Management in Two Cultures: Bridging the Gap Between U.S and Mexican Managers

Much has been written on the economic dimensions of the U.S.-Mexican business relations, but little on the more subtle and sensitive cultural issues involved that, if not properly understood, can strain relationships and disrupt the flow of business.In this revised edition of her popular book Management in Two Cultures: Bridging the Gap Between U.S. and Mexican Managers, Eva Kras confronts the problems that arise out of the cultural differences between U.S. and Mexican managers. Since the original publication in 1989, NAFTA has been ratified, and we can see how business relationships and practices are evolving. Mexico's ambitious Maquiladora program-designed to foster the establishment of foreign, especially U.S., manufacturing plants in Mexico along the U.S. border-has been strikingly successful. The result has been a significant increase in the amount of contact between managers from the two cultures and a dramatic rise in the stakes involved in their developing effective working relationships.This highly structured handbook is based on extensive interviews with and sample letters written by Mexican and U.S. managers. Kras compares critical areas of managerial settings in which the values and behaviors of the two cultures differ, like staffing procedures, loyalty, family, ethics, and competition, then offering specific recommendations on how to mediate these conflicts.With expanded analyses in the context of NAFTA and other recent developments, Kras offers a sharper image of the business climate between the U.S. and Mexico and how to realistically tackle cultural differences in business etiquette and managerial styles.