Book Description
From Tijuana to Tierra del Fuego, Latin America is remarkably misunderstood, often viewed merely as a source of cheap labor, where corrupt politicians and drug lords run rampant. As a result, many--especially smaller--U.S. businesses are missing out on lucrative opportunities to expand their operations into this dynamic region, home to over 500 million consumers. Drawing from over 30 years of firsthand experience and research, Dr. Thomas Becker helps readers overcome these stereotypes and presents a concise and authoritative approach to conducting business in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and South America. Featuring current economic, geographic, and demographic data, illustrative case examples, and scores of practical tips, the book delivers a wealth of insights for understanding market conditions, assessing competitive opportunities, and negotiating successful deals. Chapters on the history and culture of Latin America explain the context for how business relationships are established and sustained, and illustrate the profound changes that are positioning the region for renewed growth--particularly for small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses. Subsequent chapters cover the details of business practices--from choosing distribution partners and managing logistics to conducting yourself in meetings and trade shows to getting paid and protecting intellectual property. Integrating strategy and tactics, the author shows you how to separate fact from fiction and earn a passport to profit in a region that is breaking with its past.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book.......2007-02-18
A very interesting, well-written book. It covers both the current status of business and business needs in latin america and also the cultural aspects of doing business there. Most books cover one topic or the other. This one blends both into a good read. Gives good, practical tips on negotiation techniques, dealing with the government bureaucracy, impression mangement, marketing to latin american consumers and business leaders, etc. Makes you think of dealing with the latin american market from a whole new perspective. Buy it if you are thinking about doing business in latin america or even if you are already there.
Nice book.......2007-01-18
basically ok, it was just scratched a little bit from the outside, so it might need better packinging. brgds
Practical side of Latin America.......2006-02-24
Very useful for new business men and for future visits!
Small USA based business exploring Latin America for opportunity.......2006-01-03
Thanks to Dr. Becker for explaining in practical and action oriented detail the growth opportunities in Latin America for my small USA based company. After stumbling onto our first Mexican client, my team and I thought we better learn more about how Latin American business operates. Becker clearly highlights the economic and cultural factors that shape doing business in the region, as well as provides many "real-world" tips on how to spot opportunities, avoid pitfalls, and develop long term, profitable customers.
An excellent book that provides current market intelligence on Latin America in an easy-to-read form.
Chris Slocum
Must read. Must re-read. Must recommend to others........2005-02-01
I highly recommend this book for anyone doing business in Latin America.
I recently expanded my business into Central and South America and was desperately in need of education regarding the business practices and social customs of these new markets. I am usually more critical in my reviews, but Doing Business in the New Latin America exceeded my expectations tenfold, so please forgive my enthusiasm.
I was expecting a dry and analytical tome in the style of the two other books I had already read: Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets and Latin America's Economy: Diversity, Trends, and Conflicts. These books were beneficial in their own way, but Doing Business in the New Latin America is in an entirely different league.
With only six chapters and 236 pages, you might think that the scope of the subject matter would be limited, but Thomas Becker has managed to cover every base by presenting only the most cogent and relevant material.
This book is written with a casual professionalism--I felt as if I were having a conversation with a well-informed friend. Topics that elsewhere are lackluster and uninspired are here presented with enthusiasm and even humor. This book was actually fun to read.
I began speed-reading the text, but quickly found so much worthy content that I finished the book word-for-word. My second time through, I marked up the pages for later reference, only to discover that I marked up almost every page so much that my business partner had to order his own copy.
The chapter: Using Cultural Literacy to Hone Your Competitive Edge (alone worth the price of the book and the investment of time) explains not only the current and relevant customs and rituals of Latins, but gives them context by explaining the origins and evolution of those customs. I found these stories to be as fascinating as they were useful.
I was horrified to learn that many of my new Latin relationships were already tainted by numerous easily-avoided faux pas and that I had missed opportunities that this book made clear to me. Still, my business has only begun to capitalize on this vast new market and the lessons I learned in this book will, I'm certain, be incredibly beneficial.
The entertaining quality of this book does not overshadow its pragmatism. There are negotiating and selling tips (that are contrary to anything you've ever learned in the U.S.), communication methods, risk avoidance strategies, management practices, and brilliant applications of old-fashioned business approaches to an entirely new market.
I particularly enjoyed the contrasts between the business styles and social norms of our two cultures, often presented in crystal-clear tabular format. I was surprised to learn, for instance, that the U.S. fascination with individualism is not well received in Latin America, where collectivism is the norm, especially among workers.
