Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of national cultural dimensions on staffing practices in Mexico – a major player in Latin America. US multinationals are increasing their presence in Mexico and staffing practices seem to be a great challenge.

This conceptual paper uses the national cultural dimensions of the GLOBE project, which is identified as the most topical theoretical framework on culture. The national cultural scores are used to develop hypotheses for specific cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty‐avoidance, in‐group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, and performance‐orientation. Examples from the literature are also used to strengthen the proposed hypotheses.

This research identifies staffing practices such as internal recruitment, personal references, succession planning, psychometric tests, and elaborate bio‐data associated with these cultural dimensions. Also, certain staffing practices, such as e‐recruitment and panel interviews, are not very predominant in the Mexican culture.

Future research can empirically test the hypotheses proposed.

This study will help multinationals understand why Mexican organisations use certain staffing practices and how multinationals can adapt to these culturally bound practices.

While staffing studies usually look at power‐distance, uncertainty‐avoidance, and collectivism as predictors for staffing, this paper has included cultural dimensions, such as performance‐orientation and masculinity‐femininity as predictors for staffing practices. This study also proposes a staffing model identifying staffing practices to the cultural dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic literature review on the subject of multilatinas during 2007-2017, through a review of 55 papers published in 35 journals.

A qualitative technique for conducting a systematic literature review was used. To systematize and make the literature review more accurate, it was divided in four stages: data collection, coding, analysis and interpretation of data. Several tables and figures were developed to provide a better interpretation of the literature.

The phenomenon of multilatinas is still a regional topic. Nine specific gaps in the literature were identified: the role of the state; impact of “home-country reputation”; the role of the host country in the expansion of multilatinas; multilatina selection of markets with geographical closeness and cultural affinity; multilatinas from small economies (mainly Central American countries); studies of multilatinas operating in the service sector; the role of family ownership; studies analysing the multinationality–performance relationship; and the study of collaboration networks between researchers.

The access of academic databases, where more published studies may have been available, and the level of precision in the search for papers that meet the necessary characteristics were included in the review.

This paper contributes to not only the body of knowledge about multilatinas but also, in a wide scope, to the knowledge of multinationals from emerging countries. Furthermore also this paper provide some research directions for academics interested in multinationals.

The general contribution of this paper is in its addressing the topic of multinationals from emerging economies such as Latin America, a less-studied emerging region. Moreover, this work specifically contributes to understanding multilatinas and identifies research gaps and characteristics of the scientific papers on this phenomenon, potentially increasing knowledge about multinationals from emerging countries, and specifically Latin America.

The aim of this paper is to use psychological contracts theory to explore performance management practices in Mexico paying particular attention to the impact of national culture, social and structural factors.

The paper examines the content of psychological contracts from the viewpoint of both parties in the employment relationship – managers and employees – in the context of performance appraisals. It conducted focus groups and interviews at these two organizational levels in three different organizations.

Findings are organized around three themes: performance appraisal systems, the promises (fulfilled and unfulfilled) and the sources of terms and conditions as the content of psychological contracts for managing and participating in performance evaluation systems. For each theme the paper presents and contrasts the viewpoints of managers and employees.

Because of the sensitive cultural nature of performance appraisals, the findings help managers implement this process by explaining the underlying psychological contracts in Mexico. Specifically, employees experience the socio‐emotional behaviors that accompany performance evaluation and engage in the process at different levels of commitment. Both managers and employees respond according to their needs and what they perceive to be the company's reward.

Performance appraisal has received little attention from studies of psychological contracts, though it is a key practice in which work promises and rewards related to performance are made. In this study, the paper brings these two research streams together and apply it to a culturally unique setting.

This qualitative case study research describes the human resource management (HRM) practices of four leading Indian information technology (IT) subsidiaries located in Mexico. The purpose of this study is to understand the implementation of these practices from the global integration-local responsiveness perspective.

