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On the road to compliance in Brazil
BY JEREMY PIXTON ’13
Brazil is the place
where more and
more companies
want to do business.
I have been in Brazil this
week meeting managers and
listening to what they are
doing and the concerns they
are having with compliance
and ethics.
I don’t think these issues
will ever be completely
resolved in any country, but
I am seeing many people out
front leading the way. I am a
Thunderbird Executive MBA
student, and we are here
working with Ethisphere on
a project in São Paulo, Brazil.
Trench, Rossie and
Watanabe, a law firm associated
with Baker & Mckenzie
International, hosted a
roundtable with Ethisphere
where leaders from major
multinational and local
companies were represented.
These are companies that
understand the importance
of compliance.
Brazil has the world’s
eyes focused on them as the
Olympics and World Cup
make their way to this great
country.
SUBMITTED
Jeremy Pixton ’13 prepares for a roundtable discussion in
São Paulo, Brazil.
Executives, attorneys and
compliance officers from
more than 30 companies
attended the meeting,
including GE, Siemens 3M,
Morgan Stanley, Amcon
and Volkswagen. Discussion
focused on the struggles
many leaders face as they try
to help their companies with
compliance.
These companies face
challenges on many different
fronts, and solutions could
take years to achieve. Yet one
of the partners at Trench,
Rossi and Watanabe said she
has seen immense changes
in the past five years.
She shared a great story
about a party she attended
10 years ago where a government
worker introduced
himself as a tax official and
basically made it known
at the party that if anyone
wanted tax help, he was the
guy with whom to talk. All
attendees understood his insinuation
that if there was a
bribe to be made, he would
be willing to help.
The Trench, Rossi and
Watanabe partner said this
would never happen today
in Brazil.
The biggest challenge I
took away from this roundtable
is the difficulty of
navigating Brazil’s maze of
overlapping laws, rules and
regulations.
Many of these legal
requirements have been
imported from the United
States and Europe. They
Editor’s note: The author
wrote this post in January
2013 during a Thunderbird
Emerging Markets Executive
Laboratory (E Lab) in São
Paulo, Brazil. Read more
about the program on page 13.
make it confusing and somewhat
difficult to remain
compliant.
The goal that many
roundtable participants
talked about was a more
centralized authority and
controlling body.
As I sat there and listened,
I realized there is a long way
to go everywhere — including
in my native United
States. Still, there are great
people doing great things.
Today I will attend
another roundtable hosted
by PWC Brazil where more
leaders will discuss compliance
and ethics. It will
be interesting to see the
changes that take place as
these people lead the way in
Brazil.
Jeremy Pixton ’13 is a business
development consultant,
sales and marketing trainer
and entrepreneur.
“
THUNDERBIRDEXCERPT
Be watchful for your opportunities.”
Ed Beauvais,
Founder, America West Airlines (now US Airways)
Nov. 29, 2012
Ed Beauvais joined the airline industry in 1960 and saw mistakes at all levels of leadership.
His response was to start his own airline in 1981. Once he was Chairman and CEO, things
came full circle. Suddenly, Beauvais was the one making decisions that other people
second guessed. “It’s inevitable,” he said. “It’s what gets new entrepreneurs to step
forward because they think they can do things better.”
52 spring 2013