Review: Doing Business in Latin America Doing Business in Latin America offers a comprehensive overview of the economic, cultural, and institutional dynamics that shape business environments across the region. One of the book’s key strengths is its emphasis on heterogeneity: it avoids treating Latin America as a monolithic bloc and instead highlights the differences between major markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. This allows readers to understand why strategies that succeed in one country may fail in another. A central theme is the importance of institutional complexity. The text explains how fluctuating regulatory environments, bureaucratic hurdles, and policy volatility affect firms’ ability to operate. For example, while countries like Chile and Costa Rica offer more stable governance structures, others present higher risks but also higher potential returns. This balanced approach helps future managers appreciate both the opportunities (growing middle classes, natural resources, strong entrepreneurship culture) and the challenges (informality, corruption, infrastructure deficits). Another valuable contribution is the analysis of cultural dimensions in business interactions. The book explores negotiation styles, relationship-building, hierarchy, and communication patterns across the region. Understanding these elements is essential for firms entering Latin American markets, where trust and long-term interpersonal relationships often outweigh purely contractual considerations. The section on regional integration—including MERCOSUR, the Pacific Alliance, and US-Mexico-Canada relations—is particularly insightful. It shows how geopolitics and trade blocs create both constraints and strategic opportunities for multinational firms. The book also highlights the growing influence of multilatinas, homegrown corporations expanding across and beyond Latin America (e.g., Bimbo, Natura, Cemex). This is an excellent addition because it shifts the narrative away from foreign investors as the only drivers of development and shows how regional companies can become global players. If there is a weakness, it is that some chapters treat topics such as inequality, informality, and political instability broadly, without fully connecting them to sector-specific realities. More case studies could deepen the analysis. Nevertheless, it remains a strong foundational text.
Doing Business in Latin America
Join us in the course Doing Business in Latin America. In this course, you will learn about the characteristics of the biggest multilatinas, how they have built their domestic and international competitive advantage, and you will identify which are the challenges and innovations to achieve the sustainability of their superior economic performance. The course includes videos presenting and explaining the topics, learning and evaluation activities, interviews, reviews, reports, and additional bibliography. Assessment activities are designed so that you get feedback, which is saved in the platform, so that you can pick up where you left off when you go online again. Our educational focus enables meaningful and practical learning, in which students build knowledge through their own reflection, their own experience, and genuine cooperation with others. All the learning activities on the course were designed with these principles as a basis. We will guide you through a series of videos and practical assignments that will allow you to reflect on and understand the economic, social, and environmental challenges and opportunities that have allowed multilatinas to build their leadership in and from the Latin American region. This course is for those who want to expand their knowledge about Latin American companies’ businesses. In particular, it is designed for those who want to understand how international success stories are built in the region and how many challenges have turned into opportunities for the business sector. This course does not require any previous knowledge and therefore it is especially relevant for people in academic training, who want to complement their studies or to have a space for reflection and interaction with others who are interested and experienced in this field. Finally, this course can be useful for professors in the field of international business and strategy, who want to gain in-depth knowledge about multilatinas and companies in Latin America. At the end of this course, you will understand thoroughly the most important concepts regarding internationalization topics. You will understand the opportunities offered by the Latin American context that has forced multilatinas to become resilient, to create new value propositions in their activities, and often to rethink the role they play in the territories where they operate. In the final assignment, you will record a video in which you will make a summary of the advantages of doing business in the Latin American region, based on what you have reflected on and learned. This way you will demonstrate your capacity of giving a precise, informed and revealing opinion about the topic. The course is designed to last 4 weeks with a workload of 6-7 hours per week, but you can take as long as you need. All the information about your participation and progress will always be available and updated on Coursera. You can pick up in the activities you left off. For example, you can watch a video as many times as you want, pause it to take notes or put it off while you consult some of the additional bibliography that we provide you with. Finally, this course is part of the specialization Doing Business in Latin America, created by Universidad de los Andes, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. We invite you to take the other two courses if you have not yet taken them. This course is for people who want to expand their knowledge about Latin American companies’ businesses. In particular, it is designed for those who want to understand how international success stories are built in the region and how many challenges have turned into opportunities for the business sector. This course does not require any previous knowledge and therefore it is especially relevant for people in academic training, who want to complement their studies or to have a space for reflection and interaction with others who are interested and experienced in this field. Finally, this course can be useful for professors in the field of international business and strategy, who want to gain in-depth knowledge about multilatinas and companies in Latin America.
Status: Sustainable Development
Status: Economic Development
BeginnerCourse20 hours
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Amb Prof Muharrem SHABANI
5.0
Reviewed Dec 7, 2025T Atasoy
5.0
Reviewed May 29, 2021Being an outsider to Latin American business landscape, I highly benefited from the well-organized content of this particular course. The lecturers are providing a wide but focused view of the regional dynamics, process of internationalization for old and new generation companies and shed light on some of the key issues ahead for Latin American as well as all developing country corporations and societies.
I would highly recommend this course for any professional who has an interest in having an understanding of Latin American companies and market dynamics.
PANAGIOTIS MITSIOS
5.0
Reviewed Feb 1, 2026nice
Frank Jonk
4.0
Reviewed Feb 28, 2021A good and nice course, when you want to learn more about businesses and the economic, social development in Latin America. It gave me some useful insights and takeaways. The course is in Spanish, with translation into English.
Javier Cervantes
4.0
Reviewed Aug 22, 2021Me pareciò muy buen curso, bien organizado y con entrevistas de personajes de talla internacional. Aunque el material no es tan actual y valdrìa la pena darle una actualizada.