IT IS easy for a visitor to Rio to feel that nothing is amiss in Brazil. The middle classes certainly know how to live: with Copacabana and Ipanema just minutes from the main business districts a game of volleyball or a surf starts the day. Hedge-fund offices look out over botanical gardens and up to verdant mountains. But stray from comfortable districts and the sheen fades quickly. Favelas plagued by poverty and violence cling to the foothills. So it is with Brazils economy: the harder you stare, the worse it looks. Brazil has seen sharp ups and downs in the past 25 years. In the early 1990s inflation rose above 2,000%; it was only banished when a new currency was introduced in 1994. By the turn of the century Brazils deficits had mired it in debt, forcing an IMF rescue in 2002. But then the woes vanished. Brazil became a titan of growth, expanding at 4% a year between 2002 and 2008 as exports of iron, oil and sugar boomed and domestic consumption gave an additional kick. Now Brazil is back in trouble. Growth has averaged just 1.3% over the past four years. A poll of 100 economists conducted by the Central Bank of Brazil suggests a 0.5% contraction this year followed by 1.5% growth in 2016.full article here:://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21645248-brazils-fiscal-and-monetary-levers-are-jammed-result-it-risks-getting-stuck Introduction: An Opportunity on the Immediate HorizonBig Idea: Social BusinessJuly 16, 2013Reading Time: 5 min By David Kiron, Doug Palmer, Anh Nguyen Phillips, Robert BerkmanTopicsSocial Business, Social Business AdoptionThis is part 1 of 6 from the 2013 Social Business Global Executive Study and Research Project.In an interview for this years social business report, Gerald Kane, professor at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, succinctly characterized where social business stands today: Any new technology experiences a faddish hype cycle where people adopt it because they feel they have to, he says. With social, we are passing the peak of faddishness. Companies are starting to crack socials code and turning to it for business advantage, intelligence and insight.In this second annual report from the MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte Social Business Study,1 we probed executives views of the social business opportunity and how companies are harnessing its value. The study included 2,545 respondents from 25 industries and 99 countries. It also incorporated interviews with nearly three dozen executives and social business thought leaders.Echoing Kanes observation, a key finding of the research is the rapid growth in importance of social to business. In 2011s survey, 18% of respondents said it was important today. One year later, the number doubled to 36%. The time horizon of its importance is also shrinking. In last years report, 40% of respondents agreed that social would be important one year from now. In 2012, the number jumped to 54% (see Figure 1).More Industries Are Getting On BoardThe immediacy of the social business opportunity is growing across industries, another indicator of its move from faddish hype to business value. Between last years study and this years, respondents from all industry sectors increased the value they place on social business.