Tag: culture-customs

Doing Business in Mexico 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, “My boss is a jerk!” to which his father replies, “All bosses are jerks … […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 when it comes to customer satisfaction. In fact, most companies know very little about the experience their customers […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 of Mexicans and Americans and /or Canadians who must work in close contact with one another. Many of my […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 “cleaning up” the old corrupt ways. So far, Mexico is perceived as the more corrupt partner in NAFTA. According […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 world: using measurements as a guide to decision-making, and ignoring anything that cannot be measured. There are specialists who […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 yourself regretting that you and your partner spent much of the time in silly fights. […]

Doing Business in Mexico 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 problems between Mexicans and Americans. Recognizing that cultural differences exist and affect how we do business is an important […]

Doing Business in Mexico Not too long ago, the term “business ethics” was considered an oxymoron. Fortunately, in recent years, companies have been paying more attention to developing and maintaining ethical standards among their employees. In Mexico, attention to ethics is increasingly viewed as an essential part of business success: If your employees are ethical, […]