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Pisani, Michael

Professor / International Business

FACULTY

Biography

Dr. Pisani is a professor of international business, has taught collegiately for more than 35 years, and has been a faculty member at CMU since 2002. His research concerns the intersection of international business and development, and includes specific interests in economic informality, entrepreneurship, microenterprise development, sustainability, and international business and economic phenomena in the Americas (US-Mexico borderlands, Central America, Paraguay). Professor Pisani has authored or co-authored six books and more than 135 articles and book chapters. In 2019, Dr. Pisani served as a US Fulbright Scholar in Paraguay.

International Teaching/Consulting/Community Development

Since the early 1990s, Pisani has taught, consulted, and engaged in rural community development across the Americas, including Belize, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Paraguay, with universities and think tanks, sister-city programs, governments, and international charity organizations. Recent in-country connections in South Korea and Italy have expanded his engagement in these two locations.

More about Michael Pisani

2026

  • Pisani, Michael J. (2026), “Informality and the Minimum Wage in Paraguay: The Kaitz Index” / “Informalidad y Salario Mínimo en Paraguay: El Índice de Katiz,” Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya (CADEP), Asunción, Paraguay, March 3, 16 páginas/16 pages.

2025

  • Avila, Deserie and Michael J. Pisani (2025), “Domestic Public Opinion of Belizean Public Roads, Schools, Health Services, and Water Services,” Journal of Belizean Research, 3(1), 1-18.
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2025), “Formalidad/Informalidad y lenguaje en Paraguay” / “In/Formality and Language in Paraguay,” Nota de Política/Policy Note, Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya (CADEP), Asunción, Paraguay, May, 17 páginas/pages.
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Cáceres-Zarate, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2025), “El etnocentrismo y la intención de compra de productos ‘Hecho en Paraguay’ de consumidores de Gran Asunción, Paraguay en 2022,” [“Consumer Ethnocentrism in Paraguay and the Willingness of Paraguayan Consumers to Buy Paraguayan-made Products in 2022”] Población y Desarrollo, 31(60), 5-16. https://doi.org/10.18004/pdfce/2076-054x/2025.031.60.005
  • Pisani, Michael J., Rubén Alderete, and Eduardo Becker (2025), “Paraguayan Consumer Import Choice for Twenty Products from Four Countries/ Preferencias de Consumidores Paraguayos Sobre Productos Importados y Países de Origen Seleccionados”, Special Report/Informe Especial, CADEP, August/Agosto.

2024

  • Pisani, Michael J. (2024), “Scaled Latina Enterprises in the United States of America,” Administrative Sciences, 14(10), 245-257. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14100245
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2024), “A National Profile of Latino Serial Entrepreneurs in the United States of America,” Businesses, 4(3), 426-437. https://doi.org/10.3390/businesses4030026
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2024), “A ‘White Lie’ of Business Formality: An Exploration of Non-Registered White-Owned Businesses in the United States of America,” Journal of Economic Analysis, 3(3), 25-37. doi: 10.58567/jea03030002
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Caceres Zarate, Vit Bubak, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2024), “Consumer Ethnocentrism in Paraguay,” Revista Economía y Administración (EyA), 16(2), 44-70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5377/eya.v16i2.19413
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Cáceres-Zarate, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2024), “An Emerging Economy Consumer View of Global Economic Rivals: Paraguay, China, and the United States of America,” AD-minister, 45, 93-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17230/ Ad-minister.45.6
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Cáceres-Zarate, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2024), “A Legacy of Animus in the Southern Cone of South America? Paraguayan Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Argentina and Brazil,” RAN – Revista Academia & Negocios, 10(1), 68-83. https://doi.org/10.29393/RAN10-5LAMS40005
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Caceres Zarate, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2024), “¿Productos Nacionales O Extranjeros? La opinión del consumidor paraguayo y latinoamericano,” [“Domestic or Foreign Products? Paraguayan and Latin American Consumer Opinion”] Economía y Sociedad, 82(Junio/Julio), 14-19.

