Running head: PIZZA IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Pizza for Czechs
Good Team
University of Phoenix
Pizza for Czechs
There are six steps that should be remembered when doing business in the Czech Republic. The first, being that it is important to request a meeting well in advance and formally. Czechs are very formal in their business dealings and prefer to have meeting requests in writing via fax. The United States medium of email would not be deemed respectful by the Czech business people. Since Steve speaks Czech he should write the request in Czech as a sign of respect.
The second step is that when entering the room for the meeting always shake hands with the people inside the room. Be sure to wait for the female employees to initiate the handshake before shaking her hand. At the end of the meeting shake hands again with everyone.
People in the United States are very blunt, and could be considered rude. They are not afraid to say no to things, and have the philosophy that “Time is Money” so they may tend to rush meetings. This could lead to interrupting people as they are speaking which the Czechs consider very rude. If they are going to speak they should raise their hands before doing so, so that they don’t interrupt each other.
In both cultures there is a lot of red tape and bureaucracy that will have to be dealt with. In the United States for the most part, deals can be sealed by middle management if it is less than $10,000. However, this is not the case in Czech Republic. Lawyers will be needed to sort through all the legalities and to draw up the agreements.
Czechs want to build business relationships with people that they do business with. A person should learn as much about them as they can even if it seems too personal to someone from the United States. This is different from the United States because these business men do not care to know that much about people that they are doing business with. With the exception of an...