Cultural Challenges in Doing Business Overseas

Essay by essay08University, Master'sA-, September 2007

download word file, 5 pages 4.6

Many young American entrepreneurs are seeking to do businesses internationally. Some entrepreneurs want to expand their businesses and the others want to challenge their skills. When young American entrepreneurs launched their businesses overseas, they assumed that money would help them to overcome any obstacle because the value of U.S. Dollars is higher than most of the countries' currencies. Due to this faulty assumption, many American businesses owners have closed their oversea businesses within three years. Steve Kafka is one of the American business owners who want to expand his business into the Czech Republic. Although Steve Kafka's origin was from Czech, knowingly only the Czech language would not help Steve Kafka's business to succeed in the Czech Republic. The tips below might help Steve Kafka to overcome the cross-cultural challenges.

Major differences and incompatibilities between the U.S. and Czech culturesA major challenge for Steve Kafka to do business internationally is to adapt effectively to difference cultures.

The cultural differences that Steve Kafka has to conquer not only to the customers but also the employees. A quote shows a requirement for the cultural adaptation, "adaptation requires an understanding of cultural diversity, perceptions, stereotypes, and values" (Hodgetts, Luthans, & Doh, 2005). Steve Kafka could understand the cultural diversity by learning or acquiring knowledge on how people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. Each culture has different technology transfer, managerial attitudes, managerial ideology, and business-government relations. Even a cultural common handshake could affect Steve's business. Culturalgrams (2007) identified the cultural differences of both countries, "U.S. culture uses a firm handshake but German culture uses the brusk and firm handshake and repeats on arrival and departure". The basic beliefs and behaviors of the workers and business partner are the major cultural impact on Steve Kafka's management. Base on the Culturalgrams World Edition...