Publications

2004
Working Paper

Contract Rights and Risk Aversion: Foreign Banks and the Mexican Economy, 1997-2004

By: Stephen Haber and Aldo Musacchio

In 1997 Mexico allowed foreign banks unrestricted entry to the market. What impact did foreign mergers and acquisitions have on Mexico's banks? We find that all banks in Mexico have become increasingly risk averse, and that foreign banks are even more so. Foreign banks... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Contracts; Market Entry and Exit; Globalization; Microeconomics; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Mexico

October 2000 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Avon Products (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Greg Rogers

The general manager of Avon Mexico, Fernando Lezama, must decide whether to promote a woman to the position of vice president of sales. If appointed, the candidate would be the first female in all of Latin America to hold an executive position and one of the first... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Leading Change; Salesforce Management; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Gender; Management Teams; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Mexico

June 2007
Case

Wal-Mart Mexico: Managing Multiple Formats

By: Rajiv Lal, Mark Rennella and David Lane

"On February 1, 2007, Wal-Mart Mexico (Walmex) CEO Eduardo Solorzano was preparing for a well deserved, two-week vacation on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Things were going well. Wal-Mart Mexico, which consisted principally of six different retail formats, had been... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Growth and Development; Marketing Strategy; Retail Industry; Mexico

24 Apr 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Bank Accounting Standards in Mexico: A Layman’s Guide to Changes 10 Years after the 1995 Bank Crisis

Keywords: by Gustavo A. Del Angel, Stephen Haber & Aldo Musacchio; Banking

March 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Cinco de Mayo

By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas P. Retsinas, David Margain and Andres Caldera Radonski

In 2004, Adrian Pandal is seeking financing for a residential conversion of a building in Mexico City's historic center district. He must convince potential lenders that the project is viable and that it makes sense to bet on the future potential of an area that, until... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Opportunities; Urban Development; Investment; Property; Real Estate Industry; Mexico City

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Lurtz researches the history of agricultural economies in Latin America. She has a particular interest in export agriculture and attendant state- and locally-driven modernization projects. Her current work looks to the coffee economy of southern Mexico in the 19th... View Details

Research Summary

Marcelo Bucheli is currently studying the operations of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) in Colombia and Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. He is analyzing how the local political environment of each of these countries affected the company's international corporate... View Details

November 1996 (Revised September 1997)
Case

BancZero New Product Development

By: Marco Iansiti and Alberto Moel

The Mexico City office of a large U.S. bank is asked by clients to develop currency swaps, a derivative financial product. This case deals with the new product development process in financial services, and the problems and issues that are raised in product development... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Banks and Banking; Financial Instruments; Situation or Environment; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Volatility; Banking Industry; Mexico City; United States

September 2006 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Empemex

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Studies an entrepreneurial venture in Mexico City. The protagonists, two MBAs from HBS, started a pawn shop chain funded from their private equity office after finishing business school. This is timed at a point where the protagonists have to decide how to grow the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Mexico City; United States

August 1994
Case

Grupo IUSACELL (A)

Describes the challenges facing a cellular telephone company in Mexico as it positions itself in the explosive cellular market and prepares to become a full-service telecommunications provider. Faced with declining market share, revenues per subscriber, and operating... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Customer Relationship Management; Telecommunications Industry; Mexico

2012
Working Paper

Mexico's Financial Crisis of 1994-1995

By: Aldo Musacchio

This paper explains the causes leading to the Mexican crisis of 1994-1995 (known as "The Tequila Crisis"), and its short- and long-term consequences. It argues that excessive enthusiasm on the part of foreign investors, not based on Mexico's fundamentals, and weak... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Foreign Direct Investment; Banks and Banking; Government and Politics; Currency Exchange Rate; Banking Industry; Mexico

October 2022
Case

Spaceport America, Public Sector Risk-taking, and Political Accountability (A)

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Dava Newman, Rebecca Browder and Angela Acocella

Sitting quietly in the heart of the New Mexico desert in the summer of 2014, Spaceport America (SA) housed little of the activity its supporters anticipated when opening its hangar doors in 2011. Despite $1 million in annual rent from Virgin Galactic, British... View Details

Keywords: Funding Sources; Risk and Uncertainty; Public Sector; Business and Government Relations; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Aerospace Industry; New Mexico

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Grupo Bimbo: Growth and Social Responsibility

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

Bimbo, headquartered in Mexico with 2008 sales of $7 billion, was one of the largest bakery companies in the world. Even as it had grown spectacularly in the last several decades, the company had earned a stellar reputation for its corporate social responsibility... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Reputation; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

19 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Political Turmoil and Mexico’s Economy

history, HBS assistant professor Noel Maurer considers these questions and opens the door to other queries involving issues of economics and governance that reach well beyond the United States and its neighbor to the south. Mexico makes a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

22 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 22

of 1938 was the first large-scale non-Communist expropriation of foreign-owned natural resource assets. The literature generally makes three assertions: the U.S. government did not fully back the companies, Mexico did not fully compensate... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

Cinemex

By: James L. Heskett

The founders of Cinemex, the largest capitalized venture start-up in Mexican history, are debating several issues concerning the operations of their new chain of motion picture theatres in Mexico City. The first concerns whether some seats should be left unsold to... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Service Operations; Debates; Venture Capital; Customer Satisfaction; Advertising; Investment; Theater Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Mexico City

February 2020
Case

Rotoplas: Bringing More and Better Water

By: John D. Macomber and Carla Larangeira

Private companies were being turned to for potable water in the world’s megacities due to impacts of climate change including droughts and flooding. Mexico City had endured several water-related crises, with its population suffering from floods, droughts, water... View Details

Keywords: Water Supply; Water Management; Finance; Infrastructure; Urban Development; Business and Government Relations; Latin America; Mexico

April 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Volkswagen de Mexico's North American Strategy (A)

In 1988, Volkswagen (VW) consolidated its North American operations in Puebla, Mexico, after shutting down its plant in Pennsylvania. Volkswagen de Mexico had been in operation since the 1960s, but produced almost exclusively for the Mexican market. In the late 1980s,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Trade; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Canada; Germany; United States; Mexico

April 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

American Outsourcing

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Alexander Veytsman

Covers the phenomenon of outsourcing jobs from the United States. Reviews the evolution of Mexico's Maquiladoras, manufacturing special economic areas in China, and information technology and service-sourcing in India. Also reviews exports/imports, exchange rates,... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employment; Emerging Markets; Wages; Trade; United States; Mexico; China; India