Comprehensive Environmental Analysis Paper Business ventures require research regarding various factors that can impact the proposed business. Global business ventures require even more analysis. A global business venture, such as this centered on leather and leather goods, requires strong analysis of the proposed host nation for the business. The company must consider social, political, economic, health, and production factors within the host nation. This analysis ensure that the firm considers every aspect of the business so that the venture is successful.
Products / Service Descriptions Starting a new venture in Brazil on leather goods, they must start looking to “take advantage of differences in the cost, and quality of production” (Hill, 2009). This organization will specialize in high quality leather material to produce different types of products. Most organizations provide a flat finish on leather materials but this organization will provide different types of leather finishes as they are ready to gratify the consumers whether they like oil based finish or waxed finishes. This organization will solely produce the best finishes on leather materials in order to produce shoes, belts, handbags, luggage, and wallets. Their services will look for ways to adopt a cleaner environmental system to reduce future environmental cost, and introduced a sustainable waste management system for leather goods. The system will detect defective sections in our leather material, and this will notify the organization not to manufacture the merchandise. Providing quality leather goods can separate their organization from the competitors, as the leather industry is in high demand. Offering quality products, and services are key but the main factor for there organization are to provide reasonable prices on all of our products. This organization services will include genuine hand sews on all of our products to provide durability and lasting wear. This team will look for ways to innovate on the different type of products and services. In order to become the best producer in leather goods, there should be constant changes in the stitching details or reinforcing stress points as those details can make us the number one leather goods producer in the region market.
Country Analysis
Economic
Economic factors play a crucial role in the success of this business venture. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, (2014), Brazil has a high position in the global economy, as it has become the largest recipient of foreign direct investment inflows among emerging markets, following China. Relatively Additionally, in recent years, owning to relatively open policies, huge market opportunities, and political stability have also led to Brazil’s economic success (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2014). One-third of Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) consists of industry, benefiting the company’s production of leather goods. Because Brazil’s government focuses on attracting private (including foreign) investment, this will assist in the exportation of the company’s leather goods. The following table represents economic data for Brazil:
| |2013 |2014 |
|Inflation Rate (%) |5.77 |5.59 |
|Interest Rate (%) |10.0 |10.5 |
|Exchange Rate US Dollars (R/$) |2.3623 |2.3825 |

(Trading Economics, 2014).
Political
Brazil’s government structure consists of a democratic system. It is important to know the political stability index of Brazil. Country Watch, (2014), states that the political stability index is a propriety index measuring a country’s level of stability, record of constitutional order, respect for human rights, standard of good governance, and overall strength of democracy. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 marking the lowest level of political stability, while 10 marking the highest level of political stability; Brazil’s score is 8.5 (Country Watch, 2014).. This score indicates that there is a high level of political stability and this significant for the company’s business venture. Political stability allows the company to focus entirely on the business venture without having to worry about diplomatic issues.
Physical and Geographical Environment Factors Physical and geographic environments play an important part in a business strategy. “….by virtue of favorable geography, certain societies were more likely to engage in trade than others and were thus more likely to be open to and develop market-based economic systems, which in turn would promote faster economic growth” (Hill, 2009, p. 65). Locations play a vital role and it should be given an important consideration during the planning process. Brazil ranks fifth in population and fifth in landmass area in the world respectively. Majority of its population live in the eastern states of the country toward the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the cities with better facilities and infrastructures, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are also located on the eastern seaboard. Western Brazil is more ruggedly covered with rainforest, the Amazon junglejungle, and the Andes mountain range that are underdeveloped and underpopulatedunder populated with only its tribal and indigenous people. The main source of transportation to these isolated locations in the west of the country are via boats along the Amazon River or bush planes. The increasing global demands in beef and leather have forced the cattle farmers to move inland that is bringing vast destruction to the Amazon region.
|Population |198.3 million (UN, 2012) |
|Capital |Brasilia |
|Area |3.3 million square miles |
|Major Language |Portuguese |
|GNI per capita |US$10,720 (World Bank, 2011) (Brazil Profile, n.d.) |

(Brazil Profile, n.d.) Infrastructure in Brazil is very poor and the government does not invest more to improve it. “Brazil holds one of the lowest public investments of the world in relation to GDP. On the top of that, the government often delivers less than announced because of lack of planning, priorities, execution, and corruption” (Geromel, 2012, para. 8). On the other hand, Brazil ranks second in the world in cattle farming behind India because of its favorable sub-tropical climate (Index Mundi, n.d.). This has led Brazil to become a major leather producingleather-producing nation in the world. Figure 1 below shows that most of the cattle farming is done inland in the mid-east of Brazil and traveling to these regions are not that difficult but it can incur additional costs and time consuming if traveling from major cities.
Figure 1

