FOCUS 2-2007.indd - British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech ...

2/20 07
T H E M AG A ZINE O F T H E B R I T I S H C H A M B ER O F C O M M ERCE I N T H E CZEC H R EPUBLI C
Focus on
Reaching for the Stars
Personal Development,
HR and Executive Search / 12
The Vicious Circle of Unemployment / 10
Full House in TPCA / 12
21 Useful Tips for Starting a New Career / 13
The Labour Code in a Nutshell / 26
BCC – Working for a better business environment

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Board of Directors
of the British Chamber of Commerce
H o n o r a r y C h a i r m a n
Linda Duffield, British Ambassador
H o n o r a r y V i c e - C h a i r m a n
Karen Stanton, British Embassy
– Head of Trade and Investment Section
C h a i r m a n
Jo Weaver, JWA
V i c e - C h a i r m a n
Mike Al-Nassir, Pedersen & Partners
Tr e a s u r e r
Andrew Sutherland, KPMG
B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s
Miroslav Sedlák, Provident Financial
Jan Valdinger, Fairway
Petr Palička, Bovis Lend Lease
Jan Grozdanovič, JGA Legal – Jan Grozdanovič, advokát
Marek Kučera, PrintSoft Česká republika
Eva Williams, Tesco Stores CR
E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r
Renata Vildomcová
A C T I V I T Y A R E A S A N D B O A R D R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S
C o r p o r a t e S o c i a l R e s p o n s i b i l i t y
Miroslav Sedlák
I n t e r C h a m b e r G r o u p i n g
Mike Al-Nassir
I m p r o v i n g t h e D e l i v e r y o f J u s t i c e
Jan Grozdanovič, Petr Palička
F i n a n c e / A d m i n i s t r a t i o n
Andrew Sutherland
P u b l i c a t i o n s
Jan Valdinger
P a t r o n s / M e m b e r s h i p
Mike Al-Nassir
N B E N / Ev e n t s
Marek Kučera, Eva Williams
S p e c i a l P r o j e c t s
Jo Weaver
PAT R O N S
• BAE Systems • Bovis Lend Lease
• Clifford Chance • Cushman & Wakefield
• DHL • Egon Zehnder International • Flow East
• International Power • Linklaters • Lovells
• Provident Financial • Tesco • Zátiší Catering Group
C H A M B E R O F F I C E
Renata Vildomcová, Executive Director
Lenka Péčová, Membership Assistant
Petra Janíčková, Events Coordinator
Naďa Bělovská, Publications Manager
British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
IBC, Pobřežní 3, 186 00 Praha 8
Tel.: (+420) 224 835 161, Fax: (+420) 224 835 162
E: info@britcham.cz, britcham@britcham.cz
www.britishchamber.cz
F O C U S 2 – M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 0 7
The magazine is published by
the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic.
Should you wish to place an article, advertise or contribute
in any way to the magazine please contact Naďa Bělovská at
publications@britcham.cz or call +420 224 835 165
Editor & Advertising: Naďa Bělovská, tel.: 224 835 165,
e-mail: publications@britcham.cz, ISSN 1212-5156
Copy editing: WriteOn! Editing Services, tel.: 608 676 035,
e-mail: writeon.editing@yahoo.co.uk
Production: Atelijèur Půda, s.r.o., tel./fax: 271 961 788,
tel.: 777 343 555, e-mail: info@puuda.cz
FOCUS is registered with the Ministry of Culture, MK ČR E 13335
© British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic 2007
Welcome
Have you ever noticed that during some parts of the year the time runs faster?
In the last FOCUS Mike Al-Nassir wished you a Happy New Year 2007 and there
is spring around us nowadays. How many of your friends did you promise
a nice, quiet meeting “just after these crazy Xmas and New Year’s days” and,
be frank, have you met any of them since January?
The flow of time has also other aspects. Don’t believe that it goes on equally
for everybody. Can you remember the Czechoslovak ‘Velvet Revolution’ in
1989? If yes, you belong to the old generation like me. Many people do not;
they were either not born at all or too young at that time. But these young
people are just about to take their secondary school leaving certificates this
year or even take their university degrees. They will try to reach the stars,
have a good job, travel a lot and enjoy life. It is up to us, the witnesses of the
‘old times’, to make this start either smooth or hard for them. I know that they
demand too much sometimes, but don’t try to explain to them how difficult
life was for our generation a couple of years ago.
Well, I am not going to play the role of an ugly old-fashioned man. I also try
to reach the stars and I am sure that it would be impossible without a good
team. Therefore, a careful selection of workmates represents for me one of
the most important steps on the way to success because any small mistake
during this process can cause a big disappointment on both sides in the
future. After all, one recommendation for young people who are starting their
professional career: rather than enumerate all of your benefit expectations to
the potential employer, try to convince him/her that the company can benefit
from your personal contribution. It is an old well-known method, but I haven’t
heard such an affirmation for a long time.
Finding people who help you to reach the stars is a difficult task and we hope
that this issue of FOCUS can give you some good advice. Nevertheless, meet
your friends if you promised to do so; it has been statistically proven that an
overwhelming majority of important job positions are achieved only through
long-term personal relationships.
Marek Kučera
BCC Board Director

In Brief
New Offices Come to Prague 8
Due to a growing demand for office space,
several new office buildings are coming to
Prague 8 near Florenc metro station.
Firstly, Oasis Florenc was introduced in
November and will bring a further 14,000 m 2
of offices to the market. In addition, Real
Estate Karlin has recently started construction
on Corso IIA, a new 14,000 m 2 office scheme
Visualisation of the new office centre OASIS FLORENC
to sit alongside the original Corso Karlin,
and Ablon is now launching Meteor Phase
C, a new 5,000 m 2 building to sit alongside
the original A and B buildings.
e trend is to move out of the city
centre to new office buildings, because the
floor plans in the centre are oen limiting,
especially for expanding companies. New
office buildings also offer better car parking,
and last but not least, rents outside the city
centre are cheaper.
Prague Outlet Shopping
Outlet shops are relatively new in the
Czech Republic, but they are becoming
increasingly popular.
at is why it comes as no surprise that
Prague is going to get a new outlet centre,
aimed for completion within a year near
Prague International Airport in Tuchoměřice.
OUTLET AIRPORT PRAHA will
be the largest outlet centre in the Czech
Republic – it will offer more than 170 shops
of clothing, shoes, electronics, cosmetics
or fashion accessories of all the most prestigious
brands.
Italian investor B.Consulting is investing
more than CZK 1 billion into construction,
which should be finished by the general
supplier SYNER, s.r.o. in February 2008.
e new outlet centre should become an
4-5
F O C U S 2
architectural glory and an important
business eye-catcher for Central Europe.
Courtyard by Marriott Prague Airport
The airport area is growing in popularity
amongst hoteliers as well. Beginning
15th March, the brand new Courtyard by
Marriott Prague Airport hotel will provide
a comfortable, functional and reliable
environment to clients travelling to Prague
for business or leisure.
e new hotel is a smart choice for all
travellers who like to feel in control of their
travel experience and do not want to travel
long distances from the airport. e hotel
is located just between North Terminal 1
and 2, with a direct covered walkway from
North Terminal 2. e city centre can be
easily reached within 30 minutes by airport
shuttle service, taxi, bus or limousine.
Et netera Succeeded in European
Business Awards
Et netera, a leading Czech provider of
e-business solutions, was announced to
be among the top 10 in the prestigious
European Business Awards in the Growth
Strategy of the Year category.
e co-founder of the company and chairman
of the Board of Directors, Martin Holečko,
was also placed among the top 10 entrepreneurs
in the Entrepreneur of the Year
category. e European Business Awards is
an independent project that looks for and
awards exceptional businesses in the European
Union. It is sponsored by prestigious
companies including Société Générale,
Grey EMEA and Siemens. e competition
included eight categories and entries came
from hundreds of companies from across
Europe. e Czech company Et netera
placed among the top 10 twice.
Czech Companies Can Start Treating
their Employees Better
Fluctuation, sickness absence, no employee
loyalty and low work productivity – these
are the most common problems for entrepreneurs
who pay little interest to their
employees’ development.
Most Czech companies have one common
problem – they do not spend enough on
internal communication. According to the
survey results, it is hard to expect employees
to work hard if they don’t know what direction
the company is going, what management’s
plans are, and what they want to accomplish.
Now there is a chance to improve.
CzechInvest is offering Czech companies
a grant to implement the internationally
recognised Investors in People (IIP) standard,
to help solve such problems. e main goal of
the IIP standard is not to gain any degree,
but to adopt its principles and act according
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
to them, emphasises Markéta Frydrychová
of CzechInvest. is is the only way to achieve
results similar to foreign companies, which
have a long experience with the IIP standard.
A targeted relationship with people has
brought them many satisfied employees as
well as higher sales and profits.
Which companies can obtain financial
support from this grant? Any manufacturing
or industrial company or one that provides
consequential services. Companies from
outside Prague can get up to CZK 320,000
from the programme, to go towards the
services of a specially trained consultant
who can help management to implement
the IIP standard. Just call CzechInvest!
Lovely St. Valentine’s Day
St. Valentine’s Day is very new in this
country. Although Czechs handle it rather
awkwardly and with hesitance, there is
a group of people who find it irresistible.
Shop owners! is year this special occasion
escalated sales not only in Great Britain
but also in the Czech Republic. Despite
the fact that this day is celebrated only by
40% of Czechs, usually young people and
students, owners of shops can be happy, the
average Czech customer spent CZK 384
for St. Valentines Day. Most oen people
paid this money for little gis like flowers,
sugar candies, plush toys or cosmetics.
People are Still Keen
on Construction Savings
According to the numbers provided by
building societies, 516,000 new contracts
were signed last year in the Czech Republic.
Last year people signed on for total savings
of CZK 125 billion. e average target

figure for individuals was CZK 236,000.
In comparison to the previous year, this
represents a strong growth of 86,000 contracts.
e number of signed contracts in this field
is growing for the third year in a row, which
shows that construction savings remains
one of the most popular saving instruments
on the Czech financial market.
A Great Year for Private Equity
in the Region
Investments from private equity funds
focused on Central Europe have cashed
in on higher exit multiples, says the most
recent Deloitte Central Europe Private
Equity Confidence Survey.
According to the survey, 2006 was a great year
for private equity in the region. In the past
six months funds have cashed in on higher
exit multiples, which are expected to turn to
more of a focus on buying. is is confirmed
by the findings of the survey, as the focus
on new investments is reaching an all-time
high. As Garret Byrne, Partner M&A Transaction
Service Group at Deloitte CE says,
we can expect interest in Central European
private equity to only continue to grow.
Due to success in raising new funds
in 2006 and as new funds enter Central
Europe, the region should experience strong
activity in private equity. Expectations are
clearly indicating a focus on new investments.
e survey indicates that the previous focus
on new investments has only strengthened
and the leverage available for private equity
deals has advanced rapidly in the last three
years. Debt offerings are now close to those
in more mature markets, with heavy competition
for larger deals. Also, the prevailing
focus on market leaders as targets confirms
a trend of bigger funds and contracts in
Central Europe. Given this, the survey
predicts more tender-driven transactions.
e survey highlights how buying at low
multiples and selling higher is no longer
enough. Instead, adding value is now
a necessary element to Central European
transactions.
ADVERTISEMENT
Major investments in the third quarter
of 2006: Mid Europa Partners, Lehman
Brothers Private Equity, Al Bateen Investment
Company (Radiokomunikace), Permira
(BorsodChem) and Penta (Aero Vodochody).
Paris: the Capital of Investment
Many of you will not be surprised to hear that
Paris topped this year’s list of real estate
investment markets in Europe, according
to a report published by Pricewaterhouse-
Coopers and Urban Land Institute.
Paris rates highly for both total return
prospects and low risk, and thus its riskadjusted
total return prospects were judged
the best in Europe. Survey respondents
pointed to the city’s economic stability and
sustainability, in addition to its status as
a global gateway, as major reasons for its top
ranking as an investment market. Ample
urban regeneration and redevelopment
opportunities also attract investors, notes
the report.
Paris is a favourite among those looking
to buy property as well; about 54% of the
respondents recommend buying office space
in Paris, 57% recommend buying retail,
and 41% recommend buying industrial/
distribution properties.
London was rated in second place, just
behind Paris. Prague dropped from 11th place
in 2006 to 16th place in 2007!
And where else to invest this year?
Try to take a look other strong ‘buy’ markets:
Madrid, Barcelona, Hamburg, Istanbul
and Moscow.
Time to Pay Liabilities to the State
If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t forget it
is time to inform the state not only about
your tax duties but also about your health
insurance and social security duties.
All entrepreneurs should remember that
they must inform their health insurance
offices within eight days of filing their tax
declarations. is year the final day for
submitting the document is 10th April.
A social security system must be informed
about how much you earned during the last
year and what amount will be handed over
to the state by 30th April.
However, if you have a tax adviser who
takes care of your tax report, the deadline
is extended three months. But you must not
forget to inform the Social Security office
about this fact in advance!
And what is new regarding communication
with state organisations? It’s now
possible to submit the required documents
electronically.
New Internet Pages for Novice Investors
The Prague Stock Exchange has prepared
new Internet pages for novice investors.
First-time and less experienced investors
can log on to www.px.cz to learn how the
Cont’d on next page

