Brazilians Working with Americans: Cultural Case Studies: Introduction

The "Brazilians Working with Americans: Cultural Case Studies" consists of 10 brief case studies that illustrate some of the challenges that executives face when working together. The 10 cases are based on real stories from Brazilian executives who work with North Americans in Brazil. The names and locations in the cases have been changed, but the cases do represent actual observations and stories. This website only contains the executive comments. If you would like to order the book and have access to the actual cases, visit the UT press website: UT PRESS
Each case study is accompanied by video clips of 3 American and 3 Brazilian executives who offer personal observations about the cases. In all there are 60 video clips from 17 executives. The comments represent the executives' personal opinions about the cultural aspects of the case studies. All materials in the "Brazilians Working with Americans: Cultural Case Studies" are provided in both English and Portuguese. That is to say, the case studies are provided in both languages. The American executives make their comments in English (with Portuguese translation) and all of the Brazilian executives make their comments in Portuguese (with English translation).
Our appreciation goes to a number of colleagues and friends who assisted in the development of this project. Vivian Flanzer (University of Texas), Milton Torres (Faculdade Adventista da Bahia), Geovana Hill, Elissandra Capps, and Paula Vieira Fava all helped to review the cases and to assist in the Portuguese translations. Professors Antônio Barbosa Lemes Júnior and Cláudio Miessa Rigo, both from the Federal University of Paraná, were extremely helpful in lining up many of the initial contacts and company visits from which a number of the case studies were written. Prof. Francisico Vidal Barbosa (Federal University of Minas Gerais) assisted in allowing us to present these cases to his graduate students at CEPEAD and to take advantage of their feedback and suggestions. We also thank the University of Texas CIBER, the University of Florida CIBER, and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) for their support.

Instructions to view the video clips

1. At any time you may return to this introduction page by clicking anywhere on the top title bar (the area with the blue and green background and the cutout faces of the executives).
2. Under the title bar is a gray strip with the names of the 10 cases. At any time you may click on the case name to open a page with a list of the executive comments for that case.
3. Each case page has thumbnail pictures of the American and Brazilian executives, view their comments by clicking either on the thumbnail picture or on the executive's name. This will open a new window with the video clip.
4. The video clips are saved as embedded QuickTime movies. In the top right corner are three icons. Click [E] to view the English transcription, [P] to view the Portuguese transcription, or [N] to view the video without any text at all. Start, stop, and pause buttons are located below the video clip.

Orlando R. Kelm
University of Texas at Austin

Mary E. Risner
University of Florida