Some experts believe

Some experts believe that people will always seek out bad news. According to Stuart Soroka, a professor of Communication Studies and Political Science at the University of Michigan, “evolutionarily speaking, there are advantages to being an animal that prioritizes negative information.”

I don’t want to dispute this assertion. But sometimes it’s well worth the effort to avoid taking the ‘gloom-and-doom’ view of things.

A year ago, we were hearing a lot of predictions that the BRICS group was doomed. As Giles Merritt, head of the Friends of Europe think tank, put it: “The days of BRICS summits and institutions, such as the group’s embryonic development bank, appear to be numbered.”

Now, however, we’re hearing that the BRICS group’s $100 billion New Development Bank (NDB) will actually be operational within a year.

The NDB and other new developments will be the focus of the 7th BRICS Summit, to be held in July in Ufa, the capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan region. Incidentally, Ufa is also where PwC plans to open its 11th Russian office. It’s purely a coincidence, but it’s a remarkable one. For the past 15 years, the BRICS countries, representing 25% of global GDP, have been seen by many as the best hope for sustainable growth. The member firms of the global PwC network of firms in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa already employ over 33,000 professionals.

While these firms – including PwC Russia – are separate legal entities, we are united in our approach to doing business. And achieving high-quality results in everything we do is one of our top priorities.

In this issue, I am delighted to share with you some findings from our new report “The Emerging Best Practices of Chinese Globalizers: Develop the Innovation Models.” The research was conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company, now a part of the global PwC network). Enjoy!