In Brief
Cont’d from page 5
The seat of the Prague Stock Exchange
stock exchange works, what role it plays on
the capital market and what kind of investment
instruments are quoted on the market.
e new web site section is divided
into four chapters. e first two are more
theoretical, but they contain a practical part
ADVERTISEMENT
EASTER
7–9 April 2007
Hotel President
Náměstí Curieových 100 | 110 00 Prague 1 | www.hotelpresident.cz
called ‘I can try’, where the visitors can
find different simulations of stock exchange
transactions. ese then help them to understand
the functioning of particular investment
instruments. e last chapter is called ‘Where
can I buy’ and it describes the members
of the stock exchange who can help with
mediation of different types of instruments.
e new web site section is full of
interactive words connected to a dictionary
that explains various technical terms.
e management of the Prague Stock
Exchange aims to instruct inexperienced
investors with new instruments that were
launched on the market at the end of the
last year. Investment certificates and futures
are still novelties but they have already
started to attract investors – the trade
volumes from the first weeks of this year
showed it clearly, according to Petr Koblic,
director of the Prague Stock Exchange.
Academy Awards Protection
Millions of people wait every year for
the Academy Awards.
e fight for the Oscar is very intense and
is anticipated by a long balloting process
of approximately 6,000 voting members.
e balloting process has been entrusted to
PricewaterhouseCoopers for the last 73 years.
The best way to celebrate springtime
PricewaterhouseCoopers mails eligible
Academy members the nomination ballots
in December and the final ballots in February.
e company also receives and processes all
ballots. e balloting partners then manually
tabulate the responses according to Academy
rules. As a precautionary measure, two
complete sets of envelopes bearing recipients’
names are prepared and brought
by PricewaterhouseCoopers partners to
the ceremony via separate, secret routes.
As a second precautionary measure, the
PricewaterhouseCoopers partners also
memorise the names of the award winners.
e Oscar recipients’ identities are kept
confidential until they are announced
during the live telecast.
In 73 years, only 12 partners have counted
the ballots. For this year’s 79th Annual
Academy Awards, the balloting process was
led by Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas, who
were for the second year the only two people
in the world who knew the identity of the
winners before the live telecast on Sunday,
February 25.
Fun Facts from 73 Years of Oscar Balloting:
• 420,000+: e approximate number of
ballots counted by PricewaterhouseCoopers
in 73 years on the job.
• 2,449: e number of winners’ envelopes
stuffed since the envelope system was
introduced in 1941.
Warm starter • Gratinated goat‘s cheese in a fine batter served on a prune salad
Soup • Cream of vegetable soup with poached quail‘s egg
Main dish • Roast lamb cutlets with rosemary and thyme in a crust of olive tapenada,
patissons stuffed with spinach leaves and potato crepes with parmesan
Dessert • Easter almond cake served with English cream and fruits
890 CZK
To make a reservation please call: + 420 234 614 138
Prezident inzerat 192x136 Velikonoce 1.indd 1 9.3.2007 10:03:12
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
6-7
F O C U S 2

• 1,700: e approximate number of ‘personhours’
it takes the PricewaterhouseCoopers
team every year to count and verify the
ballots by hand.
• 24: e number of award categories
tabulated at a secret location known
only to the members of the small
Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas in front of the Oscar statue
ADVERTISEMENT
PricewaterhouseCoopers ballot team.
• 7: e number of days it takes to count
the ballots for nominations.
CMS Cameron McKenna Triumphed
at CEE Real Estate Awards
The English International School
Prague, Czech Republic
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP has been
awarded the CEE Legal & Consulting Firm
of the Year 2006, at the Central and Eastern
European (CEE) Real Estate Quality Awards,
held on 20th February in Warsaw.
is is a real achievement for the firm. e
real estate market in the region is currently
very buoyant. CEE is now a mature and
important property investment market.
According to Cameron McKenna we can
expect growth to continue throughout the
current year and for the market to deepen
and become more sophisticated. We can
also expect to see players in the market who
have had success in core countries such as
Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic
start to turn their attention to post-accession
Romania and Bulgaria and to the bigger
challenges of Russia and Ukraine.
e Central and Eastern European
Real Estate Quality Awards are held each
February in Warsaw, and are well regarded
across the region.
Former LG Philips Displays Factory
in Moravia Has a New Owner
The former Philips technology park at
Hranice na Moravě was purchased by
the company CTP Invest, which invested
approximately EUR 40 million into the site.
e property covers an area of 440,000 m 2
of zoned and serviced land plots. Various
modern buildings have been constructed by
LG Philips in 2000. CTP plans to extend
the site and will offer new production
facilities, warehouse properties and offices.
e management is investing EUR 5
million in these new facilities.
“We are planning construction of new
production buildings that would double the
already considerable area for business and
manufacturing. CTPark Hranice will become
a large industrial park, where we aim to
attract companies with a focus on the
electronics industry and offering employment
opportunities for up to 3,500 people,” says
CTP Managing Director Remon L. Vos.
One of the current occupiers is Multidisplay,
formerly LG Philips Multidisplay, which
employs over 1,200 workers. CTP purchased
the entire business from the trustee of the
bankrupt mother company, LG Philips
Displays Holding B.V, headquartered in
the Netherlands.
The brand new campus of
The English International School, Prague will
open in September 2007
Located in Libuš (Prague 4) the new campus will have space for
over 550 pupils and will boast state-of-the-art facilities
The school will also have extensive outside sports facilities and
is conveniently located for local transport links
(00420) 261 912 368
www.eisp.cz
admissions@eisp.cz

Introducing New Members
CZECH–LOGISTIC specialises in international
truck transport. Our company can
distribute loads of all sizes throughout Europe
using its own vehicles or through business
associates. We can also manage entire
logistical projects for our clients – providing
optimal solutions for distribution and storage.
CZECH – LOGISTIC s.r.o.
Pražská 585, 430 01 Chomutov
Operating premises in Louny
T: +420 415 670 396, F: +420 415 672 674
E: dispecer@czechlogistic.cz
www.czechlogistic.cz
Cool Milk at School aims to improve the
overall health of children by ensuring the
availability of fresh milk. e company is
UK based and operates nationally from its
Lincolnshire base of operations in Lincoln.
Established in 1998, the company now administers
break time milk to over 4,000 schools.
Cool Milk at School’s interest in the
Czech Republic is in mapping the school
milk market to understand the present
system of school milk.
To comprehend the laws and regulations
behind school milk provision, the company
is undertaking extensive research, which
encompasses both the current educational
ADVERTISEMENT
structure, and the government’s nutritional
policy. e research undertaken by Cool
Milk at School is done in cooperation with
government bodies, local municipalities
and the dairy industry.
Cool Milk at School Ltd
Bridge House, Scothern Lane
Langworth, Lincoln LN3 5BH
T: +44 1522 753883, F: +44 1522 753905
E: jon@coolmilk.com
www.coolmilk.com
DSA – Helicopter and Aircra Service
DSA a.s. is the only airline company on
the Czech market to offer a combination
of flight transport options, flight by both
airplane and helicopter.
One of the main services DSA offers is
an airplane and helicopter charter service.
DSA has a large fleet of aircra at its disposal
and is prepared to depart immediately, as
the customer requires, to practically any
destination in Europe.
DSA is one of the two main operators
of the air rescue service in the Czech Republic.
In 2005 DSA set up a private air ambulance
service project entitled OK-Ambulance.cz,
which provides enhanced healthcare to the
general public on a non-profit basis.
Another DSA service is aerial filming
and photography. DSA has participated in
most of the Hollywood films and other films
shot in the Czech Republic and surrounding
countries.
At Hradec Králové airport DSA runs
the Helicopter & Airplane Flying School,
which offers a wide range of training courses.
It also runs the DSA Maintenance Centre,
which carries out maintenance and general
overhauls of aircra and helicopters and has
the status of a Cessna Aircra Service Centre.
Since 2004 DSA has been the official
representative of CESSNA – TEXTRON
for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
DSA a.s.
Všehrdova 437/15, 118 00 Praha – Malá Strana
T/F: +420 257 218 271, +420 495 407 406-8
E: werner@dsa.cz
www.dsa.cz
e Hotel Leonardo belongs to the Margheri
Group, a small hotel enterprise based in
Italy and founded in 2004 with the aim
of expanding its real estate developments
throughout a number of key destinations.
Aer the expert and careful renovation
of a beautiful and historical building in
central Prague that is now known as the
four-star Hotel Leonardo, this hotel chain
plans on broadening its horizons further
by developing hotels in Russia, with its
first new venture being in the first Fashion
Shopping Mall and Riviera, close to the
theatre district of St. Petersburg.
Hotel Leonardo
Karolíny Světlé 27, 110 00 Praha 1
T: +420 239 009 239, F: +420 239 009 236
E: info@hotelleonardo.cz
www.margherihotels.com

