Cultural Differences Between Mexico And Canada

With many companies globalizing and setting up offices around the world the corporations often face intercultural difficulties and therefore send managers to oversee various areas to ensure expectations are being met and quality is being up kept. The managers who get sent on behalf of these companies often find major differences right from the moment they step off the plane, for example, culture shock, managerial ethical issues, differences in managerial styles and the managerial culture of a specific country. Specifically with the differences between Mexico and US/Canada, managers often make notable comments related to each other because of the major differences in style of doing business. Many foreigners new to Mexico for business encounter problems in language and communication barriers, punctuality when setting up meetings, traffic and transportation delays, and business greetings and body language. Most become impatient quickly and are unable to recognize and appreciate the cultural differences and learn how to adapt.

Mexico being a growing economy has placed a heavy importance on English, to the point where in the last several years they do not allow students to graduate from university without passing English language proficiency exams. The current executives who did not value English during their scholastic careers are now trying to catch up to the younger generations. Even though most have a strong understanding and command with the language, one must be understanding that at times they do switch some word orders, but the overall message is conveyed. Very common in Mexican speech patters is they tag ¨no¨ on the end of sentences to become a question. This is so the speaker can verify if what they just said was understood