Big and small.

What's the right size for a company? The answer is big, big, big! But being big can lead to serious problems when markets suddenly shrink of products cease to satisfy. Ask global airlines about life just after Sept. 11.

Brazilian airlines Varig and TAM face an interesting dilemma, terror attacks notwithstanding. Already giants in their country, an eventual marriage--after a courtship long fraught with personality conflicts--may not be the best move for either, and an improving economy is quickly erasing the need to undertake the daunting task of joining the two. Wireless providers, too, face questions about size. Three of the four biggest cellular phone providers in Brazil are foreigners used to dominating their home markets. Growth is a given, but each must carve out a strong position with identical products as they head down-market into low-income, and thus low-return, customers. Fixed-line carrier Brasil Telecom is moving into the space, and its CEO, Carla Cico, says it best in an exclusive interview with LATIN TRADE: "Our goal is not to become the largest mobile operator but, first and foremost, to defend our market."

So is small better? It can be, if you know how to grow. Chilean holding company Duncan Fox, heavy into exports like fish and fruit, figured out the big business of small-country free trade, topping our first-ever ranking of the region's fastest growing medium-sized companies. Similarly, Argentine farm-equipment manufacturer Agrometal look its hard-nosed management style into the booming soybean export business, and they aren't looking back.

P.S. It's hard to sit and watch your neighbor sell to top markets while your own products gather dust. So Bolivians--and Brazilians and Argentines--are calling ap Chile's Arica port to find ways to get "Made in Chile" stamped on their goods. Turns out, it's not that hard. (Page 48)

Greg Brown 

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