Tim Kingston, the General Manager of Goldman Sachs, Santiago, Chile, paid us a visit on the penultimate day of the Weatherhead Institute's visit to Santiago. Our meeting with Mr. Kingston was scheduled to cap a hectic day, but was formatted to include wine, shorts and a view of the pool, so feelings were pretty light, albeit tired, when Mr. Kingston arrived. I am always impressed by financiers grasp of the macro-economy. Perhaps it is the nature of analyzing investment opportunities: financiers need to understand so many forces acting upon opportunities to best determine where to place investments that they are peternaturally attuned to the cultural, political, social and general dynamics for whichever environment they may work. For Mr. Kingston, that environment is Chile, and that means copper, agriculture and wine. Mr. Kingston's visit was perfectly placed as the capstone for this trip, as he carefully explained the challenges facing Chile - energy, dependence on a commodity based economy, bureaucratic density and a general aversion to risk. But he, like us, is hopeful for the future of Chile. The future for Chilean innovation seems to boil down to developing tactics and products to augment Chile's commodity-based economy with the tools of a knowledge-based economy to improve overall efficiency, and thereby drive down cost. Mr. Kingston perfectly summarized the global nature of this phenomenon, tying in the import of the current US presidential election to the economy of Chile - we are all connected. Goldman Sachs in Chile certainly indicates, to me, the vast potential of the resources, both commodity and intellectual, extant in Chile. Mr. Kingston provided a clear lens to understand the challenges and opportunities presented in Santiago. |