In Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson: Rescuing Canadian Companies from the Suds of Global Obscurity, journalist Andrea Mandel-Campbell asks why it is that despite our huge forest industry, it was Sweden, not Canada that produced a company famed for its inexpensive wood furniture. Furthermore, why is that despite believing ourselves to brew some of the finest ales and lagers in the world, Canada can claim no beer exports to speak of. In comparison, a country such as Mexico, with little barley or fresh water, sees its beer dominate sales in 150 countries, including ours.
Roger Martin, dean of Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, says Mandel-Campbell's perspectives "illuminate Canada's shortcomings in the new global economy" and considers Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson "essential reading for any Canadian who cares about the kind of Canada we are building for future generations."
Mandel-Campbell was the Mexico bureau chief for London's Financial Times as well as the correspondent for Business Week magazine in Argentina. She now lives in Toronto and was here to discuss the issue of Canadian competitiveness abroad. Your questions and her insights are below.
Noel Hulsman Editor, Report on Small Business, writes: Andrea, thanks so much for joining us today. We appreciate your time. We have a number of questions and comments waiting for you, so let's get started.
Dave G from Canada writes: Would you agree that Canada being an immigration country without a colonial history is perhaps a key factor why Canada does not actively seek to appreciate and develop international markets and consumers on the scale of countries like Britain and France?
Andrea Mandel-Campbell writes: You make a good point. The fact that we were never an imperialist country and never had a history of going out and conquering other nations, definitely has something to do with it. We have never tried to impose our views on others - which is actually a huge competitive advantage if we used it - but has also made us reluctant at the same time to stake our own claim in the world. The US is an immigrant country as well, but it has a very strong sense of itself and has seen itself in a way as the inheritor of the British Empire.
Dave Parkinson from Toronto writes: Andrea - leaving aside the bigger question of our international competitiveness for the moment, don't you think a key reason why Molson or Labatt's beers don't have a significant piece of the global export market is that they're just not that good? I mean, let's face it, Canadian or Blue or Ex are mediocre beers; we're not going to convince Europeans, for instance, to drink them. You have to have a good product first before you have any chance in selling it to the world, don't you?
Andrea Mandel-Campbell writes: I would disagree. It's all about marketing. Have you ever tried Corona? In Mexico, it's considered a substandard beer, yet it's one of the world's leading beer brands, sold in 150 countries. Mexico doesn't have fresh water or barley - what they have is an image. What they are selling with Corona is sunshine, escape, beaches. It's not what's in the bottle so much of the idea of it - and I think that's where Canada often comes up short.
In fact an interesting anecdote - I met an Argentine businessman who told me he used to love to take the Air Canada flight between Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile because it was the only place he could get Molson Canadian! Even if we don't particularly like Canadian, others who might think it's different or exotic, do.
Chris Fulker from Taiwan writes: Canada can't compete on price. Our overly high standards of living mean that our products, with some exceptions in natural resources, foods and niche high-tech or high value-added items, are priced out of world markets. Why would anyone want to buy a beer from a country, a company and employees who have to support two-car habits, vacations every year, confiscatory tax rates, massive winter heating bills, a 'summer driving season'(!) and expensive cadillac state medical and education systems, etc.? I don't want to call Canadians 'spendthrifts', but their efforts to ensure a constantly rising standard of existence have run up against a wall in recent years. Incomes no longer keep up with the real inflation rate, product quality is increasingly shoddier, homes smaller or vastly more expensive, and for those who need food or energy prices are truly soaring. Despite desperate Canadian middle-class consumers exhausting their various forms of credit, living standards continue to fall. But our products should become more affordable!
