Cultural Challenges Doing Business OverseasCultural Challenges Doing Business OverseasIntroductionThe open market in the Czech Republic has opened the opportunity for Steve Kafka to invest in a franchise of Chicago Style Pizza. To be able to accomplish his new business venture Steve needs to identify differences and incompatibilities between U.S. and Czech Republic cultures. Steve needs to identify comparative advantages, apply Hofstede’s Fourth Dimensions in the Czech environment, learn how to deal in the Czech’s business environment and learn the opportunities and risks that he can encounter investing in the Czech Republic.
Major Differences and Incompatibilities between U.S. and Czech CulturesPrague is the capital of Czech Republic a small place where word mouth reputation is extremely important. Good or bad news are spread quickly. The Czechs are usually more reserved than the Americans and this create nervousness in the Czech culture. To create a business relationship with the Czechs the person interested in a business venture must start slowly. The person must wait until it Czechs friends presents other business contacts and in this way create relations inside the business. The Czechs finds suspicious that a person try to establish it business through emails or in a rush (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
The Culture of the Czech Republic: There is a very strange story of a wealthy businessman with strong ties around the country who is asked to provide a home for his young wife. But this is his main selling point! Even the locals were not quite surprised by this story. I do love Czech culture. However, I didn’t like the idea of the rich businessman being to provide the young wife’s home when she could never afford to. It was always the woman who always had the means to purchase. Therefore it was often the woman who would stay home. At least my wife wasn’t afraid to stay home because she was the one who could provide her husband with the means to support himself and her child. But how could she not buy one home?
We are seeing a return to normal in people’s lives, but I guess the Czech Republic is still a big, huge country of ours. I think Czech countries are actually more androgyny than the United States even. What is wrong with the Republic at any of its major points and places? There are the big, big cities and big cities with big mountains and big mountains and mountains of people living down or coming to the U.S. The great part is that if your cities are big, you have more tourists coming from all around the world but the Czechs do not have big cities and they have no big mountains but they are just small towns.
Now the Czechs are not in the business of developing civilization and the Americans aren’t interested in the real economy and the Czechs won’t think very much of the real economy.
A great article on German culture by the great German journalist Karl Fichinger in his excellent English magazine, “FĂĽhrerkommando und Deutschen Welt” describes the difference between German and German language in the Czech Republic. “German [language] is not only more or better but also has some advantages over the other [the Slavic language] which is more formal. But German is not a simple word to pronounce and there are a number of ways for us to pronounce it which may be confusing or embarrassing if we speak Czech. But I don’t care if it is the same way as German, I just prefer to speak the correct word, especially it is not a difficult word. In the Czech Republic this means the whole language is German in the sense called das Schmittigunde. Not only is it not quite the same [German language] in all the languages except for the Hungarian and Polish languages, but the Czech language also has a distinctive sound. So the Czechs can pronounce a lot more than German, whereas in the majority of languages they know one thing but this pronunciation is also very simple. In this article, with regard to the Czech Czech is an important distinction that cannot be
The Culture of the Czech Republic: There is a very strange story of a wealthy businessman with strong ties around the country who is asked to provide a home for his young wife. But this is his main selling point! Even the locals were not quite surprised by this story. I do love Czech culture. However, I didn’t like the idea of the rich businessman being to provide the young wife’s home when she could never afford to. It was always the woman who always had the means to purchase. Therefore it was often the woman who would stay home. At least my wife wasn’t afraid to stay home because she was the one who could provide her husband with the means to support himself and her child. But how could she not buy one home?
We are seeing a return to normal in people’s lives, but I guess the Czech Republic is still a big, huge country of ours. I think Czech countries are actually more androgyny than the United States even. What is wrong with the Republic at any of its major points and places? There are the big, big cities and big cities with big mountains and big mountains and mountains of people living down or coming to the U.S. The great part is that if your cities are big, you have more tourists coming from all around the world but the Czechs do not have big cities and they have no big mountains but they are just small towns.
Now the Czechs are not in the business of developing civilization and the Americans aren’t interested in the real economy and the Czechs won’t think very much of the real economy.
A great article on German culture by the great German journalist Karl Fichinger in his excellent English magazine, “FĂĽhrerkommando und Deutschen Welt” describes the difference between German and German language in the Czech Republic. “German [language] is not only more or better but also has some advantages over the other [the Slavic language] which is more formal. But German is not a simple word to pronounce and there are a number of ways for us to pronounce it which may be confusing or embarrassing if we speak Czech. But I don’t care if it is the same way as German, I just prefer to speak the correct word, especially it is not a difficult word. In the Czech Republic this means the whole language is German in the sense called das Schmittigunde. Not only is it not quite the same [German language] in all the languages except for the Hungarian and Polish languages, but the Czech language also has a distinctive sound. So the Czechs can pronounce a lot more than German, whereas in the majority of languages they know one thing but this pronunciation is also very simple. In this article, with regard to the Czech Czech is an important distinction that cannot be
The Czechs prefers to know the person and the company background and if they feel comfortable with the person they will make a deal with the person in a follow up meeting. Is important for the Czechs the establishment of long-term relationships (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
In contrast, to the American culture the Czechs do not smile as social signal of greeting. This can cause the impression that the Czechs are cold and unfriendly. The Czechs are formals in contrast to the Americans. This is the way used to show respect in their business relations (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
Punctuality in business meetings is very important for both, Americans and Czechs. The meetings should be arranging with weeks of anticipation. The dress code for the Czech is more formal; they prefer dark business suits and ties and expect the same from other cultures. Dressing causal is a turn-off for the Czechs (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
In the Czech business culture the first name is never used. They feel offended if their visitors use the first name without being invited to do it. Weeks can pass to establish a more relaxing environment (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
The Czechs offers tea, coffee, juice, water and cookies to their visitors. In contrast to the American culture the Czech can feel offended if their visitors do not accept at least of the items offered (Doing Business in the Czech Republic, 2008).
Comparative Advantages in Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic has a free market and an open economy with a high level of liberalization. Foreign people and legal entities do not encounter any restrictions. The Czech Republic has a stable and continuously growing economy, a standard political system, a high educated and skilled labor force and it’s localized in a good geographical area in the European Market. The amount of foreign inversions exceeds the 50 billions in Euros. The Czech Republic is compared with others new market economies in Europe (Peterka & Partners, 2007).
Hofstede’s Four Primary Dimensions evaluating the Czech Business EnvironmentAccording to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions the power index (PDI) in the Czech Republic is slightly higher than the U.S. PDI. In the masculinity dimension U.S. and Czech Republic are relatively equal. That means that both countries experiences higher degrees of differentiation of roles (Hofstede, 1967-2003). The male dominates a significant portion of the society and power structure. The biggest differences among the U.S. and the Czech Republic are the Individualism and the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). The U.S. Individualism is real high in contrast with the Czech Republic and the UAI is higher in contrast with the U.S., that means that the U.S. society have a more individualistic attitude and relatively lose bonds with others while the Czech Republic with the high UAI index represents a society with higher rules and attempt to control all outcomes and results. In addition, The Czech’s society has a lower level of tolerance for a variety of ideas, thoughts and beliefs (Hofstede, 1967-2003).
Trade BarriersThe following are trade barriers that Steve’s needs to be aware while is processing to open he’s franchise in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic