Lorenzo Villaveces

6/2/18

BUS440

Assignment 1

• Why did you choose these two countries?

I chose Colombia and United States because one is the country where I come from and the other

is the country that I want to establish for the next chapter in my life as I become and

independent person.

• Compare and contrast their economies, populations, businesses, etc.

The two are based on a democratic and free market which makes it good for entrepreneurs and

new businesses to rise. The population differs greatly as Colombia is composed by

around 50 million citizens and the United States is composed by more than 300 million

and the first being a third world Country and the second considered to be the all around

leading country in the world. Businesses are managed differently and usually new ideas

are developed in the U.S where people have more access to education and resources to

develop their ideas and in Colombia this ideas are copied or simply brought into the

country which is why most of the technology in third world countries like Colombia,

comes form the United States. It is better to be an entrepreneur in the U.S as it is a bigger

market, people have more buying power and are acceptable to new ideas, unlike
 Colombia where everyone tries to monopolize their industry and coming up with new

ideas is very difficult also because of corruption.

• Detail the ease of doing business in each country, in light of policies, regulations, and

laws.

It is easier to do business as a United States citizen in both the U.S and Colombia and it is more

difficult to do business as a Colombian citizen in both countries since government help is

better for locals in the U.S and better incentives in Colombia for outside investors. In the

U.S the problems is the barriers that are being brought up by the current government to

protect the national market making it more difficult for Colombian citizens to do business

in this country. Even though there are free trade agreements in between these two

countries to incentivize trade in between both, I feel like the American population is

always getting the best of the agreement since they are the ones whom establish and

enforce these agreements under their terms mostly.

• Identify any laws of protection for both consumer and producer.

As an entrepreneur in the food industry, the biggest “law” in the U.S are the permits that the FDA

and the USDA give out to food producers in order to be able to sell which means that the

public is getting products that have been tested and are good for consumption BYU the

public which are consumers. In Colombia the same happens with an entity called

INVIMA which protects consumers.

For protection of the producer there are monopoly laws that prevent big companies from merging

in both countries to dominate industries by leaving out small producers, even though it is

rarely employed it actually exists, there are also resources like the small business

association in the U.S to help small businesses to compete with bigger competitors. In

Colombia there are laws to help small businesses to transition into legality since being

legal can cost a lot in taxes and most of the people opt out to operate under the radar

usually small businesses like family owned convenience stores in remote places.

• Have these business regulations changed over time – gotten more or less stringent?

Business regulations in Colombia have gotten less stringent since we have ended a 50 year war

with the armed guerrilla communists and now the government is incentivizing outside

investment in the country. But on the other side, the U.S has gotten more stringent as with

the new presidency, the government is trying to protect the national industry by putting

more barriers every day and it is getting more difficult for outside organizations to come

into the country.

• What kind of a business would you want to start in each country? Why?

I would like to start (and currently am) an exporting business in Colombia to bring products

specially in the food industry to North America and Europe, where not only is the

demand higher but also the price and value of the currency.

On the other part, I would like to establish an importing and selling business for food for

people but usually doing this with larger scale companies who can deliver those
products to the bigger part of society which in my mind could include Walmart,

Target or Whole Foods. To me the food industry specially all the agro is growing

exponentially as the demand keeps on growing in countries like the United States

and this is a very good opportunity for importers and exporters of nations

including Colombia and the U.S to take some market share in this industry.