Why Mexicans Don Drink Molson [Hardcover]

In the first part of the book it is upsetting to read about all the Canadian failures in building global companies or in keeping good Canadian companies Canadian. However the last part describes our strengths and outlines how they can be used to enable Canadians to prosper. A "must read" for politicians, business managers and anybody interested in keeping Canada from slipping into poverty as assembly plants and head offices and all their spin-off economic activity leaves Canada.

Andrea Mandel-Campbell has done an excellent job with this book. It reads well and easy despite covering issues under the broad topic of business and economics; many business and economics books read more like a textbook then a book most people want to read for pleasure. The author gives a good history of how we arrived where we currently are with respect to the role we play in international business and trade. I have to agree with several of the claims (which are backed up with data) made by the author. Essentially, the author repeats the old adage that we are brokers of wood and wheat; the list of commodities we sell is a fair bit longer, but that doesn't change the fact that we don't produce many things, we merely harvest natural resources that we've been endowed with.

The book is important because it compares our place in the global economy to that of other "minor" or middle-states such as Scandinavian countries like Sweden, small European countries like Switzerland or small Asian tigers like Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore. We are falling behind many countries around the world because we haven't adapted to the changes in the global marketplace; we don't outsource enough manufacturing to places like China, we don't even invest enough in China while all other major traders and producers are doing so. We rely on our natural resources endowment, which can't last forever, because we are being too myopic and thinking only about the short term rather than how our country can remain competitive in the long-term (e.g. think of the economic well-being of your small children and your grandchildren).

Fortunately I haven't given anything away about the book; there aren't any secrets as to what it is about. And there are plenty of interesting stories within the book from short "case studies" on individual Canadian businesses that have adjusted to the current (and changing) economic reality to businesses that failed to adapt and disappeared as a result. There are also several interesting historical tales that help the reader understand more about how the economy developed in Canada (mainly with the help of American an British entrepreneurs who saw opportunity in our impressive resource endowment). The author also highlights how governments have failed to wean our businesses off the government and taxpayer dole.

There is a great deal of impressive information in this book, but it's not at all overwhelming. The book is an exceptionally easy read considering the subject matter and it's laid out well. The author is a journalist and does a good job of telling an interesting story.

The book should be mandatory for every business person in Canada and, indeed, for any one in Canada concerned about the country's future. The first half of the book is pretty bleak in its analysis of Canadian business, past and present, but leaves hope for the future in the final chapters. I have read it three times thus far.