Risky business? A lot depends on your cultural viewpoint
As many of you know, there are a number of ways to approach risk analysis, but the dominant model in most MBA programs falls under the category of “rational” models. In these models, risk analysis ...
read more
Marketing a la Mexicana
I recently spent ten days in California working with one of my clients to develop marketing strategies that would reach the increasingly important Mexican (and overall Hispanic) market of this importan...
read more
Foreign interest in Mexico
Weirdos welcome: A Mexico workforce that encompasses a variety of cultures, work styles and ideas
I have argued before that discrimination in the workplace is not only ethically wrong, but inefficient for the organization, since great candidates are often not considered for hiring. More specificall...
read more
Live Better South of the Border
I’d love to have had this book five years ago when we first came to live in Mexico. It’s not that we ran into a string of problems then but it’s just such a useful source of information and opinion about living here it would have cut a lot of corners for us at the time. As the author says, this book is written for people of all ages who want to live in Mexico and Central America, from retirees to baby-boomers who want a new life to artists and writers who want a stimulating and less expensive way of life.
read more
When in Rome... Mexican greeting practices in the business world
It is surprising how different norms on the proper greeting method in the business world affect people so strongly. This is especially true when we contrast U.S. and Mexican preferences. Some people wi...
read more
Taxi driver in Mexico City
Entering a Mexico City taxi means entering the special world of cabbies - a place where two traffic lanes can swiftly become three, seatbelts generally are very few and far between, and where there app...
read more
What's happening with the peso?
Brazil's forced devaluation of the real in January, sent the peso plummeting from 9.87 pesos per US$1 to 10.25 pesos in just one week. In previous attacks on the currency in some emerging market countr...
read more
Increasing equity in Mexico: Discrimination in the world of international business
Discrimination is an important moral concern for all of us.
In the business world, the issue of discrimination goes beyond moral grounds. Although businesses’ main concern is profits, discrimination...
read more
Pulling together: Cross national teamwork promises greater efficiency for doing business in Mexico
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...
read more
Mexican-Anglo staff meetings: 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 Anglo-Am...
read more
In the dark: Without reliable information, Mexican managers get in touch with their feelings
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 ...
read more
Business Mexico picks the best of 1999
In the past five years we have witnessed an explosive growth on the Net in terms of the quantity and quality of Mexico-related websites. For example, a handful of Mexico City newspapers debuted online ...
read more
Double standard: What's right for Mexico's business world?
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...
read more
Eye of the beholder: Perceptions of Mexican job performance
More often than not, when foreigners simply refuse to engage in the human aspects of the working world, they tend to see the more negative aspect of the Mexican experience.
When I talk with non-Mexica...
read more
Family affair: The family business in Mexico
Both friends and enemies of Nafta predicted the treaty would bring increased investment crossing national borders, and in the case of Mexico, a significant new presence of U.S and Canadian firms. This ...
read more
New and unimproved: A resistance to change in Mexican business
"The problem in Mexico is that workers, and generally speaking all people, resist change." This was the opinion expressed to me recently by a successful (at least, rich) entrepreneur in Mexico City. Be...
read more
Stuck in the middle: Cultural differences in Mexico's business world
I've discussed cultural differences and clarity in Mexico's business world. But dealing with Mexican realities is not the only challenge faced by U.S. executives on Mexican assignments. Inevitably, as ...
read more
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...
read more
Power surge
Over and over and over this is all I hear. It would appear that this noise means that my uninterruptable power supply is currently being interrupted.
Click-clack, click-clack.
Click-clack, click-clac...
read more
Authorization For Foreign Investment In The Tourism Industry
Permission from the Secretary of Foreign Relations is required for the formation of 'Fideicomisos' or real estate bank trusts to invest in this industry. These permission may be given under the followi...
read more
Comparing management differences in Mexico with Canada and the US
Doing business in Mexico is very different than in Canada and the US. The values, social practices, managerial methods, and belief systems of the Mexican worker and Mexican manager are different. They ...
read more
Comparing cultural differences: Mexico with Canada and the United States
Although the three countries that make up North America are physically close, Mexico is simply a different country than her northern neighbours. Mexico has a different history and thus a different cult...
read more
Merida, 1997: trade opportunities
Merida, Yucatan..I returned to Merida in July, 1997 to follow up on my contacts I had made last year while on my grant to facilitate trade between the Yucatan and the state of Mississippi. ( See pr...
read more
Yucatan World Class Labor At $3.00 USD Per Day
Yucatan, Mexico -- My mission...to explore the Yucatan to discover business opportunities for trade, manufacturing, and joint ventures. I was to be the liaison between the Harrison County Economic Deve...
read more