By Yaroslav Lissovolik

The BRICS as a platform for economic cooperation has advanced across many dimensions, yet most of the focus in building this alliance has been centered on the top-down initiatives driven by the member states. But for such policy impulses to be sustainable they need to be supported at the micro-level of enterprises and this is where measures to support palpable pragmatic cooperation may have been lacking thus far. One of the ways in which such bottom-up momentum in BRICS cooperation could be revitalized is via greater activism in boosting ties and linkages between corporates from across the Global South – in particular via pursuing “corporate matching” as a systemic strategy that takes into account and leverages the key strengths and peculiarities of the BRICS bloc. Such a concerted effort to pursue greater B2B connectivity across BRICS would also deliver important second-round effects pertaining to greater corporate transparency, digital inclusion and trust-building.

The theoretical foundations of the economics of matching companies have been extensively explored in the context of Network Economics and the Search and Matching Theory (Nobel Prize in Economics in 2010), with particular emphasis placed on search costs and the ways of attenuating frictions in building B2B connections. Advanced international experience in the sphere of assisting companies to reduce search costs and connect to counterparts in national markets and abroad include economies such as Australia (Export market development grants and Austrade’s business matching services), Singapore (Enterprise Singapore and Open Innovation Networks) and South Korea (KOTRA’s Online Business Matchmaking and the Innobranch platform). BRICS economies such as India have also had their share of success in employing tools such as the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), GeM, IndiaMART to connect companies.

Why is matching at the micro-level of companies so important for BRICS? One of the key reasons is distance – the BRICS are at times separated by enormous distances not only geographically, but also culturally – the members of the bloc in effect represent different civilizations whose business practices and cultural norms may differ significantly. Another reason matching is so important is the relative lack of information concerning these economies, with most of the available data and information flows still concentrated in the economies of the developed world. In this context matching serves to reduce information asymmetries and enhances trust through iterative rounds of building connections and alliances.

This process of alliance building has palpable second round and multiplier effects in the subsequent stages of BRICS micro-level cooperation. Such second-round effects may emanate from financial and digital companies aiming to further intermediate and facilitate B2B connectivity, with important implications for digital inclusion, greater corporate openness/transparency and the growth in activities and businesses related to servicing the rising volume of intra-BRICS connections. Once the BRICS platform economy starts to take off, then the power of network effects and the use of big data in the corporate sector may further provide a boost to building B2B connectivity. The important implication of network effects in a BRICS push to build B2B connectivity has to do with the scenario in which once a critical mass of connections (critical mass theory) between companies has been built, cumulative growth kicks in as further increments in such connections within the BRICS+ space become easier to build on the back of the growing volume of information/data from earlier/past connections.

Viewed through the prism of game theory, the creation of intra-BRICS B2B connectivity and value-chains is becoming even more pressing given the segmentation of the economic space through paradigms such as near-shoring and friend-shoring. In such a game-theory setting, segmentation may become a dominant strategy accentuating further rounds of divisions into blocs across the global economy. This in turn leaves the corporates from BRICS economies to seek greater optionality in expanding their corporate connections via the “South-South” domain, including within the BRICS+ framework.

Spatial economics may also be an important guide for BRICS in building B2B connectivity. One potential path is the creation and co-integration of BRICS corporate clusters (with tangible agglomeration economies and R&D spillovers), in which greater matching and connectivity may occur both within and across such centers of economic activity. The platform for BRICS “special economic zones” advanced in 2024 may serve as a potential backbone for building such connectivity. Another important spacial dimension is the “hub and spoke” model, whereby BRICS economies serve as key entry points into their respective regions, with corporate connections or the creation of value chains that are established between hubs being propagated to the wider markets of their regional BRICS+ partners. This model is in line with the framework of the BRICS+ business model that we advanced in 2024.

The array of potential connectivity modes across corporates is expanding and for the BRICS+ framework may include the following tracks:

- SME connectivity

- Public-private partnerships (PPPs)

- Standard B2B between mainstream companies

- Connections between Social enterprises (SEs)

- Connectivity between SEs and mainstream companies

- Connectivity between Impact investors and SEs

- Connectivity between regional/national development banks and corporates (mainstream and SEs)

- Strategic alliances between large corporates

- Value-added chain connectivity

The key focus in this corporate matching effort needs to be directed at boosting digital cooperation and creating digital B2B platforms across BRICS+. This allows the BRICS+ economies to fully take advantage of network effects and make use of the expanding set of data on BRICS+ enterprises. Working towards co-integrating the national B2B matching systems across BRICS+ and perhaps creating a BRICS mechanism that would provide for the inter-operability of such systems would present a worthy policy priority track in the upcoming BRICS presidencies, most notably for India (given its advances in this area) in 2026.

Within the existing framework of the BRICS bloc, it is the BRICS Business Council that could take the lead in the efforts to co-integrate the B2B digital platforms across the BRICS+ space. There may be scope for other forums and platforms within BRICS to support such efforts, including the BRICS platform for regions and municipalities created in 2024. Indeed, apart from corporate matching there is scope for R2R (region-to region) matching to be pursued and combined with B2B connectivity across the BRICS+ space. The BRICS AI alliance discussed in 2025 may also be instrumental in leveraging AI capability to enhance the operation of the digital B2B platforms facilitating corporate connectivity.

In the end, matching as a strategy may be the key factor that builds BRICS connectivity from the micro-level of companies and enterprises. It may also serve as a “learning technology” through which information asymmetries are addressed and longer-term horizons set in with greater trust-building. The possibilities for such endeavors in the corporate space are enormous, particularly given the under-utilized potential in the expanding South-South segment of the world economy. With developing economies growing rapidly, and with South-South trade and investment becoming an increasingly prominent part of the global economic landscape, the BRICS+ B2B connectivity effort may be the crucial element in sustaining these fundamental global trends.

Yaroslav Lissovolik is a Founder of BRICS+ Analytics.