reduce the number of employees

The majority are small and medium-sized companies, with 64%

operating with up to 50 employees

Only 1% state that they will probably hire from 10 to 100 employees

No company expects to hire more than 100 employees

23% plan on hiring from 1 to 10 employees

1 - 50

51 - 100

101 - 300

301 - 500

501 - 1.000

1.001 - 3.000

3.001 - 5.000

5.001 - 7.000

7.001 - 10.000

Overall data

Total employees in Brazil Expectation of Swedish companies regarding the total number of employees in 2015

64%

7%10%

4% 5% 5% 3%1% 1%

Revenues of Swedish companies in Brazil, in 2014

Revenues of Swedish companies, worldwide, in 2014

Percentage of local production in sales in Brazil

0%

1% - 10%

11% - 29%

30% - 49%

50% - 69%

70% - 89%

90% - 99%

100%

N/R

Overall data

7%

5%

4%

0%

3%

12%

8%

7%

3%

5%

4%

1%

30%

11%

18%

7%

3%

5%

5%

13%

16%

21%

12%

22%

3%

17%

5%

15%

7%

12%

1%

3%

1%

0%

1%

4%

9%

16 of the companies interviewed have 100% of their production in Brazil

From R$ 100,000.00 to R$ 500,000.00

From R$ 500,000.00 to R$ 1 million

From R$ 1 million to R$ 5 million





From R$ 500 million to R$ 1 billion

From R$ 1 billion to R$ 2 billion




More than R$ 5 billion

N/A

From R$ 100,000.00 to R$ 500,000.00

From R$ 500,000.00 to R$ 1 million






From R$ 500 million to R$ 1 billion





More than R$ 5 billion

N/A

Among the companies surveyed,

23 have offices or operations in Mexico

Presence of the Swedish companies in other Latin American countries, besides Brazil

Overall data

Uruguay

Argentina

Paraguay

Bolivia

Colombia

VenezuelaPanama

Dominican Republic

HondurasMexico

Guatemala

Nicaragua

HaitiCuba

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Chile

Peru

Ecuador

4

17

5

4

16

13

6

14

8

2 2

22

37

311

40% 57%

17

4

16

14

3

1

6

2

2

1

2

23

2

7

5

13

3

4

8

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Cuba

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Haiti

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Dominican Republic

Uruguay

Venezuela

On the other end of the list, Haiti and Cuba were chosen by only one company, each.

23

Chile is the main destination of exports from Swedish companies in Brazil

Exports to Latin American countries

Overall data

17

27

12

14

25

17

22

18

13

11 8

88

1210

935

27

14

29

22

12

5

17

8

11

3

8

13

8

10

12

25

9

17

18

48% 49%

Argentina and Peru are right behind, as the largest purchasing markets

29

Uruguay

Argentina

Paraguay

Bolivia

Colombia

Venezuela

Dominican Republic

HondurasMexico

Guatemala

Nicaragua

HaitiCuba

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Chile

Peru

Ecuador

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Cuba

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Haiti

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Dominican Republic

Uruguay

Venezuela

Main reason for being present in Brazil

Investments and involvement in the Brazilian market

• Size and potential of the local market

• The country is part of the company’s global strategy

• Serve clients that the company already had in the country

• Attractive production cost

1st2nd

3rd

Colombia is the favorite country in expansion plans or as a new export destination in Latin America

Plans for expanding operations or exporting to new countries in Latin America

Argentina and Chile are tied, in second place

56%


36%

7

13

7

6

13

10

6

3

6

4 3

35

46

323

13

6

13

14

4

3

6

3

4

2

3

6

5

6

7

10

3

7

3

14

Uruguay

Argentina

Paraguay

Bolivia

Colombia

Venezuela

Dominican Republic

HondurasMexico

Guatemala

Nicaragua

HaitiCuba

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Chile

Peru

Ecuador

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Cuba

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Haiti

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Dominican Republic

Uruguay

Venezuela

Investments planned for Brazil in the next 12 months

Investments made in Brazil in the last 12 months

24%19%


76%81%

30

35

25

16

42

9

34

9

32

43

30

15

40

10

34

13

Infrastructure

Personnel

Technology

Innovation

Training

Research

Marketing and Communication

Social and Corporate Responsibility

Infrastructure

Personnel

Technology

Innovation

Training

Research

Marketing and Communication

Social and Corporate Responsibility

Personnel, training, marketing and communication are the preferred investment areas of companies

Growth opportunities in Brazil Main business opportunity in Brazil

11% say they do not plan on making investments in Brazil

11% will look for opportunities for growth through merger

8% state that they can expand via partnerships, standardization of norms, or by bringing out new product lines

Among the “others”, the biggest numbers go to the automotive market (5%) and transportation (4%)

9

7

11

39

Olympics 2016

Energy

Oil and natural gas

Others

The Oil and Natural Gas sector is the focus of investments by 11% of the companies

68% want to grow organically, by investing in the company, itself


1st

Main barriers to Swedish companies becoming involved in the Brazilian market

The current

economic

slowdown

High taxes

and customs

fees

High costs

Devaluation

of the local

currency: the

Brazilian Real

Possible

government

intervention

in business

Competition

Protectionism

2nd3rd

4th5th

6th7th



1st

Main challenges for Swedish companies, in terms of human resources

Finding

qualified

professionals

Cost of labor

Difficulty

communicating

in another

language

Employee

retention Cultural

differences

between Brazilians

and Swedes

2nd3rd

4th5th

Strategy for brand, image, and reputation management by Swedish companies

20% resort to the assistance of a communications agency

56% use the services of an internal marketing and communications department

19% have no brand, image or reputation actions

4% hire an advertising agency


Priority areas where the Government should act, in order to ensure greater and more sustainable growth for the country

1st

Education

Infrastructure

Tax reform

Labor reform

Health

Urban

mobility

2nd3rd

4th5th

6th


Rua Funchal, 203 - 9º andar - cj.91Vila Olímpia - CEP 04551-060São Paulo/SPkreab.com

Rua Oscar Freire, 379 - 12ºandarJardim Paulista - CEP: 01426-001São Paulo/SPswedcham.com.br

Documents

Survey: Swedish Business Climate in Brazil | 2015