Brazilians Working With Americans: Cultural Case Studies by Orlando R. Kelm and Mary E. Risner (review)

Book Reviews safety of journalists in addition to the institutionalization of civic beliefs and practices in Mexican newsrooms. Mona Bhan Department of Anthropology DePauw University BRAZILIANS WORKING WITH AMERICANS: CULTURAL CASE STUDIES. By Orlando R. Kelm and Mary E. Risner. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007, p. 240, $40. I am often fascinated by the lack of understanding some business executives have regarding Brazil’s cultural and social norms. Many business executives wonder why Brazilians do not engage in American-style business practices when negotiating. The simple answer is: Brazilians do what they do because that’s Brazil. The business practices that incorporate Brazilian culture are what make Brazil, Brazil. Despite the recognition that businesses must operate within a knowledge-based global economy, many business executives are still parochial in their business transactions with other nations. They also fail to recognize that Brazilian business culture is based on developing personal relationships between business partners while American businesspeople often prefer to get down to hard “facts and figures” quickly, with few personal preliminaries. Brazilians Working with Americans is a collection of ten short case studies designed to help students, as well as members of the business community, understand some of the cultural factors that come into play when American business professionals work in Brazil. The ten cases are based on actual experiences that Brazilian executives relate about their work with their American counterparts. The authors summarize each case study, thus giving the readers a better understanding of the cultural aspects and business environment involved in each situation. After the authors’ summaries, an American as well as a Brazilian executive comment on the cultural and societal differences highlighted by the case. Following their comments, a series of discussion topics and questions are offered to help draw out the lessons from each business scenario. The format of each chapter is the same, according to the authors. Still, the primary focus is the cultural impact of the interactions among business leaders. Therefore, the cases are presented with little data pertaining to the business transactions. Instead, the book focuses on the interactions among the people involved in each case study (vii). This book is also quite unique in its pedagogical approach since the complete text of the book is presented both in English and in Portuguese, thus making it more accessible to both businesspeople and language students. As the authors have pointed out, “both American and 103 The Latin Americanist, June 2008 Brazilian readers can take advantage of the cultural information in the text even if they do not completely understand the other language” (vii). In addition to allowing readers the opportunity to read the textbook both in English and in Portuguese, for those already fluent in Portuguese there are sixty video clips of the executives’ comments which are available online as QuickTime movies. Finally, according to the authors, the overall objective of the textbook is not to present a complete survey of worldwide business culture but rather to apply those concepts to American/Brazilian situations (viii). Throughout the book there are several opinions or subjective observations made that clearly show how Americans and Brazilians approach business dealings differently. For example, Terry Kahler in the first case study, “The Pressure’s On,” observes that Americans are more mechanical whereas Brazilian are more emotional. Another fascinating observation in the first case study relates to the employment of women as event or product promoters. As one American business executive named John pointed out, Brazilians see it as helpful to feature women wearing somewhat provocative clothing to attract attention, while Americans view the women as perhaps beautiful but entirely lacking in knowledge about the product (2). The contracting of beautiful women as event promoters, product sellers, or pumping gas in Brazil is a common marketing tool used by multinational corporations and Brazilian companies alike. Walk into a mall in Brazil and you will be greeted by a well-dressed female able and more than willing to inform you where the nearest bookstore or internet café is located. Sex sells, and in Brazil, the paradise on earth and the land of the “mulata,” sex sells even more. After all, businesses are trying to sell a product in part by...