AmCham CZ’s Post

Jaroslava Rezlerova of Manpower has the hardest role of any AmCham CZ board member. As our Vice-President of People Policy, she is the one who has to answer when every other board member- and almost every other member- asks why the government does not understand that Czechia needs more qualified people today, not in eight months or eighteen years. When I called her a few weeks ago to beg her to continue, she had every right to tell me to find someone else to play pinata. Czechia operates under a paradox in policy. Every single business and every single politician will tell you that the country’s primary economic asset is its educated and efficient workforce. Yet, the country does not have single minister responsible for developing and implementing a people strategy that will ensure that asset grows more valuable in the future. We talk about becoming an innovative economy as if technology just suddenly appears all by itself. It takes teams of the people pursuing the science, developing the technology, figuring out how to produce it efficiently at scale, and then market and distribute it globally. We are fortunate that Jaroslava does not back down from a challenge. Not only did she agree to continue, but she also wants us to convince whatever government comes next that we need a people policy that is not siloed in several different ministries, but co-ordinated by the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, and driven by performance metrics such as business research investment per capita. Private sector leaders like Jaroslava are the reason why Czechia has risen so fast and so far away from where we were in 1989, and the reason why the country still is the best bet in the region for any investor who wants to put his money on Europe’s next catalyst of innovation. https://lnkd.in/e5m9AiFv

We feasted last night on river stones and candles. And debated how to solve the two biggest challenges facing the Czech economy: how to find and retain talented people and how to build a critical mass of advanced technology development. The AmCham CZ Leadership Dinners always mix many different viewpoints formed by differing industries, differing nationalities (and the ingrained culture that goes with that), and differing political and social philosophies. Unlike master chef david rejhon, who conjures the actual food that lands on the table from cupboards stocked with local ingredients, we aim for a big, messy stew of conversation that we can simmer down into conclusions that drive business decisions and AmCham policy initiatives. We were fortunate that Jiri Svejcar of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) joined us with his wealth of expertise on major trends, including in supply chains (you should check their study out). And that Agnieszka Pietrasik of Hays could provide up-to-the-minute information on availability and wage levels. Or Casey Phelps of Graebel Companies, Inc. who could tell how companies are shifting people around the globe. Or AmCham board member Jaroslav Skvrna of Deloitte, which has data, insight and expertise on…everything. This expertise combined with the day-to-day experience of Yuliya Badritdinova of McDonald's, who is not only a American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine board member we get to borrow a few days a month, but a wealth of information about job candidates across the country and customer habits, or Radwan Seddiqi of Atlas who knows how the big IT centers are faring, or AmCham President Milan Slapak of RSBC Holding who can explain what is need for major technology projects, or equity investment in the economy, or how the government reacts to AmCham’s policy entrepreneurship. These are the people that construct AmCham’s collective intelligence, and who make our business community strong and agile. We are lucky to have them working among us!  

Thank you for the excellent opinion with which I completely agree. When I became a new owner of the Slovak company Javorina a year and a half ago, everyone warned me: "Be careful - in eastern Slovakia, you won't find quality people." Today, I can happily declare that this is untrue - the team we have assembled is full of professionals with experience from abroad. And it's true - because I spend my time in Switzerland, I can't help but notice that there are many capable Slovaks who have moved abroad for work. But when I ask them why they don't return home after their studies, like most Czechs do, the answer is - there's nowhere to go. There are no promising companies there. From this, I draw only one conclusion: to support the creation of innovative companies in Slovakia that will have international reach and, consequently, reasonable budgets to pay for quality, smart, and hardworking employees. That means supporting innovative projects, especially in eastern Slovakia, is key. We at Javorina.com are on this path, and we are receiving recognition for the quality and design of our furniture from Europe and around the world. Keep your fingers crossed for us :)