A few Words of Advice…
Keep your Customer Satisfied
In an increasingly competitive business
environment, companies struggle to attract
and retain customers. Typically, success
requires a business to identify the 20% of
its customers who account for 80% of its
revenues, and then retain and increase that
20%. Unless a company can find a way to
link its information resources, soware
programmes and hardware to form a smoothworking
information system, it can be difficult
to determine whether a specific customer is
high-value, low-value or even at risk because
company personnel can’t access the required
data when needed.
When managed correctly, price can
become a secondary issue – although not
entirely unimportant – because the customer
knows that the company is price competitive,
and is familiar with his or her requirements.
If the company provides all of its customer’s
requirements, completes related tasks and
projects on time, and responds quickly
when problems arise, there is no need for
the customer to look elsewhere for products
or services.
A quality solution should include the
following functionality which:
• Manages all company-client contacts on
a centralised database which can be inte-
192X136 grated with FOCUS.QXD existing or 31.8.2006 additional 13:33 soware Stránka 1
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>
• Serves as the primary interface for all
information and activity in the company
• Generates project and task work plans
for every employee
• Makes all customer information instantly
available to an employee at the point of
contact, whenever a customer calls
• Allows the company to categorise and set
marketing parameters related to customer
acquisition and retention
• Can be customised according to
a company’s particular needs
• Provides a search engine to quickly locate
and use information.
e accepted marketing wisdom is that the
key to any business’s success is its existing
profitable customer base, but unfortunately
many companies don’t make this a priority.
e available research shows that close to
one half of all businesses can’t identify the
principal cause for customer turnover, even
aer the customer has been lost. Customer
relationship management soware can help
to ensure that customers stay satisfied and,
in a situation where a customer is lost,
that at least the company has an idea of
the reason!
Rick Kovar
Director of Sales, Digital Resources
Why do clients choose
to partner with us?
We help companies build
strong leadership teams.
SpencerStuart Praha, Tel.: +420 221.411.341
www.spencerstuart.com
ILLUSTRATION PHOTO
Amsterdam
Atlanta
Barcelona
Beijing
Bogota
Boston
Brussels
Budapest
Buenos Aires
Chicago
Dallas
Frankfurt
Geneva
Hong Kong
Houston
Johannesburg
Leeds
London
Los Angeles
Madrid
Manchester
Melbourne
Mexico City
Miami
Milan
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Montreal
Mumbai
Munich
New York
Orange County
Paris
Philadelphia
Prague
Rome
San Francisco
San Mateo
Santiago
Sao Paulo
Shanghai
Singapore
Stamford
Stockholm
Sydney
Tokyo
Toronto
Vienna
Warsaw
Washington,D.C.
Zurich
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Interview
The Vicious Circle of Unemployment
Is it a typical problem these days that
a foreign investor can’t find suitable
employees in the country?
Well it happens from time to time, but the
same problem exists in the rest of Europe.
e Czech Republic is no exception. It always
depends on the place and the type or sector
of investment.
What regions and sectors are most
affected?
We had a lot of investments into the automotive
industry, which meant a rather high
demand for technical professions. And if
several similar investments are concentrated
in one location, it can cause problems in
recruiting new employees in particular
professions for some time.
In terms of positions, are they managerial
or worker positions that lack sufficient
representation?
It is always connected to the type of investment.
Investments that require managerial
10-11
F O C U S 2
Tomáš Hruda graduated in economics and international relations at the Faculty of Social
Sciences of Charles University. He came to CzechInvest as a project manager in 2000. He later
served as director of the Department of Investment Projects. Then in January 2005 he became
director of the Japanese office, where he was involved in supporting the inflow of Japanese
investment to the Czech Republic. On 1st November 2005 he was appointed as Chief
Executive Officer of the agency.
Name: Tomáš Hruda
Position: General Manager
Organisation: CzechInvest
positions should always be placed near larger
cities that can offer a good academic background.
If an investor decides to build
a factory in the middle of nowhere, for
example because of possible wage savings,
then he may find a lack of qualified and
experienced applicants for managerial posts.
Regarding the worker positions, wage levels
are usually the key criteria factor. ere is
a strong correlation between the amount of
wage income and the willingness to work.
How is the local labour market perceived
by foreign investors? Do they complain
about our language skills or maybe more
about the ‘soft’ skills?
e most common rebuke concerns the
scarcity of people educated in technical
specialisations who at the same time can
offer good knowledge of foreign languages
and relevant practical experience. ere is
a huge demand for people who are professionals
and are able to communicate on
an international level.
How do universities reflect such demand?
Have they adapted their education systems?
Well, some have, some have not. With the
growing demand and competition the students
tend to study languages more attentively.
But, of course, we lag behind the Western
countries and it is clear that it will take
many years before the market fills up with
technicians who are able to speak more
languages than just Czech. However, it is
important that the situation is getting better
and better.
Should the employers themselves not be
found partly responsible for this situation?
Often they don’t offer working and payment
conditions that would encourage the
unemployed into working.
Well, some employers really do offer lower
wages than the market in the chosen sector
and the given position requires. On the other
hand, our current social system does not help
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
either because it does not motivate people
to work. And even worse, many unemployed
people in the afflicted regions may have not
worked for a long time and that again lowers
their potential of getting a decent job.
Economists, in connection to this problem,
often refer to so-called ‘structural unemployment’,
which means that unemployed
people are not able to meet the requirements
of employers. Is there a way to solve this
problem?
If we speak about the motivation of employees,
then it is definitely the government that
should help. Aer all, it has always been the
governments that brought us to our current
situation on the labour market. Employers
can hardly influence the structure of the
local social system.
The stumbling block is then, according to
your opinion, the exceedingly liberal state
subsidy for unemployed?
It is one of the factors that prevents the
unemployment rate from dropping. Another
is the bad structure of education of the population
in some regions. However, because there
is also a long-lasting demand for operational
positions, the question of education is not
always important.
You mentioned that the situation with
recruiting skilled staff does not apply only
to the Czech Republic. How do we compare
to the surrounding countries?
e situation in Central Europe is very
comparable. For example, Poland however
faces a more dramatic development because
Polish people are much more willing to work
abroad than Czechs, so from this point of
view we are not threatened by our neighbours.
But we have to admit that it can be difficult
to fill jobs in some professions, and this lowers
our competitive advantage. is aer all
can be one of the reasons why some of the
expansions planned here end up taking
place in another country.

Do you have any examples?
Well, we have one particular recent case,
though I will not reveal the name of the
company. In this case a planned expansion
in the Czech Republic was stopped because
it was too difficult to recruit the workforce.
The Western practice is that employers start
educating their potential future employees
during their studies, by supporting various
university projects. Have you noticed
such initiatives in this country?
Well, the Czech Republic is a bit behind in
this area thanks to the different situation at
the end of 1990s. At that time the technical
professions were easily accessible and so companies
were not forced into helping with
the training of their future employees. But
then this changed rapidly due to the huge
demand for technical professions, and now
the cooperation between the commercial
sector and universities is much more common,
for the benefit of both parties. On the other
hand, the unwillingness to cooperate lies
with universities, not the companies. Some
universities are just not able to accommodate
the requirements of companies.
And what is the situation with top managerial
positions? Is it mostly expats or more often
Czechs who fill these posts?
Generally it stands that the more distant
country an investor comes from, the more he
tries to appoint his own native manager at
the beginning. On the other hand, the cost
of employing workers from Japan, Korea or
the United States is extremely high, and there
is a long-term pressure by Czech employers
to replace foreign managers. So aer the
introductory phase foreign managers are
usually being replaced by Czech ones and
we can see that the percentage of Czech
managers is much higher than it was five
or ten years ago.
Then there is the opposite trend – Czech
companies employing a workforce from
abroad...
Yes, but there is a reason for this behaviour
– some positions are very difficult to fill,
especially for those projects that require
a large number of highly educated experts.
is goes back to the fact that the Czech
labour pool is quite small. For example, we
have many IT projects based in Prague and
we cannot cover the demand for experts.
Logically, companies start searching
elsewhere. Beyond the IT experts we are
also short of some technical professionals
such as quality control officers, etc.
Moving away from the personnel questions,
how strong is the influence of foreign
investment in general on the business
environment in the Czech Republic? They
strongly support the growth of the local
economics but, for example, Korean companies
are known to rely on the services of
Korean suppliers based here. On what
level then do Czech companies and the
inhabitants benefit?
e huge investors like TPCA or Hyundai
have to bear a huge risk when coming to
the Czech Republic and with regard to the
qualitative requirements in the automotive
sector it is absolutely common that the first
line of suppliers is a part of a verified group
and that the main investor always brings
some of its suppliers into the new country.
However, the new investor cannot bring
all of its suppliers and there stands a great
potential for Czech companies. It is always
a question of time before the investor proves
the quality of domestic producers and almost
always the volume of domestic supplies grows
over time. A good example is Panasonic, which
at the beginning used hardly any domestic
suppliers, and today it buys goods from Czech
producers for billions of Czech crowns.
An obvious question to conclude with
– what is the future of foreign investment
into the Czech Republic? Can the flow
of foreign investments into the country
remain the same as in recent years?
We are bound to see a decline in absolute
numbers because the former foreign investments
encompassed acquisitions connected
with the privatisation process. Also the natural
flow of investments into the production
and services was above the standard over
the past years. Such a flow of investments
is not sustainable over the upcoming years.
We have some absorption capacity and more
and more investments will be in services
and technological centres that are not too
capital-intensive. But it does not matter.
eir influence on economics will remain
very significant.
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Focus on …
Reaching for the Stars – Personal Development,
HR and Executive Search
Full House in TPCA
Name: Jiří Černý
Position: Vice President
Organisation: TPCA
Jiří Černý graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of ČVUT, where he specialised
in thermodynamic and nuclear machinery and equipment. He has worked in the TPCA car company
(Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile) since 2003. Before his engagement with TPCA, he worked
for LIAZ and Johnson Controls. His last post was as general manager of Sylea. Since 2006 he
has been a board member of the Automotive Industry Association.
How long did you search for employees
for your plant in Kolín before you could
begin a pilot production?
Recruitment began in 2003. We initially
filled the managerial, foremen and engineering
positions and later on began to recruit
the rest of the team. We began the pilot
operation at the end of 2004, so it took us
around two years in all.
What was the most difficult aspect of
recruiting employees? Was it simply a lack
of applicants or did they not meet your
requirements?
Currently we have around 60,000 applicants
in our database. e biggest problem was
coping with such a large number of people,
interviewing them, setting the right criteria for
the selection procedures and choosing the best.
Which professions were the hardest
for you to fill?
Finding technologists, engineers and maintenance
workers is starting to be a problem.
ere are very few technology graduates
and the demand for them is huge thanks to
the number of foreign investors that have
come to the Czech Republic in recent years.
In your search for employees, did you
use labour offices or simply conduct the
search yourselves?
We tried to use our own resources as much
as possible. In this respect we were very
proactive – for example, we held recruitment
days in both Bohemia and Moravia.
How was the cooperation with Czech labour
offices? Were the staff there willing to cooperate
and were they able to communicate
with you in English?
e cooperation with labour offices was good
and it was not necessary to communicate
with them in English. Although we have
12-13
F O C U S 2
foreign owners, our long-term strategy is to
gradually fill all the managerial jobs with
Czechs. Even now, the number of Czech
managers is very high and it is mainly these
people who have been in contact with the
Czech authorities.
Where do people come from to work for
you? Are they just from Central Bohemia
or from throughout the country?
Most of our employees are from the Kolín
region and its surroundings (Pardubice,
Nymburk and Kutná Hora). TPCA also
has a large number of people from the
Moravia-Silesia and Ústí regions, regions
with high levels of unemployment.
What do you see as the main problem
when searching for employees for such
a large enterprise? Are Czechs really so
unwilling to move house to find work?
Yes, this is a well-known problem in the
Czech Republic. One of TPCA’s priorities
for this year is to create good working
conditions in order to give applicants the
motivation to move house.
You have also offered employees apartments...
weren’t they too expensive? That
could be one reason why people did not
want to leave to find work in Kolín...
Rather than the price of the apartments, the
problem was the delay in their completion.
e city handed over the apartments to us
far later than we wanted. at could have
been a reason for the departure of employees
who did not want to live in dormitories and
who came from regions that were further
away. However, the situation has now been
resolved and the new tenants are moving
into both of the Kolín locations.
It took you a very long time to start
triple-shift operations because of the lack
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
of people – how long precisely after the
start of production?
On the contrary, recruitment for full production
capacity was very fast and was completed
precisely according to plan. Under European
conditions this is an exceptional success. We
had the people for the third shi within
eight months from the commencement of
production.
How did you manage to successfully
fill all positions in the end – did you offer
employees better financial conditions?
In recent months the media has reported
that for many people it was simply not worth
working twelve-hour shifts for a basic
wage of CZK 14,000. Did you finally offer
them more money or did you motivate
them in another ways?
e CZK 14,000 wage is only the initial
wage; aer the trial period it can rise to
CZK 18,600 with bonuses and supplements.
A worker in manufacturing works on average
four days a week so one shi thus lasts ten
hours. We have been motivating employees
through a gradual increase in employee
benefits.

