What Had Gone Wrong For The Americans? (Essay Sample)

I was supposed to respond to the question: What had gone wrong for the Americans? with 500 words after reading the provided prompt;
A large American Telecommunications company introduced a technically superior product on the world market. It planned to focus specifically on increasing sales in Latin America, where it had not been all that successful previously. The only serious competitor was a French company, which had an inferior product but whose after-sales support was reputedly superior.
The Americans went to substantial pains to prepare their first presentation in Mexico. “Judgement day” would begin with a video presentation of the company and its growth potential in the medium-long term. Afterward the vice president of the group would personally give a presentation to the Mexican minister of communications. Also meticulously planned was the two-hour lunch. Knowing Mexican culture, they believed this was where the battle would be fought. The afternoon session was reserved for questions and answers. The company jet would then be ready to leave Mexico City in the last departure slot. It was tight, efficient, and appreciated, right?
Wrong: the Mexican team threw off the schedule right away by arriving one hour late. Then, just as the Americans were introducing the agenda for the day, the minister was called out of the room for an urgent phone call. He returned a while later to find that the meeting had gone on without him. The Mexicans were upset that the presentation had proceeded, that the after-sales service contract was separate from the sales contract, and that the presentation focused only on the first two years after installation rather than the longer-term future together.
The French, meanwhile, prepare a loosely structured agenda. They determined some of the main goals to be attained by the end of the two-weeks visit. The timing, the where, and the how were dependent on factors beyond their control, so they left them open. A long presentation on the historical background of the French state-owned company was prepared for the minister and his team. The company had done business with Mexico’s telephone system as early as 1930 and wanted to reestablish a historic partnership. As far as the French were concerned, the after-sales service, which extended indefinitely, was part of the contract.
It was the French who received the order for a product know in the industry to be technologically less sophisticated.