Policy Follows Politics: Prepping for the AmChams of Asia Pacific 2024 DC Door Knock Prior to the formal kick-off of our delegation meetings tomorrow, BGR Group Loren Monroe Jonathan Mantz provided the AAP delegation with a briefing on the state of the 2024 campaign from a presidential, Senate and House perspective. Never has understanding politics and the issues most important in battleground states been more important for business leaders to understand. Thanks to Ellen Brown Katie McHenry Anica Choi for all your work for AAP as well. Looking forward to three great days of meetings. Chambers represented include: AmCham Australia The American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia Association (AmCham) American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) AmCham HK AMCHAM India AmCham Indonesia Fiji Amcham Pacific AMCHAM Malaysia (American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce) American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (AmCham Singapore) AmCham Sri Lanka AmCham Taiwan The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM Thailand) AmCham Hanoi AmCham Vietnam HCMC & Danang

What do Danish companies think of doing business in China? In Q4 of 2023, the overall short-term outlook of Danish companies has increased compared to the previous quarter, but remains in negative territory for the second consecutive quarter. More positive short-term outlooks are indicated from respondents base in Denmark, as well as from SMEs, compared to respondents based in China and larger companies.   The DBOC index was established in January 2021 to track changes in outlook of Danish companies with activities in china. Find the full update here: https://lnkd.in/dkudCjcX The Trade Council | DCCC - Danish Chamber of Commerce in China | Danish-Chinese Business Forum | Sino-Danish Center For Education And Research | Thomas Østrup Møller | Mikael H. Winther | Søren Bindesbøll | Martin Rune Hoxer | Assar Qureshi | Morten Kruse | Henrik Martens 马海 | Katja Goodhew | Martin William Behbahani | Mads Vesterager Nielsen | Nicolai Lundsbjerg 陆宁

Okay, it seems that by Southern China, they mean Guangdong. Not Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan which are as south. It seems that the more developed the southern cluster (Guangdong), the tighter the co-ordination between govt officials and Chinese companies. But in addition, these Chinese companies are also increasingly capable of standing on their own to compete with Western products. And those that are in GX, GZ, SC ... well, there is very little market there. And unless the European companies want to set up bases there, the local govts are fiercely protective of their own 'turf' - local provincial companies. In terms of services and solutions, I think European firms have an edge in the major cities - but again this lead will be eroding as China innovates/copies and start to squeeze other firms out. Please note that they are not specially targeting foreign firms, just being pro-Chinese firms, and pro-local provincial champions. So European are at an inflection point, stay and invest to compete; or quit the market and leave a small local presence. There is no level playing field, the field in the EU is more level but also not totally flat.

After Swedish companies survey in China, I wanted to share what German companies think about doing business in China. Many points from the surveys are very similar. Both reports emphasises unfair competition with Chinese companies. Full report: https://lnkd.in/dNqvX2ps

What do Danish companies think of doing business in China? In Q2 of 2024, the overall short-term outlook of Danish companies has improved compared to the previous quarter, and enters positive territory for the first time in four quarters. In this quarter, respondents based in China indicate more positive sentiments than respondents based in Denmark, while large companies indicate a slightly more positive short-term outlook, compared to SMEs. The DBOC index was established in January 2021 to track changes in outlook of Danish companies with activities in china. Find the full update here: https://lnkd.in/dkudCjcX The Trade Council | Danish Chamber of Commerce in China (DCCC) | Danish-Chinese Business Forum | Sino-Danish Center For Education And Research | Thomas Østrup Møller | Mikael H. Winther | Søren Bindesbøll | Assar Qureshi | Morten Kruse | Henrik Martens 马海 | Katja Goodhew | Martin William Behbahani | Mads Vesterager Nielsen | Nicolai Lundsbjerg 陆宁 | Kate Wu Drost

What do Danish companies think of doing business in China? In Q3, the overall short-term outlook of Danish companies has declined compared to the two previous quarter in 2023 and is now in the negative territory for the first time this year. This is reflected for both large companies and SME’s, as well as respondents based in Denmark and China. The DBOC index was established in January 2021 to track changes in outlook of Danish companies with activities in China. Find the full update here: https://lnkd.in/dkudCjcX The Trade Council | DCCC - Danish Chamber of Commerce in China | Danish-Chinese Business Forum | Sino-Danish Center For Education And Research

What do Danish companies think of doing business in China?