Focus on …
21 Useful Tips for Starting a New Career
Job interviews can be very stressful for some people. Since one of our top fears is rejection and one of our top
needs is acceptance, this is not surprising.
• e first and most important step in overcoming
the fear is to put the interview in
perspective. is is not an appointment
with the dentist, who may inflict pain.
It is a conversation with another person.
Usually people feel the worst thing that
can happen is you won’t get the job, but
it may not have been the right job for you
anyway. So actually the worst thing that
can happen is you do get the job, and it
turns out to be the wrong job!
• Second, think of this conversation as
a two-way process. You are interviewing
potential employers as much as they are
interviewing you. Is there a good fit here?
What looks good on paper may not be what
it appears for either party. Investigate
whether this company is a good place
for you and whether you want to invest
a significant part of your life here.
• ese are competitive times, and rejection
is certainly possible. Competition for jobs
is very strong. It is important, however,
to do everything possible to sell yourself by
preparing for the interview. Start thinking
of yourself as a product and present what
you have to offer the company. Preparation
will make you feel more confident and
less anxious. If you are not successful,
remember it may not have been a good
match for you anyway. Take positives
from the experience, as there is something
to be learned from each interview.
• To begin with, when you are invited for
the interview you will have information
as to contact person, place of interview,
and contact information – phone numbers
for example. Make sure you write this
information down and keep it with
you, so that if you have any last minute
problems you can contact the person to
make any necessary adjustments to the
arrangements. Obviously you should also
try to ensure that you leave enough time
to arrive early for the appointment so
that if there are any last minute hitches
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you can still arrive in time! Make sure you
do your research. e first and most obvious
source is the Internet – almost all companies
have web sites today, and usually these
have a lot of useful information.
• Don’t get anything wrong because you want
to make a good impression. E.g. don’t say
“I was very impressed to see that you are
number 1 in this market” if the company
is actually number 4!
• Dress neatly and conservatively, preferably
in solid colors. Keep distractions like
jewellery or strong perfume or aershave
to a minimum.
• Look full-face at the person interviewing
you – be conversational, maintain eye
contact and smile.
• Keep your movements limited. Hand
gestures are fine, but don’t fidget. While
arms waving about can be distracting, you
don’t want to look stiff either. Use small,
smooth movements when gesturing.
• Focus on your purpose and presentation.
You want the attention and concentration
to be on you and what you are saying.
• Don’t be nervous about being nervous;
don’t try to hide your nerves. If you are
nervous, it simply shows that you are
concerned about making a good impression,
and there is nothing wrong with that!
If you are nervous, feel free to tell the
interviewer so, or ask for a glass of water.
• Accept coffee or tea if you are offered,
but do not ask for it if you are not offered.
You should not ask for anything other
than a glass of water.
• Try to speak slowly and clearly.
• Listen carefully, and try to ensure that you
are answering the questions that you have
been asked, rather than the questions
you wish you had been asked. If there
is any other information that you feel is
relevant but that you have not been asked,
feel free to ask if you can add information
that you think is relevant.
• At the conclusion of a job interview
you may be asked, “Do you have any
questions?” A common answer is, “No,
I think you’ve covered everything very
well.” is is the wrong answer. You
have passed up your opportunity to ask
some critical questions that could help
you decide whether you want to work
for this company.
• e interview should be an exchange of
information: What does the company
want, and what do you have to offer? But
it is also important to discuss what the
company has to offer, and what you want.
It is essential to express an interest in
the company and the work being done.
• By asking questions, you will demonstrate
investigative skills, illustrate you
are particular about the company you work
for and that you are not going to take
just any offer.
• e first round of interviews is about
discovery, learning about the job and the
company, not the benefits or pay rises.
Good questions to ask in the first round
are about the job content, and the
company’s culture and future.
• Don’t ask questions that have already
been answered in the interview, just for
the sake of asking something.
• You can also ask relevant personal
questions if you wish – feel free to ask
the interviewer what they like (or dislike!)
about working in the company.
• Prepare five or six questions before the
interview and take them with you. When
the time comes for you to ask questions,
take out your list. is will show good
preparation on your part. is time is
a valuable opportunity for you to get the
information you need to help you make
an informed decision.
• And please make sure you switch off your
mobile phone!
James McCollum
Managing Director, Key 6 Business Solutions

Focus on …
Learn, Learn, Learn... but How?
Do you teach your students in English
only, or both in English and Czech?
English is used in most of the lessons,
but there are some subjects taught in other
languages. German lessons are taught in
German for example, and the Czech language
and Czech history are taught in Czech. But
all the other lessons are conducted in English,
which is our main working language.
What are the biggest differences between
your educational methods and those of an
average Czech high school?
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Our students must communicate all day in
English, which is usually very demanding
during their first year. Oen we have to
calm down the parents who are worried by
the fear their children will not adapt to the
new system. But in most cases the children
adapt quickly. We emphasise discussions,
working in groups and at the same time we
don’t consider it so important for students
to memorise all the factual data they usually
have to learn in traditional Czech high schools.
rough this approach students learn to
form an opinion and express it, research
relevant information, choose the information
that is important to them, and become more
independent.
Most of your students (80%) are Czech.
Isn’t it difficult for them to switch over to
a different education system? Is the first
grade somehow adapted for them?
In the first grade we monitor problems
closely and try to solve them immediately
when they appear. Some children need to
have it clarified to them that paying school
fees does not mean they are excused from
studying. We have to explain that their
parents don’t pay for less strict conditions,
but on the contrary for higher demands and
expectations. Children must understand that
behind every privilege stands an obligation.
Aren’t students coming from traditional
Czech schools shy? Are they not afraid to
discuss with teachers in the beginning?
Children coming into the first grade are
still quite young and therefore they get used
to new conditions very quickly. ey are not
at all ashamed to discuss things. On the
contrary, they love it.
British elite schools very often demand
that students wear uniforms. Do you have
the same rule for your students?
No, our students don’t wear uniforms.
We recognise that school uniforms are still
quite problematic in the Czech Republic.
ere is no tradition of them here and it
represents kind of forced uniformity that
belittles individuality. On one hand this is
true, but we know that there are reasons
for uniforms as well. Students wearing
uniforms don’t look for individuality in
dressing, but in deeper matters and real
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abilities, and they are not discriminated
against according to their social class.
Regarding education in English schools,
the term ‘pastoral care’ is often used.
What exactly does this term mean?
It is in fact the personal upbringing of
students. e word ‘pastor’ means someone
who cares for his herd – he protects and
leads his sheep on the safe path to get to the
pure and life-giving spring. And that is what
we do with our students. We don’t only help
them solve existing problems, but we also
anticipate them. Children are observed and
supported by the entire pastoral team, everyone
from tutors to the headmaster. A similar
system of individual care and close and
friendly relationships with students is the
norm in most English schools.
You devote special attention to students
in the last two grades. Do you prepare
them more for university study or for
success at work?
We prepare our students for both, but most
of all we prepare them for a successful life
as human beings. We try to help them understand
how to deal with difficulties and cope
with problems they might face in the future.
Our goal is therefore to develop their understanding
of society as a whole. Most of our
students (more then 95%) are starting
university immediately aer graduation.
However, even the remaining 5% usually do
not end their studies aer the college. ey
just take a gap year, aer which in most
cases they return to university.
Students are being taught most subjects
in English. Don’t they have problems later
at university with a lack of knowledge of
Czech technical terminology?
e entrance exams at universities today
do not always reflect things that are taught
in high schools, so from that point of view
our students don’t have any handicap. But
of course they have to catch up with the
Czech terminology; that is absolutely clear.
at is why they must prepare themselves
more intensively for the university entrance
exams. But when they start studying again,
our students have big advantages compared
to other students because they know how
to write essays, how to discuss and how to
work with facts so regardless of what they
missed they will catch up again quickly.
In your opinion, what are the biggest
problems for high school graduates in
general nowadays?
Sometimes the sheer number of opportunities
available today can be so overwhelming that
some young people might not choose a focus.
ere is also a high pressure on them to
become successful in their careers. Young
people are determined to study at any
university just to get a degree without any
real interest in the subject of their studies.
Later they look for a well-paid job that holds
no special personal meaning to them. So
they end up with a degree, career and money;
however they miss what’s important in life.
How can we fight against these problems?
It is not easy, because students are under
societal pressure and so are their parents.
Family should be the most important thing
for everyone; unfortunately, very oen it is
nowadays school that takes the place of family.
at is why I am convinced that pastoral care
is more and more important every day. It’s
maybe even more important than academic
education itself. Students who are under stress
can never achieve their full potential in their
studies. It is important to be aware of these
problems in our pastoral work, and although
we cannot solve all of these problems, we can
support and help the students to overcome
them and find the way to the safe path and
the pure and life-giving spring.
Peers, Mentors and Networks:
Necessary Resources
The dynamic nature of today’s global organisations often means that individuals must take more responsibility
for developing themselves and their careers than was necessary years ago.
It is important for people to form networks
of what are called ‘diverse developmental
relationships’ rather than relying solely on
formal or traditional relationships (e.g.,
supervisors) to support and advance their
careers. For example, peers play an important
role in shaping our career interests, making
Audrey J. Murrell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Business Administration,
Psychology, Public & International Affairs
University of Pittsburgh, Katz School of Business
career choices, career advancement as well as
our overall attitudes toward the job and the
company. Formal groups that are sponsored
by the company are also important resources
for new ideas and for personal support.
Some companies have formal individual
mentoring programmes that match employees
with more senior or experienced individuals
for advice, guidance and support.
Which type of relationships should you
look to develop and cultivate? e answer is
all of them. A broad range of developmental
relationships can be very beneficial to one’s
career and to the company. us, it is important
that we do not treat all types of relationships
in the same manner; or that we do not
rely only on formal types of relationships
(e.g., supervisor) to help support our personal
and professional development. Rather, we
should focus on gaining access to a wide
range of necessary resources that can help to
develop the tools, strategies and new ideas
that will help us in today’s organisation
and in the organisation of the future.
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Vox Populi
What Do You Consider to be the Biggest Weaknesses of Czech Employees
in Middle and Top Management Positions?
e quality of middle and top managers is
growing year on year. e evidence might
be the number of senior positions assumed
by Czech managers as replacements of expats
in international companies. We can still see
however one major weaknessess of Czech
middle and top managers. ey are less
prepared for real practical management
life. Our traditional education system is
very strong on the theoretical side but does
not have enough of a practical learning
component. Many talented individuals need
to learn a lot of management skills and so
skills only during their career. We have
noticed a trend among schools to provide
more practical education in cooperation
with different companies. I believe it is the
right trend to overcome the weaknesses of
our managers and thus be soon competitive
with international managers.
Milan Novák
Country Manager Czech Republic
Grafton Recruitment
Insufficient language skills, which are the
basic must in particular in international
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companies, are the fundamental weakness
of Czech middle and top management.
Communication skills are among other weak
spots, for example the ability to present the
results of one’s own work. It’s not enough
to be a succesful manager with many years
of experience; it is very important to be
able to sell one’s own skills and ideas.
Zdeněk Culek
Head Of Research
Recruit CZ
Compared with the situation in the previous
decade, the general quality of Czech employees,
especially of those in managerial positions,
has, no doubt, markedly improved. However,
some weaknesses and/or bad habits persist.
Mobility of labour, adaptability and knowledge
of foreign languages, especially in the
technically-oriented experts, still leave a lot
to be desired. Other traditional negative
features of Czech employees – arrogance
oen masking an inferiority complex, lack
of introspection, unreliability – to name just
a few, also remain relatively widespread and
it will probably take another generation
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at the very least to see them disappear, or
– more realistically – cease being known as
typically Czech.
Ivan Klinger
Senior Consultant
Neumann & Partners s.r.o.
Compared with Western countries many
Czech managers are comparably young for
the positions they hold. Besides many positive
aspects this can also have two negative consequences.
One is that leadership skills have
not always developed as fast as the career of
the manager. Especially in human resources
related matters this insufficient experience
can lead to misbehaviour or wrong conclusions.
e other is that problems can occur if the
company or the whole economy experiences
an economic down shi. Today’s managers
have mostly experienced fast economic growth
and fairly favourable conditions for their
companies. Only slowly other aspects, like
cost cutting or increase of efficiency in
general, gain growing attention.
Oliver Schmitt
Managing Partner, Teamconsult s.r.o.
We are here for you during the four seasons!
the right place for your conference, meeting, training, presenation…
4 meeting rooms with foyer for up to 230 people
in case of large events we’ll fi nd a suitable space for you
in Prague Congress Centre (for up to 9 000 people)
modern fascilities and open space premises
advantageous conference packages for 5/8/24 hours
251 air-conditioned rooms (Standard/Executive/Suite)
excellent and creative gastronomy, Czech and international cuisine
Café Restaurant Esprit Orangerie – place for an impressive social event
(cocktail, reception, banquet, wedding feast, party…)
quality service with a high guest security
professional and multilingual staff
easy parking in the hotel garage
100 m away from the city underground „Vyšehrad“ station,
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Na Pankráci 15/1684 | 140 21 Praha 4 | Česká republika | Tel.: +420 296 895 000 | Fax: +420 296 895 010 | info@holidayinn.cz | www.holidayinn.cz