The comprehensive index makes this book an excellent reference source. A Latin associate mentioned guayabera (a style of shirt) in an e-mail referring to dress codes and I found four references to this word in the book.
I learned so much from this book that I came away feeling like an expert in Latin American business. I won't say that this is the only book you should read on the subject, but I will say that if you were only going to read one, this should be it.
Book Description
Pawning was the most common credit mechanism in Mexico City in the nineteenth century. A diverse, largely female pawning clientele from lower- and middle-class households regularly secured small consumption loans by hocking household goods. A two-tiered sector of public and private pawnbrokers provided collateral credit. Rather than just providing emergency subsistence for the poor, pawnbroking facilitated consumption by Creole and mestizo middle sectors of Mexican society and enhanced identity formation for those in middling households by allowing them to cash in on material investments to maintain status during lean times. A Culture of Everyday Credit shows how Mexican women have depended on credit to run their households since the Bourbon era and how the collateral credit business of pawnbroking developed into a profitable enterprise built on the demand for housekeeping loans as restrictions on usury waned during the nineteenth century. Pairing the study of household consumption with a detailed analysis of the rise of private and public pawnbroking provides an original context for understanding the role of small business in everyday life. Marie Eileen Francois weighs colonial reforms, liberal legislation, and social revolution in terms of their impact on households and pawning businesses. Based on evidence from pawnshop inventories, censuses, legislation, petitions, literature, and newspapers, A Culture of Everyday Credit portrays households, small businesses, and government entities as intersecting arenas in one material world, a world strapped for cash throughout most of the century and turned upside down during the Mexican Revolution. Marie Eileen Francois is an associate professor of history at Auburn University.
Book Description
In 2003, Latinos became the largest minority group in the United States and according to the Census Bureau they will represent close to 25 percent of the population by 2050. Latinos currently have the highest rate of employment of any U. S. minority and in five years their role in the American labor force will be even more prominent than it is now. Latino Culture is the first book to fully explore the nuances of Latino culture in the workplace.
Written by Nilda Chong - recently named as one of 80 "Elite Latinas" by Hispanic Business magazine - and Francia Baez, Latino Culture is for mainstream managers, supervisors, and employees who work with Latinos. First-generation Latinas and successful professionals, Chong and Baez bring a profound understanding of the experience of working with Latinos as well as working as Latinos in the United States.
Chong and Baez provide valuable insights into key aspects of Latino Culture, such as: -Latino values: personalismo, simpatia, respeto and more -Communication styles, personal distance, self-disclosure, disagreements -Gender issues in the workplace: machismo, marianismo and paternalism -Relationship to supervisors, to coworkers and to employees -The issue of speaking Spanish at work -Striking differences in behavior and experience between generations
Colorful vignettes, real life stories and Cultural Pointers reveal the diversity of Latino culture, illuminating differences in values, education, country of origin and many other factors. Latino Culture celebrates an extremely diverse and important population.
Customer Reviews:
Would not recomend .......2007-08-19
The research appears to be thorough. But the overall presentation is lacking. To be fair, the concept of Latino Culture and how it affects professional relationships could take volumes of material and years of experience to fully understand. Unfortunately this book does a poor job of delivering the key points that I should be able to take away from the time spent reading it.
Book Description
"Meisch is a master ethnographer of the postcolonial situation. When nobody remembers the faddish side of postcolonial studies, readers will still be poring over this book to find out how indigenous America threw the 'mestizo-white' establishment for a judo loop at the end of the twentieth century."
—Frank Salomon, Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin
Native to a high valley in the Andes of Ecuador, the Otavalos are an indigenous people whose handcrafted textiles and traditional music are now sold in countries around the globe. Known as weavers and merchants since pre-Inca times, Otavalos today live and work in over thirty countries on six continents, while hosting more than 145,000 tourists annually at their Saturday market.
In this ethnography of the globalization process, Lynn A. Meisch looks at how participation in the global economy has affected Otavalo identity and culture since the 1970s. Drawing on nearly thirty years of fieldwork, she covers many areas of Otavalo life, including the development of weaving and music as business enterprises, the increase in tourism to Otavalo, the diaspora of Otavalo merchants and musicians around the world, changing social relations at home, the growth of indigenous political power, and current debates within the Otavalo community over preserving cultural identity in the face of globalization and transnational migration. Refuting the belief that contact with the wider world inevitably destroys indigenous societies, Meisch demonstrates that Otavalos are preserving many features of their culture while adopting and adapting modern technologies and practices they find useful.
