Ted Dorman Essay

This case about Ted Dorman, an American, who started business in Mexico, shows couple of mistakes, which can be done by starting business in different culture.

The whole Dorman’s family made one of the mistakes, when they disregarded the Mexican Culture by moving into expatriate community. Another mistake Ted made, was the feeling that Manuel, his Mexican counterpart, cared more about “frivolous” things than the business, which showed his lack of Mexican culture. Also, the hierarchal tendencies were ignored by Ted, which was the other mistake made in this international experience. He ignored the differences between American m-time style and Mexican p-time style. Unfortunately Ted didn’t change his behavior, so his mistakes and continued lack of empathy for Mexican

This would have allowed him to understand the people and be more successful in maximizing the efficiency of his workers. It would have also help his relationship with Manuel and other key players in production for the company, such as metal suppliers.

One example of Ted’s lack of empathy for Mexican culture was that he never call Manuel by his official title, leacenado.

Another great example was when Ted went out to lunch with the representatives from well-respected metal supplier in Mexico. Ted was too focus on getting down the business, he tried to skip the small talk and go straight to the business aspects and make deals, but well-respected metal suppliers wanted to make friends first. The suppliers wanted to take Ted on a trip through the city to teach him some of their culture and heritage. Ted declined; this was a mistake, because he was trying to do business “Gringo style”.

This let to inefficiencies, because Ted failed to establish the good relationship and respect for the suppliers, and they were reluctant to work with