Focus on …
Company name
Address
ABR Top Management Coaching and Training
Moorreye 88, 224 15 Hamburg, Germany
Arthur Hunt, s.r.o.
Mezibranská 4, 110 00 Praha 1
Brichta & Partners
Na Malé Šárce 740/4, 164 00 Praha 6 – Nebušice
CATRO s.r.o.
Klimentská 52, 110 00 Praha 1
DRILL Business Services
Polská 1716/54, 120 00 Praha 2
Dunross s.r.o.
Sudoměřská 32, 130 00 Praha 3
Employment Express s.r.o.
Hybernská 7a, 110 00 Praha 1
Hays Czech Republic, s.r.o.
Bredovský dvůr, Olivová 4, čp. 2096, 110 00 Praha 1
Hudson Global Resources, s.r.o.
Vladislavova 16, 110 00 Praha 1
ICT Recruitment s.r.o.
Ječná 243/39a, 120 00 Praha 2
Key 6 Business Solutions
Burzovní palác, Rybná 14, 110 05 Praha 1
LMC s.r.o.
Ocelářská 35, 190 00 Praha 9
Management TC, s.r.o.
Na Zátorce 4, 160 00 Praha 6
Neumann & Partners s.r.o.
Národní 10, 110 00 Praha 1
New Day Activity Marketing s.r.o.
Krátký Lán 435/6, 160 00 Praha 6
Solutions HR Specialists, s.r.o.
Villa Šafránka, Na Šafránce 22, 101 00 Praha 10
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MEMBERS’ LISTINGS – PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, HR AND EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Tel./Fax E-mail
Web site
T: +49 40531 7506
F: +49 40533 9463
T: 224 827 882
F: 224 827 878
T: 602 200 882
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annette@an-edge-for-you.com
www.an-edge-for-you.com
ah@arthur-hunt.cz
www.arthur-hunt.com
irenabr@quick.cz
www.brichta-partners.com
catro@catro.net
www.catro.net
info@drill.cz
www.drill.cz
dantaylor@dunross.co.uk
www.dunross.co.uk
info@employmentexpress.cz
www.employmentexpress.cz
prague@hays.cz
www.hays.cz
enquiries.czech@hudson.com
www.hudson.com
jmulvey@ictrecruit.com
www.ictrecruit.com
jmccollum@key6.com
www.key6.com
info@lmc.cz
www.lmc.cz
info@mgmtc.cz
www.mgmtc.cz
contact@neumannpartners.cz
www.neumannpartners.cz
enjoy@newday.cz
www.newday.cz
solutions@solutions-hrs.com
www.solutions-hrs.com
No of
Employees
in the CR
N/A
6
1
4
11
10
6
33
12
3
10
65
5+20
10
3
15
Business
Description
Individual consulting and coaching services
for executives
Executive search and recruitment,
HR services
Executive search recruitment,
strategic human resources consulting
HR consultancy, search and selection,
personnel audit
HR solutions – executive search,
recruitment, interim management
HR consultancy and recruitment
Executive search, recruitment
and HR consultancy
Executive search, recruitment
and HR consultancy
HR consulting across all major industry
sectors and disciplines
Recruitment solutions for the information
and communication technology sector
Recruitment and strategy consulting,
recruitment training for employees
Electronic recruitment,
expert consulting, etc.
HR consultancy, Training
and Education
HR consultancy and other HR services
HR consultancy, Training
and Education
Tailor-made recruitment projects
and other HR services
Top Level Executive
Annette Reissfelder
Owner
Grégory Pinson
Managing Director
Irena Brichta
Managing Partner
Martin Vosecký
Managing Partner
Václav Kadeřábek
Partner
Michael Gouteff
Director
Rodrigo E. Bravo
Partner
Jan Brázda
Country Manager
Frans Hoekman
CEE Territory Manager
John Mulvey
CEO
James McCollum
Managing Director
Libor Malý
Managing Director
Jaroslava Kubátová
Director
Hana Navarová
Managing Partner
Vladimír Pešek
Managing Director
Andrea Filipová
Business Unit Manager

Events Round-up
How to Become a Top Tourist Destination?
Can we really expect more tourists to come to the Czech Republic? If yes, what can we do to make it happen? How
should we motivate and attract them to come see the beauty of our country? These topics were discussed during the
last ‘Let’s Make It Work’ programme on 20th February in the fairy-tale style Hotel Alchymist in the centre of Prague.
Speakers from the left: Jan Grozdanovič (BCC Board Director and Chairman of the Event), Jade Anna Sebek (Head of the Incentive Tourist Deparment, CzechTourism),
Ladislav Pflimpfl (Head of the Czech Centres in London), Jana Hudcová (Director for Incentive Tourism, City of Prague)
More than 40 professionals from the travel
industry came to exchange opinions on
possible business strategies with our guests
from state-level and municipal-level agencies,
the Director for Incentive Tourism from the
City of Prague Jana Hudcová, Head of the
Czech Centres in London Ladislav Pflimpfl
and Head of the Incentive Tourism Department
of Czech Tourism, Jade Anna Sebek. e
event was chaired by Jan Grozdanovič, a BCC
Board Director, who ensured a smoothly
flowing exchange of ideas.
Hot debate continued even after the official discussion
18-19
F O C U S 2
Obviously, 4 million visitors coming every
year to the Czech Republic is a good number,
but as Jana Hudcová mentioned, the number
of tourists will not grow forever and if we
want to maintain the current flow of tourists,
we have to do something about it. Prague
is known as a typical Central European
city, but it has to be more unique to attract
newcomers. at is why we need to develop
and promote more special programmes and
new and better tourist products in Prague.
Prague has a lot of things to offer,
remarked Jade Anna Sebek – it is perfect not
only as a cultural centre but as a conference
destination as well. However, the development
of this type of tourism industry requires
more active participation from hotels,
restaurants and services. CzechTourism is
ready to offer financial and organisational
support to all travel agents, hotels and
restaurants, promoting materials and fun
trips as well as cheaper visits to different
trade shows.
Ladislav Pflimpfl, currently working
in London, is experienced in promoting the
Czech Republic abroad and he emphasised
it is very important to focus on the wide
spectrum of the public abroad, not only on
people living in the capital city. In Great
Britain for example, people in London are
oen much less interested in visiting the
Czech Republic than people elsewhere in
the country. We also should not underestimate
the influence of different cultural
events in the Czech Republic on motivating
people to come, as well as the influence of
cultural products represented by exhibitions
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
or movies. ere was a remarkably large
number of people who became interested
in travelling to the Czech Republic aer
seeing recent Czech movies, namely Grandhotel
and Czech Dream (Český Sen), Pflimpfl
remarked.
Nevertheless, many other important
inspiring ideas came up in the ongoing
discussion. According to the professionals
in the travel industry, Prague is now
considered as a ‘one-time city’, perceived by
tourists as a place that’s not worth returning
to. is should definitely change. We have
so much to offer, not only in the capital,
but also outside the city – castles, spas and
many excellent golf courses. Unfortunately,
this great offer can be quickly forgotten if
a visitor has bad experiences with service
here, which is still nothing unusual in the
Czech Republic. e most risky prospects
are trips to the country where services
are not well developed yet. Even one bad
experience can discourage tourists from
coming to our country again and that is
why Prague hoteliers suggested they could
– together with CzechTourism – organise
some courses for service providers in the
country to teach them the precise rules and
right ways of behaving towards customers.
In addition to bad services, there is
still one more dangerous factor – the attitude
of Prague residents towards foreigners.
Czechs are not very kind to tourists. ey
dislike the fact that Prague’s city centre is
overcrowded because of so many visitors
during the high season, and shops have higher
prices due to the high demand from foreigners.

But this could maybe change in the future.
According to the travel agents and hoteliers,
Prague does not need so many tourists. ere
could be remarkably less of them coming,
but we need to attract the ones who bring
money – people with higher incomes or
tourists coming for congresses and conferences
rather than thousands of students.
CzechTourism should start to focus more on
luxury tourism, and it has already started,
confirmed Jade Anna Sebek.
An inspiring comment was made regarding
possibilities for advertising. Countries
like India, Indonesia or Malaysia very oen
advertise on CNN channels, because these
advertisements bring them many tourists
from Western countries, and the Czech
Republic should consider similar types of
promotion.
However, the travel industry is convinced
that Czech state-level and municipal-level
agencies are not active enough in promoting
tourism or in providing information about
tourism possibilities. ey’re lacking a clear
strategy on the future development of tourism
in the Czech Republic.
According to KPMG, Prague is the
only city that does not have a clear tourist
strategy, although its management does
have a detailed study on current and future
trends in the travel industry. Budapest
– in contrast to Prague – collects all the
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TMF_CoAdvCzech_211206.indd 1 22-12-2006 11:35:45
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Events Round-up
How Can Europe Help Us? EU Structural Funds 2007 – 2013
The interest we had in the Breakfast Briefing held in January at hotel andel’s Prague demonstrated
how attractive European funding is.
is somehow seems not to correspond
with the criticism the Czech Republic has
been getting from the European Union
itself, claiming that the country has been
one of the least active countries in obtaining
funding! What this shows is the lack of infor-
mation given to companies and the difficulty
of the processes required to access the funds,
which from this year should be simplified – we
found out how, from the representatives of
CzechInvest and the Ministry for Regional
Development, at this event chaired by one of
the BCC Board Directors Jan Grozdanovič.
At first, Miroslav Daněk from the
Ministry for Regional Development listed
the funds and areas that will be in their
spotlight for the forthcoming seven years.
e EUR 26.7 billion will be split between
the National Strategic Reference Framework
and the Operational Programmes. e latter
are then split into the areas of Infrastructure,
Enterprise, Human Resources and Regional
Interventions, and also ranked by regional
and territorial objectives. e biggest portion
of the funding is going into environment
20-21
and transport, followed by the three Regional
Operational Programmes. SMEs should look
at the OP Enterprise and Innovations, OP
Research and Development for Innovations
and OP Human Resources and Employment.
Prague-based companies can access the
funds from OP Prague – Competitiveness
and Adaptability, as well as the Regional
Operational Programme ‘Central Bohemia’.
SMEs should not forget that they can access
the funds if they become a partner or a supplier
in projects managed by municipalities,
regions, central government, etc. As to the
timing, Daněk declared that the first money
will be available in early autumn of this year,
although some programmes will be starting
from the beginning of the year 2008. e
first call for proposals will be announced
on the website www.strukturalni-fondy.cz
– both in Czech and English. e good
news is that the money assigned by end of
2013 can be used within the following two
years, ending with December 2015.
In the second presentation, Martina
Plešáková from CzechInvest focused on the
BCC Digest
– a bi-weekly e-journal bringing current Chamber information,
and listing all business enquiries, distributed to the whole
of the membership.
Contact publications@britcham.cz to be included in our distribution list.
F O C U S 2
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
most discussed operational programme,
‘Enterprise and Innovation’ (OPEI). is is
related to the former programme Industry and
Enterprise (OPIE), which was announced
for the abbreviated period of 2004 – 2006, for
the entire territory of the Czech Republic
except for Prague. e programme can
allocate EUR 100 billion, which means
approximately EUR 14.3 billion per year.
e goal of the programme is “to increase
by the end of the programming period the
competitiveness of the Czech economy and to
bring the innovation efficiency of the industrial
and service sectors closer to the level of the
leading industrial countries of Europe”.
is key programme’s priorities are:
• To support new entrepreneurs
• To use new financial instruments
• To support new production technologies
and ICT in companies
• Energy conservation and renewable
energy sources
• To increase companies’ innovation
efficiency
• To increase capacities for industrial R&D
• To open new cooperation platforms
• To develop infrastructure for HR
development, and new business
infrastructure
• To support consulting and marketing
services.
As Plešáková admitted, the Czech Republic
has learnt its lessons from the first wave of
EU funding. As a result of that, the second
wave brings simpler programmes, and simpler
administration procedures for applicants.
Timings for OPEI are clear – submission
of applications for Development, Marketing
and CMZRB will start from 1st March 2007.
Applications for Innovations, Eco-energy
and ICT in companies are accepted from
1st May 2007, and other programmes (except
Cooperation, Prosperity and a part of the
Real Estate programme that are due to start
in late 2007) will start in June.
Let’s hope for what the local government
hopes for – that the business public will be
more satisfied with the European funding this
time, and that by the end of 2013 our country
is stronger and more competitive as a result
of using the money wisely and properly.

