The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas

Steve Kafka is a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza that is looking to expand his business into his place of origin, the Czech Republic. It is a complicated situation for Kafka because there are so many questions to answer in terms of how someone who made his way in American business can thrive in another country. The advantage Kafka does have is that he has roots in the Czech Republic and he knows the ways of business there and more importantly knows the culture of the Czech Republic. The questions that need to be answered are whether or not the differences between the US and Czech Republic culture would affect Kafka's pizza franchise negatively. Another question is whether or not Kafka can take advantage of the comparative advantage that the Czech Republic may have. Kafka may also look into Hofstede's four primary dimensions, the one issue with that is that Kafka would have to perform his own evaluation because Hofstede does not cover the Czech Republic in his study. Kafka also has to be aware of any trade barriers that would halt the production of his pizza. Finally Kafka has to deal with both the macroeconomic and microeconomic realities in terms of how he prices his pizza.

The thing that Kafka can feel the most good about as he goes on this business endeavor is the strong relationship between the United States and the Czech Republic (Global Trends). There is a strong economic, political and cultural relationship between the two countries. There are several reasons why the relationship between the United States and the Czech Republic is important. One reason is Kafka made his business in the