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 requires that individuals think of themselves primarily as members of a group, rather than as individuals, is […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico 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 is also bad for business and the economy. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in a recent speech that discrimination is […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico 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 will say “hi,” others will take a few seconds and exchange polite talk, such as, “How are you doing […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico 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 specifically, companies lose out in the area of innovation when they do not have a diverse workforce. There is considerable evidence that […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico 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 important state. Current demographics show that Hispanics constitute the largest ethnic/minority group of the state, accounting for over 30 percent of […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico 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 and decision-making relies as much as possible on objective and quantifiable data. There are other models […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico You must have all heard or read about it by now: The Coca-Cola company has announced it will “reduce” its payroll by 7,000 employees. Profits were not as good as expected, and it is time to tighten the belt. This makes investors happy: Fear that a company is losing profits are […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico More and more people are holding jobs that do not require commuting. Various positions in the publishing industry, such as writers, for example, do their work at home (or wherever they wish) and simply send their production over the internet – in a word, they “telecommute.” This makes a great deal […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico The experience of going through a job interview is, for most people, exhausting and stressful. You seek advice from others, read books about it, and prepare yourself to talk and behave in ways that feel unnatural to you. The main reason why the interview process is so stressful is because the […]
Continue ReadingDoing Business in Mexico In the early part of the 20th Century, American industrial engineer Fredrick Taylor revolutionized management practices through his famous concept of Scientific Management. His basic premise was that for each task there is one best way of doing things, and workers must be taught to do it that way. At the […]
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