Events Round-up
Experiential Learning – a Journey without an End
On 23rd January, over 50 representatives of the Czech Human Resources and Training professions met at Hotel
Praha, in Prague, to participate in a conference held by the Czech and Slovak Association for Experiential Learning.
e first event of its kind to be run in
this country, its aim was to raise levels of
awareness and understanding within the
Czech business community of experiential
learning as a valid and effective approach
to learning and development.
Probably the most traditional and
fundamental method of human learning,
experiential learning was referenced long ago
by many of the world’s earliest philosophers
such as Aristotle, who wrote, “e things
we have to learn before we do them, we learn
by doing them.” In more recent years, and
thanks to the works of John Dewey, Kurt
Hahn and David Kolb, among others, experiential
learning has become an extremely
popular, beneficial and o used method of
training and development, at work, school
and even at home.
Unfortunately, like many ‘new’ and
popular concepts, experiential learning has
been known to fall victim to misinterpretation
and misuse – either due to naivety and ignorance
or more worryingly, the desire to cash
in on the new ‘flavour of the month’. Very
oen experiential learning is positioned
as team building or outdoor pursuits. It is
important to realise that whilst experiential
learning may have team building as a learning
goal and outdoor activities as a learning
method, experiential learning is much
more than that.
So what is experiential learning?
You could say that experiential learning is
a learner centred approach that starts with
the premise that people learn best from
experience. Others might simply say that
experiential learning is learning by doing.
In businesses throughout the world,
experiential learning is used to address a wide
number of development needs including for
example, management team working, leadership
or coaching skills, customer service, team
building, business review meetings, personal
development, communication skills and
behaviours, dealing with conflict, management
style, personal development, etc.
Typical examples of the types of
experiences on offer range from indoor
‘solution-finding’ activities, business games
and team initiatives to outdoor, adventurebased
ropes challenge courses, the performing
arts, service learning and action learning.
ese activities and scenarios provide a ‘learning
laboratory’ for people, enabling them to
experiment with new ideas or behaviours
and take risks (not physical) in a separate,
non-work and therefore ‘safe’ environment.
Before an experiential learning
programme can be designed and delivered
however, it is necessary to establish the
learning objectives, understand the context
for the intervention and consider how learning
can be transferred back into the workplace.
It is amazing but true that companies
oen embark on an experiential learning
programme by focusing first on the types
of activities they want to include, the places
they want to visit and the hotels they want
to use, while the learning objectives are
placed at the very bottom of the priority list.
To have the greatest effect, experiential
learning should always be challenging, enjoyable
and inspiring. However there is a big
difference between an away day designed to
support genuine learning and development
and an event that is at best simply going to
motivate and reward the team. Experiential
learning can be incorporated in a one-off
event or within a longer, continuous training
and development programme. A worthwhile
programme will always keep the learning
objectives at the fore for all participants,
reminding them continuously of the relevance
to their activities and monitoring progress
against them. If necessary the programme
can then be altered to address any new
needs that emerge.
Absolutely critical to ensuring the
effectiveness of any programme is the facilitated
process by which the experiences
are translated into learning. When taking
part in an experiential learning event, people
can expect to be immersed into one or
more deliberately structured experiences,
combined with meaningful reflection (to
help them explore what happened during
the experience and analyse the patterns that
emerged), strategise for the next experience,
and apply that learning to the work environment.
Kolb’s Learning Cycle is one of the
most famous models designed to guide this
process of ‘do-review-modify-apply’.
A skilled facilitator will act responsibly
and professionally at all times, helping people
to learn through self-discovery and by tapping
into their mental, emotional, intellectual and
physical beings. An unskilled facilitator
can be a liability and presents the risk of
inhibiting participant learning – or at worst,
causing serious physical or psychological harm.
Experiences are always designed to
stretch people within a reasonable distance
from their own personal ‘comfort zone’,
enough to generate a sense of achievement
and satisfaction – a recognised means
towards raising self confidence, achieving
personal growth and increasing future
potential. However, allowing freedom of
choice for people, as regards their own level
of participation, means that they remain
in control of the learning process and thus
experience success on their own terms – an
important motivational and developmental
consideration that can go badly wrong if
misjudged or mishandled.
e main purpose of experiential
learning from an organisational perspective
is to provide people with the opportunity
to develop skills and behaviours that will
enhance performance and support the
achievement of company goals. Action planning
at the end of a programme should
never be overlooked. It is consistent with
the Learning Cycle process and provides
people with a link back to the reality of
work as well as a focus to the future and
on continuous improvement.
Ultimately, continuous improvement is
a common characteristic of high performing
organisations and a habit that most effective
and high performing individuals seek to
embed within their normal day-to-day lives,
on an on-going basis. It is a never-ending
journey that each of us can take or not
– the choice is ours.
More information can be found at
www.newday.cz. For further information
on the Czech & Slovak Association for Experiential
Learning, please visit www.pszv.cz.
Sandra Cunningham, Partner & Consultant
New Day Activity Marketing s.r.o.
and New Day Consulting
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Patron’s Page
How Are We Responsible to Our Employees?
By its very nature, every law firm is dependent upon a working environment of continuous learning and development.
Technical skills and expertise in a lawyer’s chosen field of law, together with an awareness of the latest legal issues,
are a fundamental part of this learning process, but these factors only go some of the way towards delivering the
service that clients demand. Market knowledge, commercial awareness and client-care skills are all critical aspects
of such a service. Furthermore, modern law firms need to ensure that their business services professionals
receive the training necessary to match the high expectations of the firm, its lawyers and its clients.
at is why Clifford Chance, the world’s
largest law firm, introduced the Clifford
Chance Academy, which operates as a framework
(rather than a distinct physical place)
for the education, training and human
development activities across its global
network and within its local offices. All
training is highly interactive and practical.
For lawyers, the Clifford Chance
Academy provides extensive technical
courses designed to develop specific legal
skills or knowledge. ese range from courses
offering an introduction to a particular
topic or product to updates on recent
industry and legal developments. Naturally,
they function on both a local level, for issues
that relate to a specific office or department,
and a global level, for subjects that are
applicable to some or all world offices.
As regards business skills, all lawyers
have access to the same training programme
globally, as this ensures consistency and
excellence in all the firm’s offices. ese
courses are designed to meet a lawyer’s
immediate on-the-job needs and his longterm
career development. At a junior level,
the firm offers a range of courses in areas such
as meeting, negotiation and presentation
skills. For senior associates the focus shis
to winning more business and enhancing
leadership skills and strategic thinking,
while ‘Masterclasses’ are provided for
partners.
Along the way, lawyers receive
regular appraisals, and the Clifford Chance
Academy’s Development Centres organise
exercises designed to benchmark lawyers
against core business skills deemed relevant
for their stage of development. Individual
reports summarise their performance on
the programme and highlight strengths,
needs and key development actions.
For business services people, there
is an array of courses on offer at the local
office level, as well as a global curriculum
for managerial staff run by the Clifford
Chance Academy. Managers from across
a region meet at a variety of one- or twoday
courses designed to enhance their
workplace and leadership skills. At the
senior level, the Clifford Chance Academy
runs an annual, three-part, nine-day
22-23
F O C U S 2
Executive Management Programme in
cooperation with Oxford University’s
Saïd Business School, bringing people
from across the network together to look
at areas such as strategy, operations and
organisational behaviour.
E-learning now plays an integral
role in the Clifford Chance Academy’s
training and can have certain advantages
over traditional methods. Importantly,
it provides learners with control in terms
of when, where and for how long they
learn. It is flexible, enabling the firm to
respond more quickly to a change in law
or practice with an appropriate online
course, and it is available to lawyers and
staff on a global scale. It also enables
know-how and tuition to interact with
useful links, enabling the learner to
access relevant templates and practice
notes directly. Obviously, many courses
work better in the conventional classroom
forum, but the classroom can be overused
and the most effective tuition blends the
two. Follow-up e-learning courses are
oen available to complement what has
been learnt on a traditional course.
Knowledge sharing
A firm of Clifford Chance’s size would be
incapable of operating successfully (either
on a global level or even within its individual
offices) without a highly effective system
for making its knowledge base accessible,
easily and quickly, to all lawyers and staff.
In itself, effective access to the firm’s
know-how is a crucial factor in the learning
and development process. In addition to its
extensive hard-copy resources, the firm has
invested heavily in a sophisticated online
infrastructure of knowledge and template
systems, which are available to all of its
offices. A large team of professional support
lawyers and information officers is also on
hand to point lawyers in the right direction.
Yet the sharing of knowledge does
not stop at the internal level: Clifford
Chance also understands the importance
of keeping clients updated and informed
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
in relation to important legal issues and
developments, through seminars, newsletters
and other means. On the other side of the
coin, the firm welcomes input from clients
on the services it provides, which, in turn,
feeds into its training and development
strategy. By maintaining this dialogue,
it can ensure that its global curriculum
is as close as possible to the needs of its
business and its clients around the world.
Recent client seminars organised by the
Prague office have covered topics such as
Trends in Private Equity, Hot Issues in
Real Estate and IPOs.
A learning culture
In short, Clifford Chance is committed to
building and sustaining a powerful learning
culture within the firm, on a global and
local level. Whilst training and development
are geared towards meeting clients’ expectations,
the firm endeavours to ensure that
both lawyers and business services people
have no shortage of opportunities to develop
on a personal as well as a professional
level.
Clifford Chance LLP is the world’s
largest law firm, with 28 offices in 20
countries (includes an associated office
in Romania) throughout the Americas,
Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Its
Prague office, which advises on both
Czech and Slovak law, was established
in 1995 and is a fully integrated part of the
firm’s international network, with access
to the firm’s global framework of training
opportunities and its multi-jurisdictional
knowledge and information base.
Clifford Chance LLP
Jungmannova Plaza
Jungmannova 24, 110 00 Praha 1
T: +420 222 555 222, F: +420 222 555 000
E: prague-office@cliffordchance.com
www.cliffordchance.com
Edward Byne joined Clifford Chance’s London office as a trainee solicitor
in February 2005, where he has worked in the litigation, real estate and finance
departments. He recently spent six months on secondment at the Prague
office and returned to London in March.

