International Business Opportunities

Spain’s economy has been growing strongly in recent years, driven mainly by expansion in the construction industry. […] However, in recent months cracks have started to appear and mortgage demand has slowed as homeownership levels topped 85%. […]

Analysts said that while the current fears of a crash may be over amplified, the Spanish property boom that had provided strong returns for the past eight years was probably over. […]

The worry is that should the suspected property bubble burst, and some analysts estimate that house prices are overvalued by 30%, then many other industries such as banking and retail would also suffer.
(source)

The telecommunications and broadband internet sectors will generate $70 billion in annual revenue by 2015 in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to Madar Research reports.

Its report also indicates that the Middle East tele-communications market is set to top $50 billion this year.
The report shows that Arab countries’ ranking in the annual ICT Index gained by 43 per cent in 2005 compared to the previous year. (source)

Industry lobbies in U.S. are working towards activist’ agenda to eventually lead up to a free trade agreement between US and India, potentially the largest ever such deal.

The US India Business Council is working out plans to prepare and execute a roadmap to create a US-India free trade agreement. […] As a first step, the council has invited a phalanx of high-end Washington-based consultants, to create the research, prepare and define, and then execute the roadmap to chart a logical progression towards deeper, more robust US-India trade and investment climate.[…] Trade expert professionals are being solicited to join the initiative… (Source).

William A. Brekke, commercial counselor of the U.S. embassy in China advises U.S. firms wanting to do business in China, to head to less developed western hinterland.

He says: “Western China’s provinces are quite like the American western regions years ago, full of business opportunities. Both American and Chinese companies can find chances for cooperation here,”

The development of western China had strong support from the Chinese government and big western cities, especially Xi’an and Chengdu, were very strong in high technology, electronics and energy, said William Chu, director of Asia Pacific office of North Carolina.
He said he would recommend the western provinces to the U.S. firms wanting to do business in China. (Source).

According to McKinsey Quarterly report the acquisitions by Gulf based companies in Europe and North America, especially, are typically part of a broader strategy to gain rapid access to Western management know-how and technology.

They have helped them gain access to key management inputs at a single stroke while acquiring assets abroad. […]

The oil price driven liquidity boom in the region have not only opened the door for aggressive takeover strategies but also given Gulf based companies time to learn about new markets and to absorb the skills they need. […] The report predicts more acquisitions by Gulf companies, as a significant portion of oil revenues is expected to finance overseas acquisitions.
(Source).