Racism And Business In Mexico
Although denied officially and, personally by many Mexicans, racism in Mexico is so evident that most foreigners notice it right away. All you have to do is look at Mexican-produced television programs...
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¡Ni Modo!
When I was in college, national development was a hot topic. We pondered over why some countries develop their economies faster than others. One popular notion was that for countries to develop quickly...
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Cultural Hybrid
Much has been written and discussed about the impact that cultural differences have on the way we conduct business and manage people. In this column, I have covered various aspects of cross-cultural pr...
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Office Diplomacy
Remember what your parents would tell you when you were a kid and had a fight with a friend? "Stop fighting! It's not nice to fight!" Later, when you had your first important relationship, you found yo...
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Mérida
Much of the land comprising Mérida was once dotted with lavish haciendas where the henequen plant was grown. From henequen was produced a fiber called sisal, the main ingredient of twine....
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Measure Up!
Businesspeople love to measure things. We measure sales and profits, which is easy enough, but then we also want to measure everything else. This is called the 'administrative bias' of the business wor...
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Supply Chain Reaction
Four years ago, if you had asked people in the transportation industry about their logistics, you would have been greeted with blank stares. Times are changing, though, and now even the word "logistics...
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Fearing Change?
These days, everyone is talking about "innovation." Companies and employees have to innovate or busi-ness will sink. I recently mentioned to a colleague that creativity is also important, but he quickl...
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Just The Facts Ma'am, Or Will My Hunch Do?
I get many inquiries from non-Mexicans interested in investing in or starting a new business in Mexico. The inquiries usually ask the normal "administrative" curiosities: What are the numbers for the i...
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Merger Mess
Are you working for a company that recently merged with another one, or was bought out?
You are not alone. The record number of mergers and acquisitions in the last five years has brought renewed...
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"El Que No Transa ..."
One of NAFTA's positive effects on Mexico has been the renewed attention given to an old problem: corruption. As Mexico attempts to attract more foreign investment, mounting pressure has been placed on...
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Culture Shock
In previous columns, I have argued that cultural diversity in organizations should be welcomed, rather than viewed as a problem to be avoided. Multinational companies in Mexico often have teams made up...
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Customer (lip) Service
One of the oldest clichés in business is "the customer is always right." And while this catchphrase might be repeated in every company training program, the reality is that most businesses fall short ...
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My Boss Is A Jerk!
There is an old movie starring Jack Lemmon in which a father (Lemmon) is frustrated that his less-than-motivated son has quit his job after one day. When he asks his son why, his son simply replies, "M...
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Train Of Thought
When it comes to professional training, Mexican managers and companies seem fascinated with anything that comes from more developed countries, especially the United States. From leadership courses (so ...
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Spotty Training
Most of my activities in the area of consulting involve training managers from the United States and Mexico. The people I generally work with to organize and prepare these kinds of activities are Human...
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Email Inundation
Over the last two years, working with different companies in both the United States and Mexico, I have heard time and again about a relatively new nagging problem for managers: handling their email. Ac...
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You Owe Me One! Or the Concept of Favors in Mexico and in the U.S.A.
Favors are done in every culture, but how favors are given and received differs among cultures. Comparing the mainstream U.S. culture and Mexico regarding this issue, we find striking differences, whic...
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Pulling Together
These days it seems every company is adopting a team approach to doing business. While the concept is relatively new in the Western world, it is an old practice in Japan. But team-building, which requi...
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Between The Lines
When I ask managers what they hate most about their jobs, writing and reading reports is usually on the top of their lists. Managers who have to write reports are often inadequately prepared: They were...
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Meetings Halfway
A reality of any manager's life is attending and calling staff meetings. Another reality is that most managers complain staff meetings are a "waste of time."
When meetings involve Mexican and Ang...
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Nothing Personal
Perhaps the single largest cultural gap between Latin Americans and North Americans in the realm of business practices is the "personal" dimension. As I have explained in earlier articles, Latin Americ...
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In The Dark
Anyone who has ever worked in Mexico realizes that one of the biggest differences between doing business in this country and its two Nafta partners concerns information. Whereas in the U.S. and Canada ...
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Double Standard
I received various emails on my recent column dealing with management standardization. Many people were concerned that my column suggested that standard procedures are not necessarily the best way to m...
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Double Standards
The topic of business ethics is one that too often ends up on the back burner, unless you happen to be a social activist. In business circles, the topic arouses as much interest as a turtle race.
...
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