Cultural Differences in Business in Mexico

Like China, Brazil and India, Mexico is considered to be a New Industrialized Country (NIC). This is a country with an economy more advanced and developed than those in the developing world, but not yet with the full signs of a fully developed country. Moreover, Mexico is the third largest exporter to the USA, supplying North America with products as oil, tourism and many assembled products commissioned by US companies. In this essay some typical cultural characteristics will be discussed.

Relationships are of great importance in the Mexican culture. Mexicans are considered as warm and gracious, and they expect the same behavior from their foreign counterparty. This is why building a personal relationship with its Mexican counterparty is the key to business success, even before the building of a professional one. In order to make this connection, it is necessary to gain respect from the other business party and to convince them that you can fully understand their culture and way of living. Therefore, a time-is-money mentality is inappropriate, negotiations can move slowly and patience is needed. Quick decisiveness is often seen as hasty.

This way of doing business has some practical consequences: first of all, punctuality is not rigid because of a strong emphasis on personal instead of professional obligations. Your Mexican business counterpart may keep you waiting and thirty minutes past the scheduled time is still considered to be punctual. On the other hand, punctuality is expected from foreign business people though. Above this kind of delay, it is expected to have ten to fifteen minutes of small talk before getting down to business.

Secondly, to get things done, it is recommended to personalize everything. Foreign business people are often advised to explain how all their proposals would benefit the Mexican personally, his or her family, the local communities, and Mexico in general.

Thirdly, due to this personal approach, deal-making almost never occurs by letter, over the phone or by conference calls (even video conferences are rare). Mexicans prefer to do business in person.

Status too is very important. The quality of your clothes, accessories (watches, jewels …) and way of transport will be critically appraised.

As said before, it is necessary to make a personal connection with your Mexican counterpart. In order to