The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul will be one of the host regions of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the state's governor is intending to use the event to show would-be investors that the region is the easiest in the country in which to do business.

Companies setting up shop in Brazil, Russia, India and China are becoming increasingly dependent on financial outsourcing to navigate unfamiliar and often complex local legislation. While there are many advantages to outsourcing financial operations, there are myriad factors to consider before these can be realised.

In many of the world's major cities, traffic gridlock comes as standard. With such high number of vehicles on the roads leading to heavy pollution and frustratingly long commuting times, the case for mass rapid-transit systems is becoming increasingly difficult for many cities to ignore.

Julia Santos, head of global business optimisation for the Johnson & Johnson Group, explains to Barbara Njau why outsourcing is essential to the company’s business strategy.

Indonesia has achieved significant economic growth in the past three years and now, with the help of a new development plan, its government has set the ambitious target of transforming the country into a major economic power by 2025. Can Indonesia compete on the same stage as Asia's behemoth economies such as India and China, or will the basic issues of infrastructure and inflation continue to hold it back?

As the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – realise the decade-old prediction that they would become economic superpowers, attention now turns to the global economies that will follow them.

The president of Latin America's development bank, Enrique Garcia, is confident that the region's favourable economic climate can be maintained in the long term, provided investors in the region spread their investments far and wide.