Running head: THE CULTURAL CHALLENGES OF DOING BUSINESS OVERSEAS
The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas
University of Phoenix
MBA/501 ? Forces Influencing Business in the 21st Century
Week 1 - February 21, 2006
Introduction
Many American corporations are successful because of the crisk taking culture of the United States. Steve Kafka, an American of Czech origin, realized this fact when he became a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza and decided to expand his business into the Czech Republic. The first risk Steve took was becoming a franchisor, to be a successful franchisor Steve had to overcome many difficulties. Steve also anticipates that he will encounter some of the same hurdles at the new location in Prague, Czech Republic. Steve has family and friends in the Czech Republic, speaks Czech fluently, and has visited several times. Nevertheless, he was born in the United States and needs to completely learn and understand the people and culture of the country of his origin in order to make his business venture successful.
Differences and Incompatibilities between U.S. and Czech Cultures
Steve wants to expand his pizza restaurant into the Czech Republic. To be able to make the expansion successful Steve must analyze the differences between American and Czech eating and diet cultures. CultureGrams (2006) states, while Americans eat with a fork in the hand with which they write, Czechs tend to eat with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right. In addition, Pizza is a popular food in America, often consumed as an entire meal, is eaten with hands, is often delivered to the front door, served in a restaurant or carr ...