To boost sales in Colombia, the Oster line of home appliances came up with a unique idea: Invite beauty queen contestants in the popular Miss Colombia contest to compete in cooking with the appliances in stores, use social media to promote the events, and then, broadcast the segments on YouTube. Thousands tuned in, helping market…

Miami faces major obstacles to become a hub for trading Asian goods with Latin America: Aging infrastructure. Inefficient ports. Strict U.S. regulations. And operating costs higher than many Latin American nations. But the city has big advantages as a service center for Asian companies to set up offices and run their Latin American operations, thanks…

Current upheaval in Libya and other north African nations and rising prices for oil serve as a wake-up call for the Americas to pursue greener sources of energy — from natural gas to wind, sun and plants. Those were among conclusions from WorldCity’s Global Connections panel held Feb. 25 to explore the topic, “Energy in Latin…

The world economy will recover in 2011, with some areas growing faster than others. But there may be surprises too: Mexico, for example, could outperform Brazil if the U.S. rebound picks up speed, and Mexican factories significantly boost production to supply their U.S. consumers. Those were among the varied predictions at WorldCity’s “2011 Global Economic…

His grandfather came to America from Poland and could not read or write until the day he died. His father was a union worker in Chicago. And today, Gregory T.  Swienton leads a Fortune 500 company, Ryder System Inc., with revenues topping $5 billion a year and 23,000 employees worldwide. Ryder CEO Greg Swienton, the…

From Google to data centers and online pay systems, internet companies are booming in Latin America, often growing at faster rates than the United States, a panel of high-tech executives said at  WorldCity’s Global Connections on Oct. 29.   Google’s Alexandre Hohagan oversees 400 employees in Latin America Consider Google. The search engine giant launched…

Mastercard’s Malvina Longoria, who oversees legal affairs for the credit card company, has a husband who pitches in with their children. Growing up, girls are often asked to help around the house, while boys are encouraged to sell lemonade or mow lawns in the neighborhood to make money. That difference influences their negotiating skills and…

Multinational companies active in Latin America are boosting efforts “to do good” as they do well, helping local communities through programs often linked to their core business. Consider: Mobile phone maker Nokia is working with software developers in Brazil, so that healthcare workers can use their phones to enter data onto satellite maps and pinpoint…

  Novartis’ Carlos Garcia told the story of the company’s CEO making a trip to a much-safer Colombia When Juan Manuel Santos takes over as Colombia’s president in August, the Harvard-educated economist will continue many of the same pro-business, pro-U.S. policies of President Alvaro Uribe that helped transform their South America country into a magnet…