tailieunhanh - Country Brand Index 2012-13

Property Taxes Available for School Districts Expected to Grow Faster Than Assessed Value. We expect local property taxes that go to K-12 and community college districts— revenues that generally offset state spending—to grow faster than statewide assessed value, for two reasons. First, local school property taxes benefit in the near term due to the dissolution of redevelopment agencies (RDAs) because a portion of property taxes that went to these agencies in recent years is now distributed to other local governments, including schools and community colleges. (The dissolution of RDAs is discussed in Chapter 3 of this report.) Second, the expected retirement of. | FutureBrand Country Brand Index 2012-13 ooo oo o Country Brand Rankings Tomorrow s Leading Country Brands The Future 15 4 The Region Report The Dimensions of a Country Brand Future Forward INTRODUCTION Welcome to the eighth edition of FutureBrand s Country Brand Index. The Country Brand Index or CBI is a preeminent global study of country brands. We annually measure and rank global perceptions around the world s nations from their cultures to their industries to their economic vitality and public policy initiatives. The resulting index is a mix of trend reportage expert findings data-rich analysis and future-positive prediction. Country Brand Index 2012-13 FutureBrand All Rights Reserved 2 INTRODUCTION Country Brands Create the Future At FutureBrand we believe that the future is created one decision at a time. Our decisions relate to the things that are closest to us where we live the companies we work for the products we use. And those decisions are often informed by brands. As a result brands are among the most important drivers of the future. The same is true for country brands but on a larger scale. As travelers business leaders employees parents and consumers we make decisions related to countries every day how we describe our identity where we choose to live who and where we buy our products from where we educate our children where we set up our companies and where we go on holiday. To the extent that we choose countries in these contexts our decisions are largely informed by the automatic associations we have with them. For instance Switzerland is good for banking and watches Japan is good for cars and electronic goods and Costa Rica is good for coffee and beaches. Our choices are also informed by how familiar we are with countries and whether we have visited them or not. Every time we make a decision informed by an association with a place it creates the future. When you multiply that with billions of people around the world every year it can create waves .