This study adopts a qualitative multiple case-design approach to compare HRM themes across multiple cases. This research was conducted with HRM leaders from December 2011 through August 2012. This research involved interviews with 50 per cent of the population of Indian IT companies in Mexico. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed to maintain the rigor of the research. This study also followed other guidelines to maintain validity and reliability in research.

The results indicate that each function has to be considered independently because of contextual factors. Recruitment and compensation are usually localized as cultural norms, and local laws dictate following domestic practices. Performance management and professional development follow the guidelines from the headquarters as these companies seek standardization of work-related behaviors among their global employees.

This study provides preliminary guidelines for global IT practitioners who may be interested in doing business in Mexico. This paper also details challenges and guidelines for IT multinationals planning to establish in Mexico as articulated by the respondents.

This can be considered a pioneer research, as no other research papers (either qualitative or empirical) have explored the HRM practices of Indian multinational subsidiaries in Mexico. This paper thus provides a preliminary step in understanding this cross-cultural literature in emerging markets.

This paper provides an overview of the Aztec 13 – the top 13 multinational enterprises in Mexico. Different from research that groups countries and regions, the purpose of the paper is to deliver a nuanced picture of these multinationals in terms of their key characteristics and the strategies they follow when they internationalize.

All data sources that have been identified and reviewed are documents, printed and electronic. The Aztec multilatinas were identified using Forbes Global 2000 (2017). Other data sources such as media texts, company annual reports, reports filed with the Mexican Stock Exchange and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as investor presentations, were collected and analyzed. Data sources were published in English and Spanish. The analytic procedure adopted entailed identifying, selecting, making sense of and synthesizing the data contained in the documents.

Aztec multilatinas have specific characteristics which, to a great extent, influence their internationalization strategies. Characteristics include the geographical location of their headquarters, their origin and history, their ownership structure and ties with families and government. These factors, combined, help to describe in greater nuance the internationalization strategies and activities of the Aztec 13. Such a detailed and focused description is a first necessary step for subsequent potential theorizing.

This paper contributes to the vibrant scholarly conversation on multinational enterprises from less researched regions and countries. Latin America is such a region and Mexico is such a country. Focusing on a single country and its top 13 multinationals allow a comprehensive description and disciplined analysis, with no dangerous generalizations to large regions and even larger settings such as emerging markets multinationals and with no false claims for theorizing.

Introduction The recent approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement will draw more foreign companies to Mexico because of the cheaper labour available, high quality work, and close proximity to the US. New investment regulations came into effect in 1989, and Mexico has attracted US$23 billion in foreign investment, two thirds of which has gone into the local stock market, with a much smaller share going into fixed investment in plant and equipment (Moffett, 1992). Mexico is currently enjoying economic growth and attracting even more foreign investments. However, companies currently located in Mexico have obtained mixed results which create reluctance to expand existing projects or to invest further.

This theory testing paper compares and analyzes the internationalization process of two Mexican family-owned firms: Xignux and Grupo Alfa. This paper is intended to offer a theoretical understanding using existing frameworks such as OLI (ownership, location and internationalization), LLL (linkage, leverage and learning) and the Uppsala model. Furthermore, it tests whether the theoretical framework of organizational capabilities and international ventures fits the internationalization of these companies.

This paper is based on case study methodology using the companies’ publically available data. Both within-case and cross-case analysis were carried out to identify specific traits in the internationalization pattern of both firms; cases were also compared with literature to identify conflicts and similarities that enable a better understanding of the phenomenon.

It was found that not a single theory fully and satisfactorily explains the internationalization of both Xignux and Alfa, instead, issues like internationalization into low psychic distance countries, establishment of strategic alliances and the exploitation of locational-specific advantages contributed in the international expansion of the studied companies.

There is an increasing amount of available literature regarding internationalization strategies and internationalization theories applied to developing and emerging country firms. However, most of the studies analyze companies from Asia, and there are limited studies on multilatinas (i.e. Latin American multinationals). Furthermore, scholars in the field of international business are still debating whether the existing theories, or an adaptation of them, explain the internationalization of multilatinas.

