Kogan, Fuchs, and Lay introduce us to the types of discrimination in small, medium, and large companies in the Lima Metropolitan area in their book entitled No but Yes: Discrimination in Companies in Lima Metropolitan. They define discrimination as not allowing one to exercise his or her rights in a concrete situation due to race, sex, sexual identity, age, ethnicity, illness, socioeconomic status (SES), disability, etc. The authors justify their research by pointing to the dearth of information about employee diversity in the Reports of Sustainability of large companies in Lima, and noting that information on employee diversity in smaller companies is virtually non-existent. Larger companies are encouraged to adjust their practices to placate foreign investors in Europe and the United States. By citing studies that indicate that Peruvians perceive high rates of discrimination and racism, the authors appear to believe that this lack of information provided by large companies is a reflection of the devaluation of diversity at a national level. Furthermore, they argue that social justice and profit should not be mutually exclusive, rather diversity should be a potential for the future growth of companies.

The research for this book had two primary objectives; first, to explore differences in the types of discrimination between different sized companies and propose reasons, and second, to identify the most salient forms of discrimination according to the employees. The authors come across several difficulties in the undertaking of the study. First, there are no official definitions for small, medium, and large companies in Peru. Based on their own review of the literature, the authors define a small company as one with 11 to 50 employees, a medium company as one with 51 to 100 employees, and a large company as one with 101 or more employees. The majority of companies in Lima are mediumsized, yet there is the most ambiguity concerning how to define a medium-sized company. The authors employ a cross sectional design with a qualitative methodology to capture the opinions of employees. The interview questions cover sex, race, age, sexual identity, and SES discrimination. The authors exhibit transparency in the inclusion of their interview guide; however, they fail to specify the qualitative analysis they employed.

The book is divided into the following sections: introductions, three chapters devoted to describe the findings for each type of company (i.e. small, medium, or large), and final reflections. Each author focuses on a type of company. In small companies, 15 men and 15 women, 10 of whom were managers, were interviewed by Kogan´s research team. Salient findings include that couples tend to work as a team and support each other in activities of self-actualization; and the extended family is actively involved to help raise the children. Managers tend to be more flexible and comprehend the need to resolve personal or family matters. Relationships are more horizontal and communication is more informal. They tend to value the experience of employees older than 40, and are more likely to hire them. However, there are also reports of discrimination; namely, there are differences in criteria of performance appraisal for men and women and nepotism is often reported.

Fuchs studied medium-sized companies by interviewing 10 managers, 10 male employees, and 10 female employees. There was difficulty reported recruiting employees, and eventually the research team had to recruit employees from companies where they had personal contacts. Medium-sized companies shared many similarities with small-sized companies. Couples also tend to work as a team and support each other in activities of self-actualization, but the extended family is not actively involved.

In contrast, in large companies, 15 women and 15 men in leadership positions and 10 men and 10 women in executive middle manager positions were interviewed. Kogan also used a case study of 1 company by interviewing 5 Human Resources managers. Men tended to agree that they heavily focus on their jobs during the weekdays and dedicate their time to the family during weekends. Meanwhile, women are greatly involved in home-life during the week through technology (e.g. phone and internet). These employees tend to have paid help at home, and many male employees have wives who do not work or have flexible jobs. There is less discrimination in recruitment and selection of personnel, but there is discrimination perceived in the promotions of personnel. In contrast, small and medium-sized companies exhibit discrimination in the recruitment and selection of personnel. Men, Caucasians, employees with a high SES, the middle-aged, and heterosexuals have a greater chance of ascending to the top positions.

Given the relative lack of importance that is placed on social justice within companies in Peru, it is not surprising that the authors had difficulty defining their constructs (e.g. small, medium, and large companies) or recruiting employees from different companies that would be representative of the population of companies in Lima metropolitan. It is not specifically stated that the authors recruited participants based on sex and job rank, but the demographic characteristics described of the participants lead the reader to this conclusion. One is left to ponder if the results would be much different if recruitment also considered age, socioeconomic status, race, sexual identity, and SES. Might these employees perceive greater discrimination in their daily lives?

In conclusion, discrimination is present in all types of companies in Lima metropolitan, but it is not strongly perceived by employees. Employees seem to agree that there should not be discrimination, but there are discriminatory practices that are generally accepted and rarely questioned in companies. Medium-sized and small companies shared the most in common. The authors make a valiant attempt to describe discrimination in different types of companies in Lima, and discuss the need to further study discrimination in this context as well as intervene at different levels to sustain the growth of business in Peru.

María Antonia Rodríguez

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú