You have just been hired as a HR consultant by a Canadian MNE called DynAero. DynAero designs, manufactures, and sells commercial airplane engines and fuselages worldwide. It currently has over 1,000 employees in its three locations, including 500 at its global headquarters in Canada, 300 at a manufacturing plant in the U.S., and now over 200 at its newest manufacturing plant in Mexico. The firm is having problems communicating and sharing its corporate values and policies with its newest employees in Mexico. The only experience DynAero has had in opening a new subsidiary prior to Mexico was in the U.S., where American employee took up corporate values and policies with little difficulty. The problems in the Mexican plant seem to center around poor communications between the managers, who are mostly Canadian, and its new employees, who are mostly from Mexico.

We want our corporate culture to be the same everywhere, explains the CEO to you over lunch. We want everything we do in Canada to be the accepted, standard practice across all of our locations, but that just doesnt seem to be getting across to our employees in Mexico. He continues by telling you that all new employees are trained in DynAeros corporate culture via discussions with their managers and corporate brochures/reading materials. She says that her Canadian managers in Mexico are frustrated with the Mexican workers abilities to learn DynAeros culture and that; as a result, productivity at the plant has been negatively impacted.

You investigate the issue by speaking with managers and employees at the new subsidiary in Mexico. The managers complain that employees at the new plant do not speak their mind very often, and often seem to stress harmony with each other over learning DynAeros culture. Managers are also frustrated that staff meetings frequently start late due to the lateness of employees. The employees, who are younger than their managers on the average, are frustrated that they are not told exactly how to do their tasks; instead, they are told to read their employee manuals for guidance. They are concerned that DynAero managers are too impatient with them about learning the policies. They feel they have been left to their own devices to figure out how things work, which often causes them to stay late at work. What is more, staying late on their shifts often causes them to be late for staff meetings, where they are often berated by managers for not acting like good Canadian employees.

After your examination you become convinced that the problem DynAero is experiencing relates to culture, and you prepare your report accordingly.

Questions:

1. In your opinion, with its expansion into Mexico, at which stage of internationalization is DynAero? Why do you think Senior management at DynAero chose their current approach to their operation in Mexico?
2. Select one of Hofstedes cultural dimensions to explain to Avery (CEO) the main differences between DynAeros Canadian HQ and its Mexican subsidiary in terms of culture.
3. In your opinion, what are some ways that Canadian managers could demonstrate higher intercultural competence at DynAeros Mexican subsidiary?