India’s food and beverage sector features a medium-to-high level of competition, with a total of 39,318 active factories at the end of FY2016, most of them small-scale industrial units. At around 60% in FY2016, the share of the organised sector in food processing is relatively high, although there are significant variations across segments, according to IBEF. Nevertheless, the unorganised sector still has considerable influence, which intensifies competition. Liberalisation of the FDI rules for the sector in recent years has attracted several large foreign investors willing to tap the growth potential of the domestic market.

At a segment level, Emerging Europe’s automotive market is dominated by passenger cars, accounting for 87% of the region’s total motor vehicle manufacturing and for 83% of sales in 2017. Every third automobile in Europe is assembled in Emerging Europe, with total passenger car output in the region rising by 7.2% y/y to 6.6mn units in 2017. The region’s largest car maker is the Czech Republic, where output rose by 5.2% y/y to a new all-time-high of 1.4mn passenger cars in 2017. The strong performance came on the back of a record output at the country’s major carmaker Skoda Auto, which makes nearly two-thirds of the cars in the Czech Republic. Russia was Emerging Europe’s second biggest car maker in 2017, assembling 1.3mn cars, up by 19.9% against 2016. A 20.2% y/y growth helped Turkey climb to the third spot with a car output of 1.1mn units. Slovakia, on the other hand, slipped to the fourth position as output there fell by 3.7%. Slovakia is one of the two automotive producers in the region that is solely engaged in the production of passenger cars. The other one is Slovenia, which produced nearly 190,000 cars in 2017, up 42% y/y, the strongest annual growth in the region in that year.

The lifting of the ban on mining activities in 2009, coupled with profound structural reforms in the regulatory framework and a wide investor engagement campaign carried out by the government during 2016-2017, have spurred investor interest towards the underdeveloped mineral resources of Ecuador. As of December 2017, the government had granted 275 new mining concessions to 33 private companies, mainly from Australia, Canada and the US. Moreover, over 18 major players have entered the domestic mining sector through M&A deals and greenfield investments, including BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Codelco, Newcrest Mining, Fortescue Metals Group and Hancock Prospecting.

competition in Brazil’s pharma and healthcare sector is becoming increasingly intense. The deceleration of the domestic drug market has propelled the pharmaceutical companies operating in the country to search for scale and efficiency gains through organic growth, acquisitions and internationalisation of their operations. The opening of the healthcare market to foreign investors in January 2015 also unleashed a consolidation trend, triggered by the entry of both strategic and institutional investors. Given the deficiencies in the provision of quality health services, healthcare will remain the subsector with the highest growth potential in the medium term.

competition in Brazil’s pharma and healthcare sector is becoming increasingly intense. The deceleration of the domestic drug market has propelled the pharmaceutical companies operating in the country to search for scale and efficiency gains through organic growth, acquisitions and internationalisation of their operations. The opening of the healthcare market to foreign investors in January 2015 also unleashed a consolidation trend, triggered by the entry of both strategic and institutional investors. Given the deficiencies in the provision of quality health services, healthcare will remain the subsector with the highest growth potential in the medium term.

In recent years, Brazil’s electric power sector has witnessed a restructuring process, marked by the entry and the expansion of the positions of both domestic and foreign investors, especially from the US, China and European countries. This process was further supported by the asset divestment plans of incumbent electric utilities aimed at reducing their indebtedness, which allowed the fast entry of new players at bargain prices. An additional positive impact came from government efforts to increase the country’s generation capacity – above all RES-based capacity – and improve the national power transmission network through public auctions.

The use of headphones can be traced back to the 1880s were mainly used for listening to electric and audio signals. As amplifiers and audio drivers were not invented at that time, their use to stream music and other digital content was not possible. The rapid advancements in technology, manufacturing, transmission, and portable consumer electronics goods have laid the foundation for innovations in headphones, leading to their vast personal and commercial uses.

Product packaging has gone several innovations and changes in the last few years. These novelties have transformed the concept of packaging from a basic covering material to a promotional tool. Packaging has been an integral part of the entire evolution process. With the changes being inculcated in the product offering approach, packaging has witnessed the adoption of several new strategies by companies in order to deliver an improvised packaged product.

The warehouse automation includes cloud technology, robots, conveyor belts, truck loading automation, and energy management. The workforce management solution is used to minimize the labor cost. Workforce management solution includes picking optimization and workforce forecast.