Customer Reviews:
A perfect follow-up for a visit to Ecuador.......2006-11-11
Upon the recommendation of the owner of the mountain lodge where we stayed in Otavalo, Ecuador, I ordered Andean Entrepreneurs following our return home. Lynn Meisch has written a highly readable book about the people and commerce of that region, well-researched and full of interesting detail. It is warm and human, reflecting her love of the Otavaleños, with whom she lived for long periods of time. It was fascinating to learn so much about the music, the style of dress, customs, families, entrepreneurial spirit, and long-standing skill with weaving and textiles among these kind people with whom I had enjoyed an interesting visit. This book will be quite valuable for anyone contemplating a visit to Ecuador, or who has returned from time spent there.
Book Description
"It is hard for me to praise this book sufficiently. . . . It is a major contribution to the field of Oaxacan/Mexican studies, as well as economic anthropology and the study of tourism and crafts."
—Arthur Murphy, Georgia State University, coauthor of
Social Inequality in Oaxaca: A History of Resistance and Change
Since the mid-1980s, whimsical, brightly colored wood carvings from the Mexican state of Oaxaca have found their way into gift shops and private homes across the United States and Europe, as Western consumers seek to connect with the authenticity and tradition represented by indigenous folk arts. Ironically, however, the Oaxacan wood carvings are not a traditional folk art. Invented in the mid-twentieth century by non-Indian Mexican artisans for the tourist market, their appeal flows as much from intercultural miscommunication as from their intrinsic artistic merit.
In this beautifully illustrated book, Michael Chibnik offers the first in-depth look at the international trade in Oaxacan wood carvings, including their history, production, marketing, and cultural representations. Drawing on interviews he conducted in the carving communities and among wholesalers, retailers, and consumers, he follows the entire production and consumption cycle, from the harvesting of copal wood to the final purchase of the finished piece. Along the way, he describes how and why this "invented tradition" has been promoted as a "Zapotec Indian" craft and explores its similarities with other local crafts with longer histories. He also fully discusses the effects on local communities of participating in the global market, concluding that the trade in Oaxacan wood carvings is an almost paradigmatic case study of globalization.
Customer Reviews:
The Story Behind the Story.......2003-11-16
This book is for everyone whose appreciation for Oaxacan woodcarvings goes beyond the sinewy shapes and pretty colors. If you have ever wished you could go to Oaxaca to meet the carvers in person, this book is for you. If you have ever wondered how your favorite carvers work, wanted to know what their toolkits look like, or wished you could watch them paint, then this book is for you. Yes, this is a serious book written by an anthropology professor for an academic audience. But it also offers the collector a welcome glimpse into the lives of the carvers and their families. No, this book does not romanticize the Oaxacan woodcarvers or the "history" of their craft. But it does describe how a people who lived in poverty were able to improve their lot in life by using their hands to create folk art that is sold to customers in a high-tech world thousands of miles away.
I admit I was almost scared off when in Chapter One the author mentioned Lenin, since I would be more likely to read a book that quotes John Lennon than Vladimir Lenin. Fortunately I read on, for this book took me where I've wanted to go for some time - to Oaxaca. In Chapter Four the author takes you into the woodcarving villages and in Chapter Five he tells you how carving families have benefited financially in varying degrees from their participation in the woodcarving process. Chapter Six is all about how it's done - the nuts and bolts (or branches and sandpaper, so to speak) of how a carving goes from a copal tree to a finished carving in the hands of the carving families. (As a woodcarver myself, this was fascinating.) The chapter on Specialization was very interesting - and the following chapter on How Artisans Attain Success was also intriguing. Again, these chapters offered a look inside the Oaxacan woodcarving craft that most people would never see. The chapters on sales in Oaxaca and the United States were unexpectedly worthwhile reading as well.
One reviewer compared this book to a magician walking onstage and telling you how the trick is done. For me, however, the "magic in the trees" has always been the magical energy that sparked the Oaxacan woodcarvers to use their creativity to make something that can be appreciated for its artistic beauty but that can also bring a better quality of life to the carvers and their families in the woodcarving villages.
Buy the Shepard Barbash book (Oaxacan Woodcarving - the Magic in the Trees) for its pictures and alluring text. Buy this book (Crafting Tradition by Michael Chibnik) for the story behind the story. Both books are indispensable to anyone who has a passion for Oaxacan woodcarvings.
Making a neat thing very mundane.......2003-10-18
This very bland book attempts to apply economic theory to explain the success and failures of the
artisans and the people who sell alebrijes. What Barbash did for Oaxacan woodcarving this
university professor has undone with a book filled with criticism and forced interviews. Imagine a
magician wowing you on stage and then after word a man comes onto the stage and explains
how each trick was done and why you shouldn't be impressed because he certainly wasn't.
