On Mexican Time

For book club this month we read On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan. While this was definitely not a business book, it did offer some peeks into the differences in Mexican business culture and ours.

Granted this exchange took place in the 1980's but even then it would be hard to find a business owner in the US who stopped ordering a product because her customers liked it so much.

"The morning Masako came back from town bewildered. Supermercado Sanchez sells a canned tuna in a spicy tomato sauce so original,so tasty that people have been telling friends about it. Quickly it sells out. Reorders have been taking longer and longer. Masako asked Senora Sanchez why it hasn't reappeared on the shelves. She stopped ordering it, she said. But why, when it's so popular? That's just it, Senora Sanchez replied. People are always asking for it. Then we run out. they complain. Too much trouble. "No vale la pena," she says, throwing her hands up. Not worth it."

And this from a conversation Cohan had with a Japanese woman who worked  in quality control at a Nissan plant in Mexico

"In Japan," she says if something falls down on the production line, workers rush to analyze the cause, take blame. In Mexico, it's 'se cayo'( it fell) or 'se rompio'(it broke). Nobody admits responsibility.'

" What do you do then," I ask her.

" First you approach the worker to the right and you ask is everything okay. Then you approach the worker to the left. Finally you agree with the worker who made the mistake that maybe something happened ---'se cayo. But you never blame."

"Pride, machismo," I say.

Yoko nods. " Every culture is different."