Rio de Janeiro, 30 January 2009 – Brazil ranks third on a list of emerging countries possessing competitive top 100 multinational companies. According to a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), released last Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 14 companies capable of competing equally with multinational companies based in wealthy countries are headquartered in Brazil.

Brazil is one of the emerging countries which is best facing the world economic crisis and this stability is noted by specialists as one of Rio de Janeiro’s advantages in its quest to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

China is at the top of the list, with 26 companies, followed by India with 20 multinationals.  Revenues from all of these together equaled USD 1.5 trillion in 2007, the year used for the comparison.  One of the study’s co-authors alerted companies in wealthy countries.  “For those that make the right moves quickly, these competitors (emerging countries) could become clients, suppliers and even strategic partners. For those who don’t, they represent formidable challengers,” advised David Michael, a senior partner at BCG based in Beijing.

The list consists of companies from various sectors ranging from metallurgy and natural resources (20) to food and beverages (13).  Brazilian companies, Petrobras and Sadia, are part of this select group, and are, according to the study’s authors, reaching or have already surpassed solid rival companies in the United States, Europe, and Japan, among others.

Petrobras, which has been carrying out operations on the high sea for 36 years, has developed advanced technical knowledge in deep see extraction.  According to the company’s press manager, recent discoveries of pre-salt deposits could double its reserves.  According to Arindam Bhattacharya, a partner at a consulting firm in New Deli, multinationals in emerging countries are adapting themselves to change, learning quickly and adjusting their businesses to the new economic environment.