Czech Republic Investment Analysis
The Czech Republic is a politically stable environment and economically growing country with many incentives for a foreign investor like Steve Kafka. Opening a Pizza franchise in the Czech Republic should be a success considering the Czech people have already shown a taste for American franchises such as McDonalds. Steve will have to mitigate cultural differences and established competition from other existing franchises.
The U.S. and Czech Republic Cultures Compared
Czech culture differs from America in that they tend to be indirect and more formal. The Czech people are more unassuming and avoid confrontation to maintain the social expectation of politeness. In addition, the Czech people are more structured and tend to adhere to rules and regulations which may appear to an American as slow moving. In order for Steve Kafka to be successful in opening his franchise in the Czech Republic, he will have to be formal and patient. Being of Czech decent and having visited the country, Steve has the advantage of being pre-conditioned to the culture and social structure.
Hofstede’s Four Primary Dimensions
In assisting Steve Kafka in understanding the Czech business environment, Geert Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions may be employed as a tool for evaluation. Hofstede’s dimensions include power distance, uncertainly avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity. Below is a chart from the Hofstede website that compares the U.S. and Czech cultures. The U.S. and Czech cultures differentiates particularly in the areas of individualism and uncertainty of avoidance. As the power distance and uncertainty of avoidance indexes point out, the Czech people lean toward a structured organization that follows ...