...ENGL510 – Foundations of Professional Communication Oral Presentation Assignment—Persuasive Presentation Note: To complete this assignment, you will need a microphone for your computer. If you don’t have one, you may need to purchase one. You should be able to get a fairly inexpensive one at an electronics store. Background Former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca said, "You can have exceptional ideas, but if you can't communicate them, it's as if you have no ideas at all." So far we have been focusing on written communication, but oral communication is just as important in many work situations. Both informative and persuasive presentations are very important in the workplace, but the presentation that you will do in this course is a persuasive presentation. That is, you will imagine a particular audience and a particular workplace situation in which you would need to convince that audience to take a particular action. Assignment You will imagine a particular audience and a particular workplace situation in which you would need to convince that audience to take a particular action. Choose one of the topics listed below, and then develop and deliver a persuasive presentation that is about 8–10 minutes long using a PowerPoint presentation. Imagine a situation in which you would need to persuade a particular workplace audience to take a particular position or action in relation to this topic. For example, if you choose affirmative action, your presentation would...
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...Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas Major differences and incompatibilities exist between the United States and the Czech Republic Culture. These differences create major business risks when doing business in the Czech Republic. Comparative advantages exist in the Czech Republic. Hofstede’s has four primary dimensions to evaluate the Czech business environment. Czech Republic has trade barriers that has to be followed. Czech Republic is about 78,861 square kilometers in Central Europe. The Czech Republic is about the size of the state of Virginia with a population of 10.5 million. The Czech Republic operates with a Parliamentary republic type of government. “A parliamentary republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government”. (CountryWatch, 2011, p. 1) Czech Republic primary language Czech is spoken by 95 % of the population. English language is not widely used in the country. In a parliamentary republic there is no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The Czech Republic considers education important the literacy rate is 99.8 %. Student who attend a public university pay a small amount for tuition. Czechs are both formal and somewhat indirect in their communication. They try not to purposely offend and will often go out of their way to protect someone’s feelings. Czechs are non-confrontational and often take an indirect approach to business dealings. If they lower...
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...The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas EC0/561 8/2/2014 Dr. Sharghi The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas This paper will provide an analysis of Steve Kafka’s decision to open and operate a Chicago-style pizza business in the Czech Republic (University of Phoenix, 2011). This analysis will include information on the cultural differences between the United States and the Czech Republic and how these differences may affect the business climate. This paper will also review potential risks in doing business overseas and what Kafka may be able to do to mitigate these risks. In addition, trade barriers and price structures will also be discussed. Background Kafka is an American of Czech heritage, speaks fluent Czech, and has traveled to the Czech Republic on many occasions, thus giving him confidence in his understanding of the business environment and economy opportunities (University of Phoenix, 2011). Kafka also has many friends and family members living in the Czech Republic which also give him the ability to better learn about cultural differences and standard customs. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the European Bank for Reconstruction, and the International Monetary Fund, and the International Bank for Reconstruction (Doing Business, 2011). The monetary unit used is the Czech crown rather than the Euro and credit cards are commonly accepted, including the...
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...The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas MMPBL/501 August 23, 2011 Dr. Sangeeta Bishop Steve Kafka, an American of Czech origin and a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza, has decided to expand his business into the Czech Republic. He knows it is a risky decision. When he became a franchisor, he had to overcome many difficulties. Steve anticipates he will face some of these difficulties again at the new location in Prague, Czech Republic. Although he was born in the United States, he has family and friends in the Czech Republic. Steve speaks Czech fluently, and has visited the country of his origin several times. In other words, he knows the people and the culture. Or does he? The purpose of this Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas paper is to analyze the major differences and incompatibilities between the U.S. and Czech cultures. I will analyze the cross-cultural differences between the United States and Czech Republic, determine comparative advantages in this country, and recommend ways to minimize the risks of establishing a franchise overseas. It is important for Steve Hafka to understand Czech Cuisine being that he has decided to expand his business in Czech. If he does not research the Czech culture, his pizza franchise may not be successful. Both cultures are quite compatible and the major differences come in attitudes of people. Americans are generally optimists, where the majority of Czechs are pessimists. Another difference between the...
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...The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas Karinna Kruse MMPBL501 November 22, 2010 David Francom Steve Kafka is an American citizen from Chicago, Illinois, who is looking to expand his business overseas. Steve is a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza and sees the opportunity of introducing the famous food in Czech Republic, a country his family came from. Because he is familiar with the language, customs and culture, Steve is confident that he will make his business successful in Czech Republic. Therefore, before starting his franchise overseas, Steve needs to conduct a cultural and economic study to determining the cost of business, the risks of investment, and the any trade barriers for his pizza business. “Culture is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior” (Hodgetts, Luthans, & Doh, 2005, p. 93-94). United States and Czech Republic are two countries situated on two different continents, and with significant cultural differences between their cultures. Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia, a former Easter communist country. Czech Republic gained its independence in 1989, after the Velvet Revolution, when the Eastern communist bloc ceded to exist The economic, political and cultural relationship between United States and Czech Republic are strong, furthermore, the United States encourages the economic transformation in Czech...
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...Cultural Challenges Globalization and overseas business expansion has brought about the need for in-depth understanding of cultural differences. When researching and considering cross cultural business ventures, it is important to understand that culture before vocally communicating that wish. Take time to research and understand the audience you are making your sell too. The Situation Steve Kafka, an American of Czech decent is contemplating expanding his franchise, Chicago Style Pizza, into Prague, Czech Republic. Steve currently franchises his business in the U.S. Steve must investigate this venture thoroughly and become familiar with the Czech culture to realize opportunities and mitigate risks to meet his end state goal of expanding his Pizzeria business into the Prague. Czech Culture and Comparative Advantages Czech cultures focuses on non confrontational and indirect communication. Czechs are non-confrontational and prefer to do business over through a series of meetings during different times. American’s can be confrontation and usually like to get to the point of their business negotiations, without getting to understand the other people within the meeting. When conducting business in the Czech Republic it is important to understand that Czechs are not as expressive as Americans can come off. A direct approach could be viewed as confrontational and rude, which goes along with the misconceptions of foreign understanding of the American culture. The best...
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...Running head: THE CULTURAL CHALLENGES OF DOING BUSINESS OVERSEAS Week 6 Paper The Cultural Challenges of Doing Business Overseas University of Phoenix Online ECO/561 July, 26 2010 Dr. George Sharghi Abstract Mr. Kafka is an American of Czech origin. He’s a franchisor for Chicago Style Pizza and decided to expand his business into the Czech Republic and anticipates he will face some difficulties at the new location in Prague, Czech Republic. Born in the United States, he has family and friends in the Czech Republic, speaks Czech fluently, and has visited the country of his origin several times (University of Phoenix, 2010). This paper will identify major differences, incompatibilities, risks, mitigation factor, comparative advantages that exist and how best Steve can benefit, Hofstede's four primary dimensions, trade barriers, assessment of demand, cost, and what Mr. Steve Kafka should know about price and income elasticites. U.S./Czech Cultures & Comparative Advantages Some of the major differences and incompatibilities between the United States and Czech cultures are; norms, values, beliefs and behavior. The citizens of the Czech Republic believe in the firm hand shakes upon introduction and again when departing. They address each other by their first name takes time and occur when the consent is mutual. They raise a hand in order to get their attention. Czech citizens are well informed about politics and religion. The general attitude of Americans...
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...Rally Round the Trade Name 1) Explain whether or not the fact that Gabby’s surname is Rally gives her the right to use it any way she wishes. I believe that Gabby has the right to use her surname “Rally” in her pizza business because it’s a different business and is not harming the Rally motor business As long as it’s a different type of business, then Gabby can use the last name “Rally.” Now, if Gabby wants to open up an auto business, she cannot use Rally as the name of the business because it will be confliction with the already existing business. A name or a trademark is what differentiates a business from any other business. Each business name must be unique according to its form or type of business. Just like two corporations cannot have the same name within a state, two auto businesses in the same town cannot have the same name. Gabby cannot use her last name in any way she wishes to. If there already exists a business named “Gabby’s Auto’s” she cannot open another auto shop with that same name. If she were to be allowed to do so, confusion will be created amongst consumers. It would be unclear to which “Gabby’s Autos” one is referring to so she would have to change the name of her business to something else, something more distinguishing that would avoid any kind of confusion. Just because her last name is Rally, it doesn’t give her the right to use it as she pleases. If this were the case, millions of businesses would have the same name worldwide and there would...
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...Local Business Tax Account Application Lee County Tax Collector P.O. Box 1549 Ft. Myers, FL 33902-1549 239.533.6000 (Return application, fees, and corresponding documents to the Lee County Tax Collector for processing.) 1. Type of Business: 2. Business Name (DBA): EIN/SSN: NOTE: Indicate below why you are exempt from filing for a Fictitious Name Registration/DBA (Doing Business As) Business name indicates my full legal name Business name is a registered trademark Business name is the corporate name Business name is the limited liability partnership name Business name is the general partnership name Attorney, Dept. of Health, Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation 3. Owner/Professional/Qualifier Name: (Last) (First) 4. County/State license or certification number: (Professional, Contractor & Restaurants, etc. Enter license number and attach a copy of your current license or certification.) License #: 5. Physical Address: (Zoning approval is required-see below and back of this application.) City: (Middle Initial) Strap #: State: Zip: City: State: Zip: Mailing Address (if different): 6. Business Phone Num er: ( 7. Business located in: ) Residential Alternate Phone Number: ( ) Commercial Property 8. Is the physical address located within a city limit? Yes: If yes, attach a copy of your city local...
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...ideas of current leaders in the marketplace, but comes with out of the box ideas that capitalize on their weaknesses. Some of my ideas will be implemented immediately, while others will take time to develop as I build the business brick by brick. Looking at the big picture, it will pay off greatly because I know that the pieces will be able to be put together. It is a long process but it is all doable as long as I am motivated and have the right people around me to get this mega Sporting Goods store open for business. The first step of this process is to write a business plan that identifies my target market, develop the unique qualities of my business and ultimately convince investors to believe in my vision to change the landscape of this growing retail category forever. According to IBIS World’s market research the Sporting Goods industry in the United States has seen 3% annual growth for the last 5 years and in 2013 was a nearly $64 Billion market, with about two-thirds of those products being sold through sporting goods stores like Dick’s, Sports Authority and Cabela’s (IBISWORLD). It is also key to note that according to a study by A.T Kearney, even with on-line shopping making up about 40% of sales, physical stores are still the mainstay of this business with more than two-thirds of shoppers reporting they used a physical store to research their product before making the on-line...
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...by another business. As an example of how the court would verify this kind of situation, in the case RICHARD STORE CO. v. RICHARD'S WAREHOUSE SALES & AUCTION GALLERY, Inc. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision that enjoined defendant from using the name "Richard" in its advertisements or to use it to acquaint the public with its goods or merchandise. The court held that the decree should have gone further and prohibited defendant from performing any act of advertising that would directly or indirectly represent to the public that plaintiff and defendant were affiliated. (63 So. 2d 502; 1953 Fla) In reference to the Gabby’s case, Gabby cannot use the name Rally’s as she wishes even though it is her surname. It is important to verify if any business in the local area is using that trade name. Of course she would be able to keep the legal name but always with a choice to change to a fictitious name if needed. It is required on all government forms and applications the use of a legal name of any business including applications for employer tax ID, licenses and permits. This legal name does not reflect on the name that the business wants to use on its regular operations. To use a different name a business should have a fictitious name registered with the local government agency. As explained by SBA.gov, 2011 “A fictitious name (or assumed name, trade name or DBA name, which is short for "doing business as") is a business name that...
