Um Northsouth Center Signs Pact With Wharton

By Candice Ventra
The University of Miami North-South Center is forming a partnership with the Ivy League’s Wharton School of Business to advise multinational firms about managing human resources, including the business and labor outlook of Latin American markets.

The center, which does research and training regarding problems in the hemisphere, will work with Wharton’s at the University of Pennsylvania to share expertise with multinationals in Latin America, said Jerry Haar, senior research associate for the Coral Gables-based think tank that is associated with UM.

The partnership will officially launch in November, he said.

"Wharton approached the North-South Center for the breadth and depth of its knowledge on Latin American affairs," Mr. Haar said. "It’s an ideal partnership because we benefit from their expertise in human resource management and labor relations. They benefit from our knowledge of Latin America."

The partnership, he said, will provide guidance in managing labor and industrial relations for some 40 corporations such as Lucent Technologies, Johnson & Johnson and Coca-Cola.

North-South experts will lend their research skills and expertise on the Latin American marketplace to existing Wharton programs.

Wharton is particularly interested in studying management relations in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela, said Mr. Haar, because those are among the most influential in business.

The Wharton School wants to understand the larger political, social and economic context of business, said Christian Schneider, managing director of the school’s Multinational Research Advisory Group, a 25-year-old entity that studies industrial relations worldwide.

"The North-South Center’s international reputation for excellence in research, policy analysis and outreach activities on Latin American issues," Mr. Schneider said, "makes them the ideal partner."