2023

  • Pisani, Michael J. (2023), “Simplifying the Connection Between Acculturation and Ethnic Entrepreneurship Using Targeted Survey Questions for Quantitative Analyses,” Sage Research Method Cases in Business. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529667493
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Cáceres-Zarate, José-Carlos Tello, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2023), “Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? Consumer Xenocentrism in Paraguay,” Fórum Empresarial, 27(2), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.33801/fe.v27i2.21137 
  • Pisani, Michael J. and Jana S. Pisani (2023), “The Economic Returns to Language in Belize: Evidence from the 2000 Census,” Revista Economía y Administración (EyA), 15(2), 29-54. dx.doi.org/10.5377/eya.v15i2.17194

2022

  • Avila, Deserie and Michael J. Pisani (2022), “Navigating National Cultures within the Conduct of International Business in Belize, Central America,” Revista Economía y Administración (EyA), 13 (1), 9-50. https://doi.org/10.5377/eya.v13i1.1529
  • Pisani, Michael J. and Fernando Masi (2022), “Paraguayan Perceptions of the Economic Influence of the United States and China in Paraguay” [also published in Spanish as “Percepciones Ciudadanas sobre la Influencia Económica de Estados Unidos y China en Paraguay”], OBEI [Observatorio de Economía Internacional], Mayo [May], CADEP [Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya], Asunción, Paraguay.
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2022), “From Ethnic Market Niche to a Post-Ethnic Marketplace: A National Profile of Latino-Owned Business Market Orientation,” Latino Studies, 20(1), 94-117. DOI: 10.1057/s41276-022-00352-9.
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2022), “Firm Registration Among White- and Latino-Owned Employer Enterprises,” Fórum Empresarial, 26(2), 1-30.
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2022), “The International Trade Footprint of US Latino-owned Employer Businesses,” TCBEED Working Paper Series, TXCWP-2022-001, February, Texas A&M International University.
  • Pisani, Michael J., (2022), “Informality and International Business: An Overview,” EBSCO, Pathways to Research.
  • Pisani, Michael J. (2022), “Base of the Pyramid (BoP) and International Business,” EBSCO, Pathways to Research.
  • Pisani, Michael J., Alcides G. Cáceres Zarate, Katherine Arrua, Vit Bubak, Gabriel Pereira, Ana Lucia Mendoza, and Silvio Eduardo Becker (2022), “‘Made in Paraguay’, But is it Preferred by Paraguayans? A Brief Report on Consumer Patriotism, Consumer Animosity, and Consumer Xenocentrism,” [also published in Spanish as “‘Hecho en Paraguay’, pero ¿es preferido por los paraguayos? Un breve informe sobre el patriotismo, la animosidad, y el xenocentrismo de los consumidores”], August 1.

2021

  • Pisani, Michael J. (2021), “New Age Informality: Hispanics and the Sharing Economy,” Administrative Sciences, 11(1), 23,1-23. doi.org/10.3390/admsci11010023

2020

  • Orozco, Marlene, Alfonso Morales, Michael J. Pisani, and Jerry I. Porras (Eds.), (2020), Advancing U.S. Latino Entrepreneurship: A New National Economic Imperative, West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
  • Pisani, Michael, Dionisio Borda, Fernando Ovando, and Diana García (2020), Emprendedurismo y Cuentapropismo en Paraguay (translated as Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment in Paraguay), Asunción, Paraguay: Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (Inter-American Development Bank)/Centro de Análisis y Difusión de la Economía Paraguaya, CADEP.
  • Pisani, Michael J. and Alfonso Morales (2020), “Informality and Latino-owned Businesses: A National Portrait of Unregistered Latino-owned Businesses,” Social Science Quarterly, 101(2), 588-603. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12763. 
  • Ph.D., International Business, University of Texas - Pan-American
  • M.A., Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico
  • M.B.A., International Management, University of New Mexico
  • A.B., International Relations & History, University of California, Davis

Geographical Areas

  • Primary research interests: Latin America, Central America (Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador), Mexico, U.S./Texas-Mexico Borderlands; South Texas; and Paraguay.
  • Secondary research interests: the Caribbean (Haiti, Puerto Rico); North America (Michigan, U.S.-Canadian Borderlands); Iran; and China.

Topical Areas
International Business; Informality; Entrepreneurship/Latino Entrepreneurship, Self-Employment; Political Economy; Sustainability; Regional Integration; Foreign Currency Usage/Substitution; Cross-Border Business Interactions; Hispanic Populations; Microfinance; Microenterprise Development, Development Studies; Consumer Ethnocentrism/Animosity/Xenocentrism; Culture; Class; Management History (Aztecs).

Courses Taught

ENT 213 Economics for Entrepreneurs
MBA 660 Global Business and Sustainability
MGT 360 Managing Cultural Differences and Diversity in a Global Economy
MGT 365 International Business

My undergraduate classes typically integrate cross-cultural virtual learning featuring partners in Belize, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, South Korea, and the USA. [Italy may also be integrated into the virtual cross-cultural learning environment soon.]
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