Pedro Innecco

There is some frenzy going on in the international media about whether the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will be able to protect the public in the 2016 Olympic Games.
According to several international publications, there are new levels of violence in the city, which has been demonstrated in the recent clashes between the police and drug lords where 14 people died, and a police helicopter was shot-down.

Let me just make one brief point here: The reason we are seeing this escalation of violence is because the police is acting to tackle crime and pacify areas controlled by crime – and the criminals are fighting back. Rio is facing a now-or-never situation, where the government is aware that a change must be made, particularly for the 2014 World Cup and for the 2016 Olympic Games, which are serving as a major catalyst for such changes.

Let’s not forget that one day after being elected the city to host the 2012 Olympic Games, London was hit by a coordinated terrorist attack on its public transport. Since the UK government is under constant threat of international terrorism, one could argue that the public in general would be more vulnerable to violence in the 2012 games rather than in 2016 games. Drug-lords want to sell drugs; international terrorists want to kill people in the name of their ideology.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Português.

As of 25/April 2009, I will be moving back to Brazil after nine years of living in London, UK. In Brazil I will be working on a couple of projects where I will be making use not only of my IT skills, but also the knowledge I obtained during my MBA.

Plus there will be a lot of surfing, scuba diving, kayaking… You know, all those little perks you get from living in a sunny place like Rio de Janeiro.

As I wrote in my previous post about the reforms required in Brazil in order to open its economy to foreign organisations, I discussed how Brazil with all its incumbent problems has an excellent track of customer rights; which I yet have to see it being matched by an European country.

Now the Brazilian president signed a decree that imposes new regulations for call centres (source). If you have ever suffered in the hands of poor service delivery through call centres then get ready to feel avenged. You’ll love this!
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I recently read an article on the FT entitled “Surfing a big wave of confidence” (FT, 08/Jul/2008) about Brazil’s privileged position in facing what seems to be a global economic crisis. In this article Lapper and Wheatley mentions the growth in Brazil’s home market, the successful results of 15 years of economic reforms, the attraction of foreign investments and the transformation being experienced by society as “income rises and inequality falls”.

However, the authors also righteously assert that Brazil is not yet a superpower and that there is yet a lot to be done – particularly with regards to the public sector, infrastructure and the bureaucracy faced by organisations. This is the last bit I would like to stir some thoughts about.

I do think massive reforms are needed in regards to corporate legislation. But while Brazil should look around and learn from the experience of other successful economies in what to do, I think it is mostly important to learn what not to do. Let me develop on this thought.

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