Successful foreign-owned enterprises in Mexico during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, the revolution, and the postrevolutionary era depended on six factors: having enough capital to purchase necessary equipment and pay for daily operations, skilled management, a steady market for products, accessible transportation, a reliable workforce, and maintaining good working relations with local, state, and national authorities. Most foreign companies and individuals had few, if any, of these requirements. Individuals, perhaps much more than the large companies and their employees, dealt directly with government at the state and local levels, with state and local elites, and with the rest of Mexico's people and society. The most successful foreigners made their permanent homes in Mexico, learned the language, and made connections, and some even married into local families and assimilated. Despite the long odds, individual entrepreneurs poured into Mexico from Europe and the United States in search of opportunity, selling their goods,...

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