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...[pic] Sample Business Plan (A Service) SMITH E-COMMERCE CONSULTING Mary Smith October 31, 2014 |Section 1: The Business Profile | |Description of My Business | | | |I plan to provide a complete service for the design, installation and maintenance of E-commerce marketing functions for my retail | |clients. I intend to evaluate the success of each installation and follow up to make changes to improve the effectiveness of the each | |site. | |Targeted Market and Customers | | | |My customers will be small businesses that can enhance their present sales by the utilization of E-commerce. Typical clients will | |require sites for the dual purpose of providing 24-hour information to customers as well as providing...
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...Are US Companies at an ethical disadvantage when doing business overseas? Whether or not US companies are at a disadvantage when dealing overseas has remain a focal point for several years since the passing of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977, as bribery has become more common place in the business world with the current trend towards globalization. Despite efforts in the US trying to hold US companies at higher standards, bribery is not considered unethical around the world (De George, 1986). In many foreign countries, bribery is considered the standard medium for businesses transactions and is even allowed to be deducted as legitimate business expenses for accounting purposes, giving legitimacy to the practice. The US Department of Commerce has estimated that foreign companies have used bribes to beat out US companies out of more than $45 billion of international business between1994 to 2000 (Hodgetts, 2000). Bribery is usually defined as the “remuneration for the performance of an act that is inconsistent with the work contract or the nature of the work one has been hired to perform” (Shaw, 1989). Research suggests that bribery is more prevalent in developing countries; however, developed countries (including individualistic countries) also suffer from unethical issues (Shaw, 1989). Recently, American executives at Lindsey Manufacturing Company became the first to be convicted of foreign bribery in more than 34 years of the passing of FCPA (Fulbright & Jaworski...
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...investment in. In evaluating the risks of making the investment in Russia, the most widely discussed risk that is found is the corruption in the country; this remains a major barrier success for businesses in the nation. There is a complex business environment in Russia along with known issues involving bribery. The corruption in the nation leads to a number of problems including non-transparent and inconsistent application of laws and regulations with the weak enforcement of laws and court decisions (Business Anti-Corruption Portal). This isn’t the only area where corruption is a problem in Russia, there is corruption in the area of licensing and permits with multiple inspections and red tape. Intentional and lengthy delays in the procedures for starting a business, getting required permits and licensing are additional risks along with the corruption. It does seem as though the worst corruption lies within the public procurement sector. Political risks in Russia are still very high, although there tends to be a trend of changes within the government to help. Russia is a vast country with great capacity, it stretches over 9 times zones and there are diverse income levels and industrial structures across the regions of the nation (Doing Business in Russia). This...
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...Moving headquarters overseas has been a growing trend since the 1990s as more and more countries become open to the idea of relocation. In our case, we saw examples of big multi-national companies moving headquarters across continents, like Nokia moving from Finland to the United States, IBM from the United States to China and HSBC from London to Hong Kong. This report will examine the reason behind this phenomenon and what are the consequences as a result of that. There are some key reasons that lead to this trend. i) Moving closer to the Asian market As Asia continues to charge ahead in its development, many companies want to fight for a slice of the pie and are moving into Asia to take advantage of the growing demand there. For example, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has this year moved its global headquarters for their beauty and baby-care business, including its biggest brand, Pampers, from Cincinnati to Singapore. They have expressed that the move to Singapore was motivated by a need for P&G brands to be closer to the growing number of consumers in Asia. As we can see from this, multi-national companies see the importance of the Asian market and believe that in order to take advantage of the potential there, need to relocate their headquarters. It is no longer enough to just have operations in Asia, but it is also helpful to have headquarters within the region to facilitate development. ii) Moving away from heavy corporate taxes The next trend is that of...
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