The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas
The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas
Nancy Kelley
University of Phoenix
MBA 501: Forces Influencing Business in the 21st Century
A. Lutz
February 2007
Globalization and overseas business expansion has brought about the need for in-depth understanding of culture differentiation. When conducting or contemplating cross cultural business ventures, it is important to understand the culture before communicating one 's desires.
This paper will focus on the cross cultural challenges of doing business overseas, with special attention being placed on the Czech Republic.
The Situation
Steve Kafka, an American of Czech decent is contemplating expanding his franchise, Chicago Style Pizza, into Prague, Czech Republic. Steve currently franchises his business in the U.S. Steve must thoroughly investigate and become familiar with the Czech culture to realize opportunities and mitigate risks to meet his end-state goal of expanding his Chicago Style Pizza business into the Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Culture and Comparative Advantages
Czech culture focuses on indirect communication and politeness. Czechs are non-confrontational and prefer to do business over the course of several meetings. Americans are usually upfront and to the point in business negotiations.
When conducting business in the Czech Republic it is important to realize that Czechs are not as direct as Americans. A direct approach may be seen as confrontational and rude. In order to avoid this type of conflict, Steve must carefully plan his approach to doing business to ensure that there are open lines of communication, with respect to Czech cultural norms. It will be necessary to accommodate cultural communication differences, to insure meeting end-state goals. Steve must contemplate alternatives to reduce potential conflict when introducing his business venture to Czech culture. It is important that he realizes that Czechs will not openly express their disdain for
Nancy Kelley
University of Phoenix
MBA 501: Forces Influencing Business in the 21st Century
A. Lutz
February 2007
Globalization and overseas business expansion has brought about the need for in-depth understanding of culture differentiation. When conducting or contemplating cross cultural business ventures, it is important to understand the culture before communicating one 's desires.
This paper will focus on the cross cultural challenges of doing business overseas, with special attention being placed on the Czech Republic.
The Situation
Steve Kafka, an American of Czech decent is contemplating expanding his franchise, Chicago Style Pizza, into Prague, Czech Republic. Steve currently franchises his business in the U.S. Steve must thoroughly investigate and become familiar with the Czech culture to realize opportunities and mitigate risks to meet his end-state goal of expanding his Chicago Style Pizza business into the Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Culture and Comparative Advantages
Czech culture focuses on indirect communication and politeness. Czechs are non-confrontational and prefer to do business over the course of several meetings. Americans are usually upfront and to the point in business negotiations.
When conducting business in the Czech Republic it is important to realize that Czechs are not as direct as Americans. A direct approach may be seen as confrontational and rude. In order to avoid this type of conflict, Steve must carefully plan his approach to doing business to ensure that there are open lines of communication, with respect to Czech cultural norms. It will be necessary to accommodate cultural communication differences, to insure meeting end-state goals. Steve must contemplate alternatives to reduce potential conflict when introducing his business venture to Czech culture. It is important that he realizes that Czechs will not openly express their disdain for
References: Country Insight. (2005). Performance anxiety for Czech services? Phoenix, AZ: University of Phoenix. Hodgetts, & Luthans. (2005). International Management (6th ed.) . New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. Inflation Rate. (2007). Retrieved February 12, 2007, from Czech Statistical Office Web site: http://www.czso.cz/eng/redakce.nsf/i/inflation_rate Weidenbaum, M. (2006). Vital Speeches of the Day. An American look at the Czech Republic. Vol.72, Iss. 25; p. 735.