Page 243 - Foundations of Marketing

210 Part 3 | Customer Behavior and E-Marketing

The alliance represents two-thirds of South America’s population and has a combined GDP of
more than $ 2.4 trillion, making it the fourth-largest trading bloc behind the EU, NAFTA, and
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Like NAFTA, MERCOSUR promotes “the free
circulation of goods, services, and production factors among the countries” and establishes a
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common external tariff and commercial policy.
South America and Latin America are catching the attention of many international busi-
nesses. The region is advancing economically with an estimated growth rate of 4 to 5 percent.
Another trend is that several of the countries, including some of the MERCOSUR alliance, are
starting to experience more stable democracies. Even Cuba, one of the traditionally harshest
critics of capitalism in Latin America, is accepting more privatization. After up to 1 million
state workers were laid off in 2011, many Cubans had to try to earn their living in the county’s
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expanding private sector.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
The Asia-Pacifi c Economic Cooperation (APEC) , established in 1989, promotes open
trade and economic and technical cooperation among member nations, which initially
included Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States. Since then, the alli-
ance has grown to include China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Chile,
Peru, Russia, and Vietnam. The 21 -member alliance represents approximately 41 percent
of the world’s population, 54 percent of world GDP, and nearly 44 percent of global trade.
APEC differs from other international trade alliances in its commitment to facilitating busi-
ness and its practice of allowing the business/private sector to participate in a wide range of
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APEC activities.
Companies of the APEC have become increasingly competitive and sophisticated in
global business in the last few decades. Moreover, the markets of the APEC offer tremendous
opportunities to marketers who understand them. In fact, the APEC region has consistently
Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) An alli- been one of the most economically dynamic parts of the world. In its first decade, the APEC
ance that promotes open trade countries generated almost 70 percent of worldwide economic growth, and the APEC region
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and economic and technical consistently outperformed the rest of the world.
cooperation among member The most important emerging economic power is China, which has become one of the
nations throughout the world most productive manufacturing nations. China, which is now the United States’ second-largest

AP Images/Imaginechina via AP Images

Going Green
Electric cars have been very
successful in China.

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