15 Questions to…
Name: Dominic Brisby
Position: General Manager
Company: Imperial Tobacco Czech Republic
You have moved around in your professional
career. Where was it that you started, and
what are the pros and cons of working
away from your home country?
I started in 1999 when I was recruited to
Imperial Tobacco Group aer graduating
from Oxford University with a degree in
Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I then
worked in the UK, Russia, and Spain before
taking on my current role in the Czech
Republic. I find working abroad to be hugely
exciting and challenging, and I gain great
satisfaction in getting to know a country
and its people – and of course in creating
business success. e cons are actually very
few – our course I miss my family and friends,
but have enjoyed having a steady stream of
visitors since I moved to Prague.
Your run a branch of the fourth largest
tobacco group in the world. How do you
personally cope with the undying public
criticism of the tobacco industry?
I think constructive criticism is very
helpful, and personally I always welcome
the chance to engage with any stakeholder
– regardless of what their initial views
might be about the tobacco industry. e
high levels of corporate responsibility that
Imperial Tobacco demonstrates worldwide
are also important for me – for example, we
have an internal marketing code of conduct
that goes far beyond legal requirements in
tobacco marketing; we fund youth smoking
prevention programmes in many markets;
and, of course, all our cigarettes carry clear
health warnings. We also publicly hold the
view that there is no such thing as a safe
cigarette. Of course tobacco is a high profile
product, but I think as a company we prove
that cigarettes can be sold and marketed
responsibly.
Is smoking ordered, allowed or prohibited
at your workplace?
Smoking is allowed throughout Imperial
Tobacco Czech Republic, although we support
considerate smoking and always try to
accommodate the wishes of both smokers
and non-smokers.
If you could choose any other profession,
what would you like to do?
My great passion is fast moving consumer
goods, so if I was not doing my current job
I would probably want to be running part
of another major, multinational consumer
goods company. Having said that, I’m
extremely happy where I am and have no
desire to leave!
Do you speak Czech?
I am learning Czech although so far my
progress has been limited to key phrases
such as ordering a beer!
What to you is a specific feature in
a Czech person’s nature, good or bad?
My experience of Czech people has been
entirely positive – both in business and
socially – and I feel very lucky to be living
in the Czech Republic. I have found Czech
people to be open, hard-working and honest.
How many hours a week do you spend
at work?
It varies hugely depending on the type of
challenges that my team and I are facing,
but most days I get into the office at around
8 am and leave the office before 8 pm, although
I oen take work home with me. I work at
weekends only once or twice per month.
What are you hobbies and are you able
to follow them up even in the Czech
Republic?
My main hobby outside work is skiing,
which I try to do whenever I get the
chance. I have been skiing in the Czech
Republic – in Špindlerův Mlýn – which
I thoroughly enjoyed, and I also usually
spend at least two weeks per year skiing
in Aspen, Colorado and sometimes go
for short trips to France or Switzerland.
My other interests include wine, military
history and Russian literature.
If you were given a day in your life when you
could do just anything, regardless of the
cost, place and time, what would you do?
It probably wouldn’t be very different to
what I do most days, since I think the greatest
satisfaction in life comes from a real sense
of achievement. Having said that, I would
also squeeze in some skiing and probably
a few drinks with some good friends in
the evening!
Before arriving in the Czech Republic
you also lived on the Canary Islands, for
many Czechs a symbol of paradise. How
do you compare living in the two so
different countries?
People are oen amazed when I say this,
but I prefer living in the Czech Republic.
Of course the Canaries have consistently
fantastic weather and beaches, but Prague
is perhaps the most beautiful city in
Europe, has excellent cultural activities,
restaurants and of course, the best beer
in the world. I also relish the professional
challenges here, and am very proud that
my team and I have increased our market
share by 40% in the past twelve months.
Which of the following activities have
you tried: cross-country skiing, tandem
parashooting, horse riding, water skiing
and rock climbing?
I have tried cross-country skiing (although
I much prefer downhill!), horse riding,
water skiing and rock climbing, but never
tandem parashooting – but it sounds like
fun so I am definitely open to offers!
Which recent book, film or a theatre
play would you recommend to the readers
of FOCUS?
A recent book which I have just finished is
‘Trafalgar – the Biography of a Battle’ by Roy
Adkins. I have always been fascinated by
the Napoleonic wars, and this book is very
readable and gives a great introduction to
the outstanding leadership of Nelson.
If you could change one of your
characteristics, what would it be and why?
I am fairly satisfied with my character, so
I’m not sure I would change anything.
Where do you see yourself in fifteen years?
I have never been a person to make detailed,
long term career plans since I tend to focus
my energies on my current role. But under
all circumstances I like to be in a position
where I am able to work with great people,
build great brands and keep learning new
things. My current job certainly delivers
this, and if whatever I am doing in fieen
years does so as well, then I will be very
happy.
Who do think admires you?
I find this a very difficult question to
answer because admire is a very strong
word. Having said that, I am pretty sure
that my dog greatly admires me!
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Management Corner
The Electronic Toll System in the Czech Republic
Since 1st January 2007, an electronic toll
system has been in operation on over 950
kilometres of motorways and highways in
the Czech Republic, applying to all vehicles
weighing 12 tonnes or more. e project
client is the Czech Ministry of Transport,
and the system operator is the Road and
Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic.
Enforcement was entrusted to the Customs
Administration of the Czech Republic and the
general contractor is the Kapsch consortium.
e first stage of the whole system was put
From the left: Oldřich Mazánek, Jaroslav Souček,
Karel Černý and Erik Best
into commercial operation within a record
nine months, and around CZK 571 million
was collected from hauliers within the first
six weeks alone.
Nationwide toll systems in Europe
Aside from in the Czech Republic, there
are nationwide toll systems operating in Switzerland,
Germany and Austria. In Austria,
a similar toll system operating on the basis
of microwaves has been in operation since
1st January 2004 over the whole motorway
network for all goods vehicles of over 3.5
tonnes. e system uses 475 gantries to cover
all 2,000 kilometres of Austrian motorways,
as well as 260 payment points and around
100 automatic payment terminals.
In 2005, for example, the Austrian Road
Administration, the operator of the Asfinag
system, collected around EUR 785 million
(over CZK 23 billion) in tolls. e toll collection
rate has been very good in Austria, reaching
over 99% over the long term.
e Czech system has been shown to
be similarly effective right from the first
month of toll collection on Czech motorways
and highways. e initial results show that
a realistic toll collection for 2007 is between
CZK 5 billion and 6 billion, on motorways
24-25
F O C U S 2
and highways alone. In the first stage of the
electronic toll system in the Czech Republic,
around 200 so-called ‘distribution points’ and
14 ‘contact points’ were set up, providing
services to the users of the system. So far,
171 toll gantries have been built.
Will the second stage of the toll system
in the Czech Republic be satellite based?
e Czech government’s policy statement in
January 2007 indicated that the electronic toll
system in this country would use a combination
of microwave and satellite technologies. e
government is to introduce tolls for vehicles
weighing over 3.5 tonnes and all roads maintained
by the state will be included. e
toll fees will be differentiated according to
vehicle emissions to the maximum extent
permitted by EU legislation.
e coalition agreement also stipulates
a deadline for the introduction of tolls for
vehicles over 3.5 tonnes as 1st January 2008
and tolls for all roads maintained by the
state as 1st January 2009.
In the autumn of 2006, the Czech
Ministry of Transport asked Kapsch to carry
out a preliminary study regarding the possibility
of using satellite-based toll collection in the
second stage of the electronic toll project
in the Czech Republic. In this stage the toll
system would extend over another 1,100
kilometres of highways.
Kapsch’s bid included a guarantee to
the state that it would build a so-called ‘open
system’ – i.e. a system that can in the future
be combined with technologies that are
only now being developed (e.g. including
satellite-based position finding). e ongoing
discussions relating to the final form of the
system’s second stage are far from simple, and
involve a very significant technological and
commercial shi in the whole project. e
discussions are made even more complicated
due to the fact that there is still no European
consensus on a pan-European dashboard unit
that should contribute to the most fundamental
item lacking in the toll systems: interoperability
between the states and the various technologies
used for collecting tolls.
e electronic toll system in the Czech
Republic and telematic services
In the future, the electronic toll system
will enable the provision of many other
‘telematic services’ apart from efficient toll
collection. Here are examples of some of them:
• Traffic control
e toll system can provide increased
safety on the most frequented roads
through DSRC communications. is does
not mean dynamic control in the sense
of avoiding traffic-related problems, but
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
rather the prevention of consequent
chain-type accidents at a problem location
such as an accident, a bottleneck or road
works. Illuminated variable traffic signs
can provide information to all drivers.
• Measuring speed
Speed measurement over sections can
increase road safety. In the first phase
this would involve goods vehicles, where
both excessive speed and non-compliance
with safety breaks can be monitored.
Speed measurement over sections has an
advantage over point measurement, where
aer passing radar the driver simply speeds
up again. In our case, the driver’s speed can
be measured over whole sections of road.
• Dangerous loads
One socially important function is
monitoring dangerous loads as they
progress along the domestic road system.
A system based on DSRC provides precise
information regarding the current
location of a lorry with a dangerous load,
and whether there has been a problem.
In the event of an accident, the system will
enable rescue units and the fire brigade to
be called out quickly to the precise spot.
• Dangerous driving
In neighbouring Austria, which already
has a functioning toll system, police oen
encountered drivers who, by mistake or
even intentionally, entered a motorway
travelling in the wrong direction,
endangering both themselves and other
drivers. An early warning system for such
situations was delivered as an addition
to the toll project, and has significantly
reduced the occurrence of such incidents.
• Cashless payments for fuel and services
Apart from telematic services that are
socially important and used by the state
and its bodies, the toll system also offers
commercial services. One example comes
from Portugal, where an electronic toll
system enables cashless payments for fuel
via its dashboard units. e drivers of
goods vehicles, and later ordinary cars,
could thus easily pay for goods and
services at filling stations even if they
had no cash with them. In Portugal, the
dashboard unit also enables control of
vehicle entry into restricted areas such as car
parks, industrial areas or pedestrian zones.
e toll system has also found a commercial
use for the hauliers themselves – they can
have a precise overview of the movements
of all their vehicles, which helps them to
administer their fleet more effectively.

