‘There’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now to be international without leaving your country’
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Social responsibility is, in fact, a big topic for the wider Anáhuac México. Every undergraduate student, no matter their subject area, must take a course in social responsibility from the university’s dedicated School of Social Responsibility. This requirement forms part of the university’s desire to provide a rounded education for all undergraduates and also sees the Business School teach a compulsory entrepreneurship class to every student at the university. ‘Even if you’re studying medicine, you have to take an entrepreneurial course,’ advises Nava, pointing out that there are also compulsory humanities courses in areas like philosophy and the history of culture. ‘The educational model that we use is that it’s not only the subject you are taking that you have to understand. At Anáhuac, knowing some business, having social responsibility and some humanities is very important.’ The links between Anáhuac México’s Business School and its School of Social Responsibility go both ways. A centre that helps medium and large firms in Mexico with the ESG concerns of reporting and best practice in social responsibility now sits within the School of Social Responsibility but began life at the Business School, following a grant from the Inter-American Development Bank. Conversely, an MBA course on social responsibility derives from a faculty member attached to the School of Social Responsibility. The topic of social responsibility at the Business School, meanwhile, also extends to students going out into the city to help communities – optional at postgraduate level but compulsory at
undergraduate level. ‘You can imagine that, here in Mexico City, there are rich parts but, as in all of Latin America, there are also big differences in income, there is inequality, and there’s a lot to be done. One [aspect] is trying to figure out how markets and firms can help that.’ Diversity of experience, and culture In talking about differences between areas of Mexico City, the conversation moves to economic growth in the country, for here there are differences too. ‘When you analyse Mexico economically you will have different states and different cities that grow at different paces, as with any other country. But in parts of Mexico City, it is growing really fast.’ By extension, the culture of doing business in Mexico City can vary by area, and even industry. ‘There are sectors and places where people are very happy, they’re on time, they speak Spanish, but also English fluently, and where you will find international corporations with headquarters, or with offices here in Mexico, with people that have studied their undergraduate programme here and maybe went to the US or Europe to study their graduate programmes, and you will get a feeling of a culture that is really global. That is part of Mexico City, but there are still cultural differences in Mexico – trust is very important and I guess because there is a lot of corruption and the rule of law is not that strong as in other places, then you really need to have trust in your partners, your family, your employees and with whom you’re conducting business. So, then you have
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