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From McCombs Today

How did Wal-Mart successfully penetrate the Mexican market? How does Mexico’s concrete behemoth CEMEX tailor its offerings to reach, and help, the less fortunate? And how do two of the world’s leading business schools strengthen and build on their decades-long partnership? These and many other questions were on the table as 13 McCombs faculty members, among them four deans and two department chairs, visited the Santa Fe (Mexico City) campus of Monterrey Tec on November 13 and 14.

The visit, which was co-sponsored by UT’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and the McCombs School’s Executive MBA at Mexico City, was organized by Dean Jaime Alonso Gómez of Monterrey Tec’s graduate school of business, both as a professional development opportunity for McCombs faculty members and to welcome new McCombs Dean Thomas Gilligan. The editor of one of Mexico City’s leading newspapers opened the event by painting a rather grim picture of the drug wars, political gridlock and entrenched poverty that dominate headlines in Mexico. Against that bleak backdrop, the event then featured business executives from the Mexican operations of PepsiCo, Wal-Mart, CEMEX, IBM and Coca-Cola FEMSA, describing how their companies have adapted to that cultural, political and economic setting to thrive in the Mexican economy. Linda Gerber, McCombs senior lecturer in marketing, commented, “After the trip, I was able to walk into class back at McCombs and add new and interesting perspectives to our discussions on NAFTA!”

Since the mid-1980s, the McCombs School and Monterrey Tec have partnered on programs to benefit the students and faculty of both schools. According to David Platt, director of CIBER, “Monterrey Tec is the business school’s oldest and strongest partnership. They are to us what Jordan Shipley is to Colt McCoy on the football field: the old friend and go-to guy, the partner we turn to when we need help filling an international need for our students. And we, in turn, have helped them with many programs, including doctoral training and opportunities for their faculty and students.”

Reflecting on the event, Dean Gilligan said, “I was impressed with what I saw and am looking forward to strengthening our relationship with Tec.”