Even if we can easily tell that Claire Underwood is not South American (check our LinkedIn Pulse post here), I am usually amazed at how easy it would be to set House of Cards in any South American country. The series clearly have a universal appeal, and here are just four of the reasons why House of Cards seems ever so familiar to South Americans – and why this matters to exporters.
General strike in Chile on a recent visit…
One: Trade Unions
Remember the chaos that the trade unions caused Frank Underwood and the US government? Well, it’s exactly the same in most South American countries, definitely in Uruguay where I live. I also recently visited Colombia with a UK client and one of our meetings was called off last minute because the senior managers we were due to speak to had to rush off to deal with the Union. Want a test of trade union power? Try to get Uber going in South America…
If you’re planning to invest in South America, trade union activity is something you need to assess in terms of risks. If you’re exporting to the region, check the impact of trade union activity on your operations, from a potential customs strike at a port that will result in higher logistics costs to a market visit that needs to be rescheduled because of strikes. Not all countries are the same, and the impact will be much stronger in some sectors than others.
Two: Corruption
If you follow the news, I probably don’t need to add much more! Despite scoring very differently on the recently-released Transparency International index, we all know a Frank Underwood…
Different ways of earning a living… (Rio de Janeiro)
Three: Class differences
Class differences in the US are made blatantly obvious in House of Cards. And South Americans will relate to these differences. These differences must be understood when exporting to markets in South America. Segmenting your market is key. And cultural awareness of these differences can also make your market visits run smoother…
Remember that it’s not the same selling to a Brazilian billionaire (there’s a few of those on the latest Forbes list) than to a Brazilian living in a favela and earning less than a minimum salary.
Four: Women and Power
Claire Underwood is one powerful female character but she does face a lot of barriers, like so many other female characters in House of Cards, like Jackie or Heather. Any South American woman will relate to this. There are many very powerful South American women (from Presidents to CEOs). The power of women, their level of education, the positions they reach in the workforce and their role in society varies enormously across South America, and there are considerably variations across socioeconomic groups, sectors and regions. Understanding what role women play in a particular country is an important part of your overall cultural awareness that will impact your market segmentation and that can also affect, for example, market visits, the choice of local partners, networking and business meetings.
So next time you watch House of Cards, spare a thought for us here in South America and remember that any resemblance to real South American persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental…
great approach… even when S.America is more a mosaic than a picture and some pieces are really quite different from the rest it is so true that there are many resemblances… and your remarks should be taken into account…little piece of advice for the newcomers…