Expat Files – 09.09.16

#1-Thinking of bringing a USA franchise to Latina America?
Why not? About 95% of the landed franchises are absolutely cleaning up. Still, only a very small percentage of the most recognizable franchises have landed down here, perhaps 10% of the total number and that makes franchising in Latin America seem like nearly a no-brainer. However, meanwhile certain well known franchises like IKEA -one of the most successful franchises in the world- just cannot seem to get a foothold in Latin America, all because of a few odd, surprising and truly unforeseen reasons. Go ahead, take your best guess…

MIT’s Suicide Rate Far About National Average – Veena Trehan

Last week NPR ran a story about recent suicides at MIT which highlighted the “imposter syndrome,” in which students feel like a fraud, dismissing their earlier accomplishments. The article also emphasized other non-academic factors in stress. I believe the not-so-subtle attempt at victim blaming downplayed MIT’s contributions to its students’ poor mental health. For many years, MIT’s rate of suicide was far above the …