It is often said that when the US gets a cold, Mexico gets pneumonia. This time it didn’t happen. Let’s look at the data from Mexico’s dynamic economy. During this last recession, in the US millions of homes are in foreclosure, 250 banks failed, bailouts cost trillions of dollars, the deficit rose to 1.4 trillion […]
Continue ReadingToo often, individual actors in a relationship allow themselves to be influenced by their preconceptions about how another party will behave without knowing from direct experience. These stereotypes can be especially striking when the relationship between the two parties is a formal one, as is often the case in international business relationships between Mexican and […]
Continue ReadingMexico is Canada’s most important trading partner in Latin America. Trade between the two countries was worth more than CDN $5 billion in 1994 and has grown significantly since the mid 1980’s. Exports from Canada to Mexico increased by 2.5% in 1993 reaching CDN $790 million. In turn Mexico exported CDN $3.6 billion to Canada […]
Continue ReadingIn recent decades, immigration to the United States has reached historic proportions. Many observers liken this large and sustained wave of immigration to the Great Migration at the beginning of the 20th century.[1] Certainly the promise of America is the same—a land of opportunity and freedom. The number of immigrants today is also similar to […]
Continue ReadingAfter slicing through all of the numerous definitions that cloud this question, the answer is, simply, that a maquiladora is a Mexican Corporation which operates under a maquila program approved for it by the Mexican Secretariat of Commerce and Industrial Development (SECOFI). A maquila program entitles the company, first, to foreign investment participation in […]
Continue ReadingFortune magazine recently voted Monterrey, capital of the northern state of Nuevo León, as the best city in Latin America in which to do business. A brief look at the statistics for Nuevo León gives you some idea of why this Mexican-U.S. border state continues to be not only the business capital of Mexico, but […]
Continue ReadingThere are stranger places to see the latest in complexity theory in action, but delivering cement in Mexico is a pretty good start. Here’s how the cement business worked in Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, only a couple of years ago: A builder telephoned in an order a day or so ahead, two days in advance […]
Continue ReadingDr. Leopoldo Rodarte Ramón, general director of the Federal District Water Commission, has a tough job. He is responsible for supplying an ever-growing population with water, draining thousands of tons of rain and wastewater, and treating huge discharges of industrial and domestic waste. To complicate matters, the Mexico City’s water infrastructure is no longer able […]
Continue ReadingMexican wines may finally be gaining ground in a centuries-old battle fraught with political, sociological and economic challenges, not to mention the usual climatic problems. Father Hidalgo would be proud. He reportedly launched the independence movement in the early 19th century to prevent authorities from uprooting grapevines Indians tended for him in Dolores, Guanajuato. Viceroys, […]
Continue ReadingSince the signing of NAFTA, an increasing emphasis has been placed on the importance of knowing English in Mexico. And not surprisingly, English teaching has become a profitable business. Unfortunately, however, while there are many professional schools, there are also many overnight ventures offering little added value for businessmen or corporate employees. So, Business Mexico […]
Continue Reading