Chibnik's odd obsession with the Barbash book is mentioned in every chapter and makes one
question the motivation for this book. Written from 94-99 this collection of notes really sings a
professors justification for vacationing in one part of Mexico and getting his University to pay for it.
The book is devoid of interesting photos. The very few are either pictures of his own pieces or
black and white. The author also chooses a very narrow group of artists for his focus. The ones
he does focus on he mentions as "the best" or "most expensive". He praises the work of Miguel
Santiago as being the most talented and most expensive when there are others like Medina or
Aurelio Zarate that take Migel's stiff looking work up a couple of notches.
The author tries to sound very factual about things he's really only making an observation of. For
instance he mentions Maria Jimenez as the only female carver where in fact Roberta Angeles,
Christina Ibanez, and Bertha Cruz are also well known women artists. The distances he
mentions to get to villages from the city are a bit off. To get to San Pedro Cajonos the author
states it's two hours where in fact it's about eight. These little things add up and about halfway
through they demotivate you from wanting to read further.
The author takes a hard jab at wholesalers and dealers. He describes them as people who could
have easier ways to make a living other than importing folk art. Sad but true. The prices he
assumes these dealers pay for reflect 1994 and certainly not 2003 when the book is published.
He pokes fun of various catalog descriptions and websites for doing the things they naturally do
to make something interesting to buy. Ironically in the Epilogue he alerts the reader that Clive
Kincaid the largest wholesaler in his book will no longer be carrying woodcarvings. Clive is
mentioned as saying "shop owners and museum curators where just walking past our booth".
A hard blow to the hundreds of Oaxacan artists that have grown with him over the years.
Well if Clive read Chibniks book there wouldn't be any surprise as to why.
Art Socioeconomics.......2003-05-20
Anyone interested in Mexican folk art will have noticed the brightly-painted animals, people, and alebrijes (fantastic imaginary critters) featured in many Mexican-oriented gift shops. Michael Chibnik's book is an excellent introduction to the socioeconomics of the craft. These figures are produced in only four villages, all in central Oaxaca. The people who make them have varying degrees of Zapotec heritage, but are mostly Spanish-speaking. They are now used to dealing with international buyers; this is a global age, and the sight of a rich, sophisticated buyer in an adobe-and-pole home in a remote Oaxaca village occasions no surprise. Chibnik follows items on their odyssey from such homes to the elite art stores of Oaxaca and the United States.
Chibnik stresses the newness of the craft. True, but Oaxaca has a very old tradition of superb and imaginative woodcarving, previously applied to shrines, masks, and local utility goods. It not only produced the skills, it provided an existing market structure. This Chibnik fails to address.
Some points in the book deserve expansion. First, aid and development workers interested in small enterprise development should very definitely read it. It chronicles, very thoroughly, a spectacularly successful bit of local initiative and creativity. The villagers not only invented this craft; they have kept improving it steadily. Woodworking expands, diversifies, and gets more creative; meanwhile, the people themselves get rapidly more sophisticated in business. Chibnik provides very detailed accounts of the economics of the craft, from the price of wood (fortunately, a common sort of tree is used) to the markups in Tucson and Los Angeles art galleries.
This sort of value-added bootstrapping is rare in Mexico (and elsewhere). It should be encouraged. Thousands of well-meant development initiatives, pushed by outsiders, have failed; here we have an excellent study of one that was strictly local initiative and that succeeded. Chibnik does not explicitly target small enterprise development experts, but they are the people who really should be reading this book with great care.
Second, this is good art. Chibnik quotes, without much comment, some sadly snobbish statements to the effect that this stuff is "commercial" and thus automatically low. As if Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Monet weren't commercial artists! Come on, scholars--good art is usually made with at least one eye toward an audience willing to pay for it. Chibnik is generally silent on the quality of pieces and why it matters, though he does make some judgements. Yet, discussion of quality--why people really like some pieces and find others dull--should be a natural part of an economic study. Anthropologists and economists tend to be skeptical (or downright cynical) about quality judgements, but such judgements are a fact of life, and do structure the market. They should be directly addressed.
As noted by an earlier reviewer, this book is rather underillustrated. Given that there is only one other book about the craft (and it rather short), one would hope that, some day, a full art-critical study of the carvings will be produced.
The same earlier reviewer found the style dry. I disagree. Maybe I'm just used to academia, but I find this a very well-written and readable book. It is mercifully free from the jargon usual in economic studies and art criticism. I found it engaging and hard to put down. Highly recommended to anyone with a serious interest in the socioeconomic side of folk art.
