Brazilians Working With Americans/Brasileiros que trabalham com americanos [Portuguese on title page only]: Cultural Case Studies/Estudos de casos culturais

9. World Auto Parts

9. World Auto Parts Company: WORLD AUTO PARTS Focus: Manufacture of auto parts Case Objective: Entering Brazilian market Cultural Conflict: Cultural differences in perception of failure, building relationships of trust Empresa: WORLD AUTO PARTS Ênfase: Indústria de auto-peças Objetivo do Caso: Penetração no mercado brasileiro Conflito Cultural: Diferenças culturais na percepção brasileira e americana de fracasso, a importância de parceiros locais e a confiança nos relacionamentos Introduction and Synopsis T he World Auto Parts case illustrates several things that a small firm can do right when making a decision to partner with Brazilians. All of the executives who comment on the case, both Brazilian and North American, agree that World Auto Parts took the time necessary to select a good partner. Most of the executives also appreciate the way that World Auto Parts carried out the training of its Brazilian partners, sending them to the main offices in the United States. Solange Srenzewsky felt that it was a show of confidence that proved that the Brazilians were considered full partners. We see in this case that, in spite of the many perceived political and economic risks of investing in Latin America or Brazil, a firm can be successful when its World Auto Parts 147 executives analyze their options carefully and consider the technical, strategic, and cultural aspects of the business venture. At the same time, this case also shows the different ways that North Americans and Brazilians traditionally react to past failures. For the Americans, failure provided an opportunity to learn from the mistakes and move to a new level. For the Brazilians, failure was more of an embarrassment, something they were less willing to talk about. In fact, Kevin Christensen notes that he also lost a few opportunities because his company pushed too hard to get Brazilians to talk about past failures. Introdução e Sinopse O caso da World Auto Parts mostra várias coisas que uma pequena empresa pode fazer certo ao tomar a decisão de fazer parceria com uma firma brasileira. Todos os executivos que fazem comentários sobre o caso, tanto os brasileiros como os norte-americanos, concordam que a World Auto Parts tomou o tempo necessário para selecionar um bom parceiro. Quase todos também apreciaram a maneira em que a World Auto Parts realizou o treinamento dos parceiros brasileiros, levando-os para a matriz nos Estados Unidos. Solange Srenzewsky achou que isso demostrou uma confiança que provou que os brasileiros foram considerados como parceiros completos. Vemos nesse caso que apesar dos aparentes riscos políticos e económicos que vêm com o investimento na América Latina e no Brasil, uma empresa pode ter sucesso quando faz uma análise cuidadosa das opções que tem e quando considera os aspectos técnicos, estratégicos e culturais da atividade profissional. Ao mesmo tempo, esse caso também mostra as diferentes maneiras em que o norte-americano e o brasileiro reagem aos fracassos anteriores . Para os norte-americanos, o fracasso estabelece a base para aprender do erro e continuar num novo nível mais alto. Para os brasileiros era mais uma sensação de vergonha, alguma coisa que não queriam comentar muito. Aliás, Kevin Christensen menciona que ele já perdeu algumas oportunidades porque a empresa dele insistiu demais, querendo que os brasileiros falassem dos seus fracassos do passado. Case: World Auto Parts In today’s globalized business climate, opportunities abound for expanding internationally in order to increase market share. However, as tempting as new markets may appear, the decision to take a business abroad involves high risk and requires extensive research to formulate a solid business plan. In the case of World Auto Parts, the risk was especially great because it is a relatively 148 Brazilians Working With Americans small firm. Small firms tend to face more difficulties entering new markets due to lack of resources with which to expand and the absence of the advantage of brand recognition that larger firms have. When the opportunity arose for World Auto Parts to produce a series of parts for Latin America, the company was faced with the decision of whether to produce the pieces in the United States. This decision required World Auto Parts to consider the legal issues related to exporting as well as high delivery and labor costs. The other...