As has been widely recognized in the literature, the post‐war economic boom which drew to a close by the early 1970s has been followed by an intense period of industrial restructuring characterized by marked instability in all three major spheres of economic activity: production, distribution, and finance. This process has taken place both at the global level and at the level of national economies (Cardenas, 1990). It reflects a profound change in the mode of capitalist accumulation. Prior to the current round of restructuring, accumulation was taken to be principally the inward‐oriented task of each nation's own economy. Now, it seems that successful capital accumulation (i.e. development) depends most upon a nation's competitive integration into the world market for goods and services (Garrido, 1995). The present mode of accumulation implies an opening of national economies to international trade in commodities and capital, both among the advanced industrial nations and between the industrialized and the newly‐industrializing countries. This has generated a heightened degree of competition among countries and among firms, given that the easy movement of capital, goods, and services has allowed for real competition to emerge among dispersed places around the globe based upon their comparative financial and productive advantages.

This paper aims to study the internationalization path of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) in their international expansion through the global cities (GCs) phenomenon.

The authors used a quantitative approach to identify the most used ownership and entry modes, the preferred economic sectors and the level of interconnectedness of GCs.

The manuscript identified the predominance of the tertiary sector in the selection of GCs as foreign direct investment destinations. Second, the acquisition is the preferred entry mode regardless of the connectivity of the GC and the country of origin of the EMNE. The third is the use of wholly-owned subsidiaries as the preferred ownership mode. Finally, market-seeking is the main driver for the internationalization of Latin American EMNE. Consequentially, some GCs-specific advantages remain untapped by Latin American EMNE.

This manuscript considered each investment into a global city as a single step, although some acquisitions occurred incrementally through several small investments.

The authors developed a road map for the internationalization of Latin American EMNEs through GCs, acquisitions and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Finally, service-oriented EMNEs, such as IT and financial services, target locations with high interconnectedness to maximize the benefits of GCs-specific advantages.

The authors pointed out that market-seeking, not resource-seeking or efficiency-seeking is the primary driver of the internationalization of EMNE into global cities.

The purpose of this paper is to account for the remarkable proliferation of Mexican restaurants and tequila bars in contemporary urban Australia, in the absence of any geographical contiguity, historical connection or cultural proximity between Australia and Mexico.

The paper traces how the particularities of direct cultural contact, interpersonal networks and grass-roots entrepreneurism can open up new markets, and how the ground is, thus, prepared for subsequent large-scale international corporate entry to those markets. This research is based on interviews with key figures in the development of the Mexican food industry in Australia, interpreted in terms of the extant literature on cultural globalisation. The first-hand accounts of these participants have been interpreted in the light of available secondary sources and relevant theory.

The most striking theme to emerge in the study is the relative absence of Mexicans, or even Mexico-experienced Australians, in the making of a market for Mexican food in Australia. Rather, initially, Americans were prominent, as entrepreneurs and in forming a consumer market, while in later decades, entrepreneurs and consumers alike have been Australians whose experience of Mexican food has been formed in the United States, not Mexico. The role of hipster subculture and travel is seen as instrumental. Also of interest is the manner in which the personal experiences and interrelationships of the Americans and Australians have shaped the development of the Mexican food industry. This is not to ignore the much more recent participation of a new wave of immigrants from Mexico.

While the scope of the study is national, the sharper focus is on the experience of Melbourne; it would be useful for future researchers to investigate other major cities, even if Melbourne has been the most pivotal of Australian cities in the history of Mexican food in Australia. The study has conceptual and theoretical implications for debates around cultural globalisation and “Americanisation”.

The paper provides a close-grained and suitably theorised account of how a particular consumer trend has become extended on a global basis, with particular attention to both individual experience and agency, and corporate activity.