Recent columnist articles
Case study from Oaxaca, Mexico: Am I paying my staff too much?
Day of The Dead is upon us in Oaxaca, and Juanita's hotel still has rooms available for one of the busiest times of the year. The City of Oaxaca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Southern Mexico, relies on tourism for its very existence. Juanita is trying to figure out where she went wrong, realizing that Día de Los Muertos should top up her bank balance, just like the Christmas season, the summertime festival weeks known as Guelaguetza, and Easter. Time and again she asks herself, "Am I paying my staff too much?"
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Questions on hiring in Mexico
Why do so many of my employees have the same names?
This is a question that I hear a lot. It can be a little confusing at first when it seems as if a lot of your employees share the same surname. It d...
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Severance pay for workers in Mexico
In Canada and the United States, it is fairly straightforward to downsize our employee base during a downturn in the economy. Employees have unemployment insurance to cushion the change. But in Mexico, the law protects the worker.
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Reducing labour cost in a Mexican LLC
Why focus on a labour savings in a country where the labour cost is so low?
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Growing pains: New factory construction in Mexico
We had a lot of new business coming in and no room left. It was time to build our second facility in Mexico.
After a lengthy negotiation, we purchased a good piece of property on fairly level ground. ...
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Bad news : Seeking concrete solutions to a cultural attitude
I found that the reluctance to communicate bad news was not a trait of our Mexican employees alone, but I did find that it was more prevalent there.
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A personal experience with union negotiations in Mexico
Our manufacturing operation in Mexico was in trouble and we had to make a lot of changes quickly to rescue the business...
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Mexico Economic Updates September 2006
Rapid GDP growth
According to the Finance Secretariat and the National Statistics Institute (INEGI), the nation's GDP rose 4.7% in the second quarter (compared to the equivalent period of 2005) to a r...
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Mexico Economic Updates August 2006
Despite calls from PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his supporters for a complete recount, it looks almost certain that the Federal Electoral Institute will confirm very shortly that the presidential election was won by PAN candidate Felipe Calderón Hinojosa. The new president will take office on December 1.
read moreMexico Economic Updates July 2006
This issue went to press just days before the July 2 federal elections. Watch this space for an updated paragraph in the middle of the month covering the basic results, together with some analysis of their implications for the economy.
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