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Latin America continues to be a continent of possibilities. This assertion may sound striking or even contradictory, considering international press headlines that announce a civil war in Colombia, social chaos in Argentina or a coup d'état in Venezuela.However, the scenes that appear in most news sources - commonly more concerned with visual impact than with an exhaustive analysis of the real situation - tend to 'forget' to show that life goes on against all odds: consumers continue to consume and companies continue to work.

In spite of the slowdown in economic growth during the last two years and the endless problem of the distribution of income, some figures back up the idea that the Latin American market is highly interesting and that it is undergoing a rapid process of change.

Latin America has a population of 523 million people, 18% more than ten years ago. Although the rate of growth is diminishing year by year, it is still 1.5% per annum. When referring to a high rate of growth, a high percentage of youth is meant: 31% of the population is aged under 15 years. However, considering that this rate of growth was 39% only 20 years ago it is obvious that there is a progressive aging of the population.

The average inflation rate of the region has been falling, from 26% in 1995 to 7% in 2001. The annual net foreign investment has become five times greater in the last ten years: 12,500 million dollars in 1992 and 58,000 million in 2001.

State of the art technology is gaining ground with gigantic steps. According to research by the Boston Consulting Group, e-commerce in B2C meant a profit of 1,280 million dollars in 2001 as compared to 540 million in the year 2000. Although the Internet penetration rate of the region is still low (3% of the population on average), it is necessary to take into account that in some countries this figure rises to more than 10% (16% in Uruguay) and that in a continent with a young population (as is the case), these percentages are expected to grow faster than in other regions.

Our region has also followed the globalisation trend: international brands are taking the place of local brands, TV channels cover many countries with the very same programmes, Internet portals with regional content, multinational companies which develop global actions of marketing, etc.

Although globalisation is a real fact, it cannot hide profound and existing economic, social and cultural differences among Latin American countries and even within the very same country. One of the papers titled 'How Many Countries are there in One Country' reflects this conflict, showing the local strategy of a global brand. Many other papers point out the important differences regarding consumption in several countries belonging to the continent.

The handling of these topics is a real asset to this Conference as very frequently Latin America is seen (mainly through foreigner eyes) as a homogeneous whole that shares the same language from the Bravo river to Tierra del Fuego (forgetting that Portuguese is not 'almost the same' as Spanish) and believed to have the same predominant religion and common history rooted in the fact that in former times many countries belonged to the same viceroyship, they were colonised at about the same time or that they had immigrants from the same points of departure.

However, reality is quite different from these popular assumptions and it shows that there is marked heterogeneity within this land. For this reason, in terms of our profession, it would be extremely risky to put a Uruguayan consumer in the 'same bag' as a Mexican consumer.

Furthermore, the cataclysm that Argentina is undergoing is proving the extent that consumption habits can be changed in a country and the necessity for Marketing Research companies to adapt themselves to changes in a rapid way or, as it is mentioned in one of the papers: 'how can Market Research take charge of the need to re-understanding everything once again?'

This 7th ESOMAR Latin American Conference, held in Sao Paulo on 12-14th May 2002, depicts an excellent snapshot of the current situation for Market Research in this region and deals with the many present challenges for our profession, for instance:

to handle 'the local' and 'the global' in markets where both aspects are present; to interpret existing differences among countries and even within a same country; the overall Internet impact and state of the art communication technology on consumer behaviour; the way in which new concepts such as Customer Relationship Management are being dealt; the way in which Market Research can adapt itself to a market suffering an extreme recession as is Argentina at present, an example of what could happen to any country. We are firmly convinced that the programme of this Conference will offer valuable elements for a better understanding of our markets.

Alain Mizrahi
Programme Committee Chair

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