Experts often focus on negative news, but avoiding gloom can provide a better perspective. While the BRICS group was predicted to fail last year, it is now establishing institutions like the $100 billion New Development Bank that will be operational soon. The 7th BRICS Summit will focus on this and other new developments. Additionally, while legally separate, PwC firms in BRICS countries work cooperatively and this issue shares findings on best practices of Chinese global companies.

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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!
Igor Lotakov,
Managing Partner of PwC Russia