The Cultural Challenges Of Doing Business Overseas

The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas Paper

University of Phoenix

The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas Paper

Introduction

This paper analyzes the differences that exist between the Czech culture and the American culture concerning the impact of a start up Chicago style pizza restaurant in the Czech Republic. Steve Kafka is an American who speaks fluent Czech and is planning to open a restaurant in the Czech Republic. This paper will analyze the cultural issues inherent in this.

With Steve Kafka's plans to open a Chicago style pizza shop in Czechoslovakia there are some minor incompatibilities that exist between the U.S. and Czech cultures that he is going to confront. The language barrier is mitigated through his understanding of Czech, but because he did not grow up in Czechoslovakia some of the cultural differences that exist in business will be apparent. In Trompenaars's Relationship Orientations on Cultural Dimensions Diagram, it shows that the United States and Czechoslovakia are quite similar in both Universalism verses Particularism, Individualism verses Communitarianism, and Neutral verses Emotional. There was a larger gap between the two countries in Specific versus Diffuse, and the largest gap in Achievement verses Ascription.

One of the cultural differences that Steve Kafka is going to face is going is that in Czechoslovakia they have a more guarded sense of personal space than in the United States. Steve's employees may have a harder time operating in the same space as is customary in the United States. The biggest cultural difference that the Chicago style pizza shop is facing is that in Czechoslovakia they put more value on a person based on who that person is, while in the United States there is a higher value placed on how that person performs his or her job. (Richard M. Hodgetts, Fred Luthans, Jonathan P. Doh).

One way for Steve to mitigate these risks is through proper training of his new employees. It is important for the new employees to understand that their status at work is based on their job performance. Steve can also mitigate the personal space issue by adapting his design for the Chicago style restaurant to better suite the culture of the employees.

Geert Hofstede's four primary dimensions will help Steve evaluate the Czech business environment. These dimensions include one, power distance, two uncertainty avoidance, three individualism, and four masculinity. The likely results of evaluating the Czech and United States culture with Hofstede's Four Primary Dimensions will be a greater understanding of the