[pic] Figure 1
Social, Health, and Educational Factors
Social and Health Social and health factors in Brazil can affect the business venture. The census shows that 43.6% of the country's population is of working age and thus the business would have an adequate pool of prospective employees ("Brazil Demographics Profile 2013", n.d.). Brazil's literacy further supports the workforce because the country boasts a 90.4% literacy rate whichrate, which indicates that most of the population can read and write and thus can follow instruction and guidance to perform the tasks that the business would require of employees ("Brazil Demographics Profile 2013", n.d.). Though the country is experiencing a decline in birth rates, the life expectancy is around 73 years ("Brazil Demographics Profile 2013", n.d.). Brazil maintains a large working age population that is largely under-utilized ("Brazil Demographics Profile 2013", n.d.). The business venture would enjoy a readily available workforce.
Culture
Brazilian culture is diverse. However, there are customs and religious beliefs that could affect the business. For example, it is customary in Brazilian culture to have business dealings with individuals rather than companies (companies ("Brazil Culture", n.d.). This cultural element could cause delay in establishing business relationships and attaining appropriate permits and permissions to conduct business in the nation. Another aspect of Brazilian culture that could impact the business venture involves a well establishedwell-established social and religious institution. Approximately 73.6% of the population identifies as Roman Catholic ("Brazil Demographics Profile 2013", n.d.). Because of this, the Catholic Church has a significant influence upon the lives of the majority of Brazilians. The company must take this into considerationconsider this when developing business processes, policies, and practices.
Marketing and Production Factors There are several issues thatSeveral issues could affect the production of leather with the company in Brazil. These same issues could greatly affect the importing/ and exporting of the leather products. Two main factors that could hinder the production of leather are environmental pressure and competitors from other countries. The leather industry must continue to change and evolve in order to survive and compete with its rivals. The demand for leather is dependent upon the current fashions as well as the price of the leather in comparison to the price of other materials. With the largest rain forest located in the Amazon Basin and the large-scale burning of forests has made Brazil a spotlight for environmentalist to pressure industries to be more environmentally friendly. This spotlight sheds a bad light on the leather production in Brazil and forced the government to adopt laws such as the Environmental Crimes Law that imposes penalties for infractions (“Brazil Profile, a.d.).. This type of pressure by new restrictions and environmentalist forced an increase in the environmentally sound production, which then translates into bigger burdens on manufacturing costs. These issues force countries that are developed to change their production to countries that are not developed. The other factor that can be a big issue in production for Brazil is competition. Brazil is not known for raising cows that produce the best quality of leather. Most of the leather is scarred and mainly used for upholstery. Recently Brazil has moved into the market of producing better leather whichleather, which allows Brazil’s leather to compete with other uses for more high-quality leather. In the competitive nature of leather production, countries have to keep up to date on the current technological innovations to increase their production capabilities. Brazil can establish itself in leather production globally by low production costs or by leather that is distinguished from other leather manufacturers. Brazil will need to keep its competitive edge and keep moving in a forward direction globally. Brazil will have to work hard and keep their eyes open due to the competitiveness of its neighbors; Brazil is being squeezed by China with low cost of production and then on the other side by Western countries offering better quality leather and products and high tech design products.
Conclusion
Through careful environmental analysisanalysis, the company can ensure that its Brazilian venture becomes successful. The Brazilian environment provides many potential road blocksroadblocks for the firm, such as political influences, geographic environment, social and health concerns, and production factors. The firm can use this analysis to formulate business plans to counter the negative impact of these factors.

References
Brazil culture. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brazil.org.za/brazil-culture.html#.UvUoma2YaJA
Brazil demographics profile 2013. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/brazil/demographics_profile.html
Brazil Profile (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world

Country Watch. (2014). Political stability Brazil. Retrieved from http://www.countrywatch.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/cw_topic.aspx?type=text&vcountry=24&topic=POSTB&GLOBAL=true
The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2014). Brazil’s position in the global economy. Retrieved from http://country.eiu.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/article.aspx?articleid=1811028965&Country=Brazil&topic=Regulation&subtopic=Global+position
Geromel, R. (2012). Investing in Brazil? Be Aware of this Industry. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ricardogeromel/2012/02/03/investing-in-brazil-be-aware-of-this-industry/
Hill, C. W. (2009). International Business Competing in a Global Marketplace (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill/Irwin.
Index Mundi. Animal Numbers, Cattle Production by Country in 1000 HEAD. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=cattle
Trading Economics. (2014). Brazil’s inflation rate. Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/inflation-cpi