Emerging economies in business news: Repositioning leaders in the Global South

Abstract

Drawing from nation-branding as a recent development in contemporary globalization, and new middle power theory that examines hierarchies of nations, we used thematic textual analysis to examine business press coverage of the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) consortium for business news representations and the positioning of IBSA nations in the global arena. Analysis of coverage in India’s The Financial Express, Brazil’s Valor Econômico and South Africa’s Business Day revealed that regional economic leadership, strengths in trade and technology, development aid and the consortium’s collective engagement in global activism inform the business press’ positioning of the IBSA countries as new middle powers.