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Packaging Horizons
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Don't Judge the Book...
Latinos don't easily accept outsiders at face value. Conducting successful business in Latin America often means proving your expertise and developing solid relationships.
By Jennifer Dochstader
I made my first business trip to Latin America seven years ago, spending three weeks visiting printing companies in Chile, Argentina and Brazil to educate the markets on value-added pressure-sensitive label applications and to stir up interest in the multi-million dollar printing presses I was selling.
I remember my anxiety on the airplane from Miami to Santiago. I had actually achieved the seemingly unattainable status of international businesswoman at the tender age of 24. Having only been with my new employer for six weeks, the butterfly activity in my stomach increased as the plane made its way toward our destination. And then it suddenly dawned on me -- I had no idea what I was doing.
My company's Chilean agent met me at the airport (thankfully, a woman) and my heart sank at her reaction when we first met, "My goodness, I didn't expect you to be so young!"
All of my introductions throughout the trip echoed her sentiment. One Argentinean packaging company owner actually took it a step further, declaring, "How can your father let you come down here all alone to do business at your age!"
I was fortunate to have grown up in the printing and packaging industry. I was mounting photopolymer plates onto flexographic print cylinders when I was 14, and recited dot gain curves in my sleep.
Women have to pass a "test" in any industry, particularly if they're expected to pedal technology. I think this is especially true on foreign soil--where women in management positions in the printing and packaging sector are far less prevalent.
Let's be friends
That first trip to South America was a crash course in international business survival. I quickly learned that customers and prospects were intrigued with the fact that I had grown up in a printing company, and were interested in what my opinion was about their own equipment purchasing decisions. I learned something else that was even more critical. Doing business in Latin America brings with it an intricate social perspective that is rarely experienced in the United States.
Closing equipment deals in Latin America was often done over a several-hour lunch or dinner. The conversation topics would include everything from how one's family was doing to politics and literature. At the end of the meal, as the coffee was being served, the order confirmation agreement was brought out, quickly reviewed, and signed. Latin Americans bring an interesting set of criteria to the business table--if you're going to do business with them, first you have to establish a personal camaraderie that supercedes the strictly professional rapport Americans are accustomed to.
Latins prefer to develop a personal relationship with their suppliers, and for women this particular type of business acumen often comes naturally. As the renowned sociologist Carol Gilligan elaborates in her ground-breaking book, "In a Different Voice," women define their place in the world by the web of relationships they create around themselves. We're socialized toward creating an interconnected structural paradigm, and this is a tremendous advantage women have when it comes to doing business in Latin America.
Rather than being fixated on simply "getting the deal done," women more easily integrate the personal into the professional.
Regional nuances
As I travel throughout Latin America today, I continue to hear the same complaints from Latin printers and converters about their American and European suppliers that I listened to during my first trip to the region.
The Latin American markets have undergone a progressive transition over the course of the past decade. Inflation rates and currency devaluations have stabilized as governmental corruption has drastically decreased. NAFTA and the Mercosur trade agreements have positioned these economies as prime growth targets well into the next millennium. However, the foreign executive has to take into consideration those cultural and technological elements that make this region unique as a significant piece of the overall globalization puzzle.
More and more often, I'm told by Latin American company owners and presidents that they prefer dealing with female suppliers and colleagues. They feel that women are more sensitive to their company's specific application and equipment needs, and don't assume they're at the same technological level as their American and European counterparts. During a recent trip to Mexico City, a company president told me, "They [one of his suppliers] were going to send down the national sales manager, some guy they just hired, but I told them not to bother. I've been dealing with a woman in their purchasing department for the past three years. She learned Spanish so she could communicate with my own purchasing people, and things have never run more smoothly. I told the company that unless we can continue to keep corresponding with her, I'd take my business somewhere else."
People often ask me if Latin American machismo is a problem for me in business. A problem? That same Argentinean gentleman who demanded how my father could allow me to do business in South America at such a young age proceeded to contact three of his competitors after our hour-long meeting to schedule appointments for me explaining to them over the telephone, "I have a nice young girl here who's technical, and you're going to buy a printing press from her. She'll be at your company sometime this afternoon." The very elements that can make machismo prohibitive for some foreign executives makes the Latin American region a land of tremendous opportunity for women.
Jennifer Dochstader is the founder of latinPress, a printing and packaging publication in English, aimed at U.S., Canadian, and European suppliers, printers, converters and end-users who want to keep their finger on the pulse of the expanding Latin American marketplace. Ms. Dochstader, a contributing editor to Package Printing & Converting, is also an industry consultant, assisting North American and European companies with their sales, marketing and operations efforts throughout the Latin American region. She can be reached at (212) 744-3861, or email: latpress@aol.com.
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