Openness and Industrial Response in a Wal-Mart World: A Case Study of Mexican Soaps, Detergents and Surfactant Producers

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Office of the World Bank's Chief Economist for Latin America and the World Bank's Research Support Budget. We also wish to thank Mexican and multinational companies, the Mexican National Oils, Fats, Soaps and Detergents Industry Association (CANAJAD) and the Mexican National Chamber of Manufacturing (CANACINTRA) for making this study possible by being generous with their time. Thanks are also due to Isidro Soloaga for his invaluable help with conducting firm interviews in Mexico and Geoff Revell for superb research assistance. We are also grateful to two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent.