Foreign business environment: ColumbiaA. What events (political, economic, and technological) are the most important in recent years that might have impacted the business culture in Colombia?

Individuals who perceive Colombia as still being paralyzed by crime networks and drug cartels are skeptical and bewildered by the notion of a confederation of politicians, business leaders, and academicians visiting the nation. However, in reality, the situation in Colombia is far different from what it was a mere ten years ago.

Colombia’s infamous cruel and powerful drug cartels emerged during the latter part of the seventies era and developed in the subsequent two decades. Specifically, the Cali Cartel and Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel were politically, socially and economically influential in the nation in this period. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, the world regarded the nation as being well on its way to becoming a failure as a state. This conceptualization is inconsistent with Colombia’s present reality: the nation now boasts a sound democracy, a vibrant economy, ongoing social advancement, and the restoration of its stability and security. Though it still has a long way to go, the country is definitely on the right path to progress (Villegas, 2014).

The Colombian...

Indeed, its private sector and policymakers count the year 2007 among the best years, economically, of late, after the year 2005. The economy’s continuous improvement is partly ascribed to Colombia’s strict governmental budgets, concentrated efforts at reducing the level of public debt, high commodity rates, a growth strategy that promotes export, and an improvement in domestic security (CIA World Factbook, n.d). The above factors, combined with the US’s firm support and assistance and sustained, extensive social, economic, and political reforms, has worked wonders for the nation. Colombia now boasts a 5% gross domestic product (GDP) growth (averagely) and has successfully created almost 2.5 million jobs in the last 4 years. The country’s investment attractiveness has reached never-before-seen levels with technology giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook considering Colombia a lucrative option to open their innovation centers targeting the development of applications for the lower income population groups (Villegas, 2014).
B. Do you feel that the Colombian economy today is sufficiently robust to support the growth of the clothing manufacturing…