Interesting Read (but not much to look at).......2003-03-25
Crafting Tradition succeeds in giving a thorough look at the economics, history and marketing of Oaxacan wood carvings. Be forewarned, however, that there are only 16 pages of color reproductions in the book. Those pieces that are shown in color are not necesarily the most exciting Oaxacan carvings I've ever seen so in the "art book" category this book fails to give the reader much to look at. But if you are interesting in learning about how the carving market developed, how the artists and sellers fit into the overall scheme, and how Oaxacan carvings are sold to buyers and collectors, this is an interesting read. It's written in a dry, scholarly tone, and feels like an economics text book. But the "behind-the-scenes" information is something that isn't addressed too often. So while I like the information, I wished the style of writing were livlier and would have liked many more examples (in color) of Oaxacan art. Recommended for those with a deep interest in Oaxacan wood carving tradition, not recommended for those looking for a catalog of Oaxacan art to look at.
Book Description
In the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Mexican and U.S. political leaders, business executives, and ordinary citizens shaped modern Mexico by making industrial capitalism the key to upward mobility into the middle class, material prosperity, and a new form of democracy-consumer democracy. Julio Moreno describes how Mexico's industrial capitalism between 1920 and 1950 shaped the country's national identity, contributed to Mexico's emergence as a modern nation-state, and transformed U.S.-Mexican relations.
According to Moreno, government programs and incentives were central to legitimizing the postrevolutionary government as well as encouraging commercial growth. Moreover, Mexican nationalism and revolutionary rhetoric gave Mexicans the leverage to set the terms for U.S. businesses and diplomats anxious to court Mexico in the midst of the dual crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Diplomats like Nelson Rockefeller and corporations like Sears Roebuck achieved success by embracing Mexican culture in their marketing and diplomatic pitches, while those who disregarded Mexican traditions were slow to earn profits.
Moreno also reveals how the rapid growth of industrial capitalism, urban economic displacement, and unease caused by World War II and its aftermath unleashed feelings of spiritual and moral decay among Mexicans that led to an antimodernist backlash by the end of the 1940s.
Book Description
Unfortunately most North Americans have not paid much attention to or taken time to learn about our neighbors to the South. The United States and the world cannot afford to ignore a continent that is called home by one-fifth of the world's population and is an incredibly rich source of natural resources. This book is a guide to communicating with South Americans in business and social situations. Designed to be simple to read and use, with easily accessible sections organized by country and behavior. Topics covered include Meeting and Greeting, Names and Titles, Corporate Culture, and Especially for Women.
Put Your Best Foot Forward-South America is equally helpful for leisure travelers, students, teachers, people in the travel and hospitality industry, and hosts who entertain international guests.
Book Description
Today, tourism is one of Mexico's most successful revolutionary projects that played a decisive role in the making of that modern nation. From the industry's birth in 1928 to its boom in 1946, government officials and private entrepreneurs coalesced around tourism to study, develop, and promote it as a development strategy that fulfilled revolutionary goals. Through savvy promotional campaigns that professed goodwill and showcased the modern (martinis) and the traditional (pyramids), tourist boosters refashioned their nation's image from an unruly to a good neighbor successfully attracting U.S. tourists. This pioneering study demystifies the emergence of modern tourism and demonstrates how tourist boosters capitalized on broader shifts in U.S.-Mexican relations.
Customer Reviews:
Publisher's Information.......2006-06-01
Entrepreneurial British merchant communities, such as the small, but influential community in Bahia, Brazil, lay the early foundations for today's globalized business environment. Remarkably, though, little is known about the actual social processes underlying these communities.
The British merchants of Bahia kept largely to themselves and, within the incongruous context of tropical South America, made a concerted effort to sustain a distinct British identity. In Brazil's journey from colony to modern nationhood, the country's elites looked to the British as an example of political, social, and economic modernity. At the same time, British merchants were trying to live their daily lives in as British a manner as possible. This led to a constellation of fascinating behaviors that were sometimes adaptive, sometimes destructive.
In a wide-ranging examination of the activities, relationships and cultural perceptions of Bahia's British community, Louise Guenther 's study extends well beyond the current boundaries of scholarship on nineteenth-century British influence in Latin America, as well as making a significant contribution to world business history.
This book was short-listed for the Wadsworth Prize, for the best book published annually in the field of British business history (2005).
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Workplace
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| Books
Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets
Latin American Business Cultures
Global Etiquette Guide to Mexico and Latin America
Modern Latin America, Sixth Edition
The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protection (3rd Edition)