Embassy Latest
New Head of the Embassy’s Political Section
Graham Horry has replaced Jill Parkinson as Head of the Embassy’s Political Section. He is mainly responsible for EU
and economic affairs. He introduces himself below:
I first visited Prague on a university exchange
in 1994 and have been coming back to the
Czech Republic ever since. A strong reason
for this is my Czech wife, Pavla, whom I met
on the same exchange (on the Olomouc part
of the visit). But other big reasons were my
interest in the country, the Czech language
and, of course, Czech beer! Aer university
I spent a gap year teaching English in
Olomouc. e gap year quickly became two
and in 1997, newly married, we returned
to the UK where I did a Masters degree
in European Economic and Political
Integration. e theme of the MA has been
the theme of my working life since I joined
the civil service in 1998. My first job was
helping to calculate EU budgetary returns
One World 2007
at the Office for National Statistics. I then
moved on to the Foreign Office where I spent
British Embassy, Thunovská 14, 118 00 Praha 1, T: +420 257 402 111, www.britain.cz
British Embassy Trade & Investment Section, Palác Myslbek, Na Příkopě 21, 117 19 Praha 1
T: +420 222 240 021-3, F: +420 222 243 625, E: tradeinvest.pragc@fco.gov.uk
two years advising on tricky WTO trade
disputes – bananas, steel tariffs and beef
hormones to name but a few. All more
interesting than it probably sounds! In 2003
I was posted to the British Embassy in
Warsaw where I was in charge of the EU
team and economic reporting. I’m very
pleased now to be able to carry on in the
same line of work and to get a Czech perspective
on the EU. I’m delighted to be
able to come back to the Czech Republic
and for our two small children (and Pavla)
to have ample opportunity to speak Czech.
I look forward to meeting and working
with members of the British Chamber of
Commerce and enjoying my time in this
wonderful city.
It has now almost become a tradition that the Embassy contributes to the organisation of the annual human rights
documentary film festival One World organised by the Czech NGO, People in Need.
Most of the embassy’s contribution this year
was dedicated to a seminar entitled ‘Film
against Injustice and Poverty’ on 5th March.
e seminar aimed to show how humanitarian,
development and human rights organisations
Climate Change
Justice Colman in Prague
Sir Anthony Colman is a leading British
lawyer, who has spent most of his life practising
commercial law. In 2002 he co-founded
the European Commercial Judges Forum.
He was knighted by the Queen on his appointment
as a High Court Judge.
Sir Anthony has made an immense
contribution to Czech judicial reform. In
Graham Horry, Head of EU / Political Section,
British Embassy Prague
can make use of audio-visual communication
for creating awareness, to lobby or to campaign.
In a series of sessions and presentations,
various methods of fundraising for media
projects were presented by Greenpeace,
November 2000 his report on the Czech
commercial justice system was published
as a result of his appointment as Special
Adviser to the Czech Ministry of Justice.
In the report he analysed the situation in
the Czech judiciary and suggested specific
improvements, a number of which have
been put into practice.
Oxfam, Christian Aid and others. Representatives
of the EU and the UN were also
invited to participate. e key speaker of the
seminar, Joyce Davis, is deputy programme
director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Climate change remains a key priority for the UK. Indeed, tackling climate change is one of the biggest challenges
the world currently faces, and the science behind it has never been clearer.
Climate change represents a fundamental
threat to our security and prosperity. But,
as outlined in the Stern report, dealing
with the threat is achievable and affordable
with the right policies in place, whereas
the costs of inaction vastly outweigh the
costs of action. e UK’s goal is to build
on the progress made on the issue during
its EU and G8 presidencies in 2005, and
find the right set of mitigation measures to
deal with the challenge. e UK strongly
supports the aim of the proposals currently
under discussion at the EU, which include
a 20% reduction of greenhouse gases target
by 2020, and which are intended to show
responsible leadership to the rest of the
international community ahead of the
Kyoto Protocol’s expiry in 2012.
ere are, however, understandable
and real concerns that some climate change
mitigation measures will have a detrimental
impact on competitiveness, and it is clear
that in order to reach the goal of reduced
emissions there needs to be a partnership
between the private and public sectors. To
promote this agenda in the Czech Republic,
the British Embassy in Prague, in cooperation
with Enviros, is holding a conference in
early April, aimed at providing a forum for
discussion between government officials
and business people. Experts from both
countries will give presentations and
participate in discussions on a variety of
relevant issues, including the EU Emissions
Trading Scheme, the economics of climate
change and mitigation tools such as environmental
technologies. e UK’s Confederation
of British Industry (CBI), which has taken
a positive approach to this agenda, is also
expected to take part. ere will also be an
opportunity for young people who participated
in an earlier event on the same topic
to attend and ask questions.
Ever since, Sir Anthony has been keen to
continue to work for the Czech Republic,
and has been active in organising seminars
and workshops for commercial judges in
the country. ese events bring together
British experts who share their experience
on various aspects of commercial law with
their Czech colleagues.
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Legal Corner
The Labour Code in a Nutshell
– What Has Really Changed, What Should Be Done Now?
Even though the new Labour Code was
published in June 2006, only a few businesses
have actually prepared for the changes that
took effect on 1st January 2007. To a large
part this was due to political discussions
Arthur Braun
Jaroslava Tůmová
which le everyone helplessly waiting and
watching the power struggle between the
former and new governments and a last ditch
attempt to stop the new Labour Code at the
Constitutional Court has so far been unsuccessful.
e only major amendment to the
original concept was the postponement of
the sickness insurance changes (the first two
weeks to be paid by the employer) to 2008.
Let’s be realistic. e new Labour
Code is not such a big change compared to
former legal regulations. It is not a product
26-27
F O C U S 2
of a socialist conspiracy in order to help
the Czech trade unions. It mainly contains
re-wordings of provisions that had existed
quite unnoticed for 40 years. It also incorporates
other existing laws. Yes, it does
grant additional rights to trade unions, but
certainly no more than would be common
in most European countries.
Probably the worst thing about it is
that an opportunity has been missed: It is
not the new, modern, flexible labour law
this country needs in order to be attractive
for future investors in a globalised world.
To a lawyer, the number of technical flaws
is astonishing. One may only hope that the
80 mistakes identified by the new Minister
of Labour, Petr Nečas, will be removed as
soon as possible.
So, what has really changed?
(a) Existing employment contracts as well
as collective bargaining agreements stay
in force. One could now add a provision
about the regular place of work that
helps in the calculation of travel costs.
(b) Secondary labour relationships (vedlejší
pracovní poměr), which in the past were
considerably easier to terminate than
a full-time contract, are now regular
employment relationships. What is
potentially a larger problem is a situation
where the leading employees (managers),
who under the former law were nominated
into their position by decree, now have
a normal employment relationship.
Unless they sign a special agreement
under the new Labour Code concerning
their relations for recall and resignation,
they can be terminated only with difficulty.
(c) ere is a small improvement in contracts
for performing work (dohody o provedení
práce), used in particular for short term
work, and one may now use them for 150
hours instead of 100 hours per calendar year.
(d) e new regulations concerning working
hours cause the biggest headache. It is no
longer possible to have the first 150 hours
of overtime included in the regular
salary. It is still possible, however, for the
employer to order these 150 hours but he
or she has to pay for them. e limit of
416 hours overtime per year introduced
several years ago follows on from
European law.
(e) e overtime premium of 25% has a major
impact as compensation spare time may
only be agreed upon with the employee,
who in most cases will, of course, prefer
to be paid.
(f) For certain business it will be important
that the age limit for working a regular
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
40 hour week has been raised from 16
to 18 years, in particular during
summertime ‘brigády’.
(g) e much-heralded working hours
accounts will not have any practical
significance if the regulation remains
as it is. Not only does every employee
who is affected by these accounts have
to approve them, having already been
approved by the relevant trade union but
worse is that before the compensation
period in which the plus and minus hours
must be settled (26 weeks, if there is
a trade union at the maximum 52 weeks),
the schedule as to how the working hours
will be split up during these six or twelve
months must be defined in advance. If
you need flexible production, you cannot
of course tell now what will happen in
November. And no reasonable employee
would approve of receiving less money
(at least 80% of the average wage must
be guaranteed in each month) and only
getting compensatory payments at the
end of this compensation period.
(h) Standby time at the work place is also
a major issue, in particular for hospitals.
In the traffic section a decree has helped
bus and truck drivers as well as railway
employees.
(i) Two important changes were enacted
concerning notice periods. e general
notice period is now two months, even if
notice is given for organisational reasons.
It is now possible to extend them for
both parties, a good option for tying
key employees into their contracts.
(j) e Czech Republic has retained its
relatively simple system of severance
payment if notice is given for organisational
reasons, such as liquidation of the
employer or redundancy. e severance
payment in such event has now been
increased to three average monthly salaries.
(k) e causes for termination have also been
slightly changed; the former termination
cause of breach against work discipline
has been deleted and replaced by breach
of legal regulation. As terrifying as it
might sound to an employer to have to
search for a violation done by the employee,
he will certainly be able to find a lot of
regulations; for instance, the provisions
in Section 301 of the Labour Code about
the employee having to follow the
employer’s instructions. Still it means
that courts will take several years until
a standing jurisprudence has been developed
for this new termination reason.
(l) e protection of termination for single
parents has been deleted.
Cont’d on next page

Chamber People News
Aleš Zídek was named Tax Partner of the
White & Case Prague office. He is one of the
key members of their tax team, focusing
on energy and telecommunications, private
equity, international tax structuring, and
reorganisations. Zídek is a Statutory Tax
Advisor and a member of the Czech Chamber
of Tax Advisors. He graduated from the
University of West Bohemia with a Masters
degree in cybernetics and speaks fluent
Czech and English. He has been with
White & Case since 2002.
Petr Pánek has been appointed a local
partner of the White & Case Prague office,
which he joined in 2003. He specialises
in mergers, acquisitions, corporate and
commercial legal matters, privatisation
projects, corporate reorganisations, public
procurements and collective investments.
Pánek is a Czech advocate, also qualified
in New York. He studied law at Charles
University, and obtained the LL.M. degree
at Columbia Law School, New York. He is
fluent in Czech and English.
Michal Smrek has been appointed a local
partner of the White & Case Prague office.
He joined the company in late 2005. He is
one of the key experts on private equity,
mergers and acquisitions and telecommunications.
His practice also involves intellectual
property, IT and insurance. Smrek is a Czech
Cont’d from page 26
White & Case
Aleš Zídek
Tax Partner
White & Case
Petr Pánek
Partner
White & Case
(m) As to the new provision for giving notice
by e-mail, in most cases this will not
be a realistic option as neither employers
nor employees will use certified signatures
and there is always going to be the need
to prove their delivery on time.
(n) Most of the rights of trade unions under
the new Labour Code have already been
granted by former regulations. A detailed
analysis would extend the volume of
this article, but it should still be pointed
out that for a strike to happen the
majority requirement has now been
Michal Smrek
Partner
White & Case
advocate who studied law and political
science at Charles University, Prague. He
is fluent in Czech, English and French.
Clifford Chance
e Prague office of the international law
firm Clifford Chance hired Juraj Lipka to
strengthen its Slovak law practice. Lipka is
an advocate and a member of the Czech as
well as the Slovak Bar Association. He gra-
Juraj Lipka
Senior Lawyer
Clifford Chance
duated from Central European University
in Budapest with LL.M. in International
Business Law, studied in Poland (College of
Europe), Slovakia (Comenius University,
Faculty of Law) and Norway (University of
Oslo). Lipka has experience with all aspects
of corporate and competition law as a company
lawyer and also as an attorney in a law firm.
He speaks Slovak, Czech, English and French.
CMS Cameron McKenna
CMS Cameron McKenna v.o.s., one of
the leading international law firms in the
Czech Republic, is pleased to announce that
Iveta Plachá has been appointed Managing
Partner of the Prague office. Plachá is the
first native Czech managing partner of the
office. She is a leading expert in real estate
and property finance, with extensive experience
advising domestic and international
clients on major projects, large retail and
office developments, construction, financing
and leasing arrangements as well as
raised from half to two thirds of the
employees taking part and the quorum
to 50% of the employees.
To sum up, there are a few things one must
do, and some more options to be used under
the new contractual liberty. Work organisation,
in particular overtime work, has to
be re-done and overall, due to various new
premiums (including the night premium of
10%, weekend premium 10%, public holiday
premium 100%), labour in the Czech Republic
might even become more expensive.
acquisitions. Plachá is also on the panel of
arbitrators of the Czech Arbitration Chamber
and is a member of the ICC national
committee for international arbitration.
Plachá joined CMS Cameron McKenna
in November 2003 from Weil, Gotshal &
Manges v.o.s. Since then, she shares joint
Iveta Plachá
Managing Partner
CMS Cameron McKenna
responsibility for the Prague real estate
practice group of CMS Cameron McKenna
and became a Partner in September 2004.
She graduated from Charles University and
qualified in 1984.
Quinlan Private Golub
Quinlan Private Golub, the leading
real estate investment and development
company, appointed Stephen Haigh as
its new Country Manager for the Czech
Republic. Haigh will be responsible for
overseeing Quinlan Private Golub’s entire
development portfolio throughout the
country. is includes a number of projects,
such as: Slunečný Vršek, Charles Square
Centre, BB Centrum and Explora Business
Stephen Haigh
Country Manager
Quinlan Private Golub
Centre. Haigh will also be preparing for
a number of additional residential schemes
now in the planning stages. Haigh has more
than 25 years of experience in the real estate
sector. Prior to joining Quinlan Private
Golub, he occupied a number of managing
director positions in well-known and
successful British real estate companies,
including Gleeson Homes Northern, Antler
Homes and Allen Homes.
e Labour Code is in existence. Waiting
for amendment is not a good tactic; it has
to be better to start doing something
about it now. But… if you have the chance
to influence the political process in any
way, please contact your local deputy and
describe to him your practical problems
with the new code!
Arthur Braun, M.A.
Attorney and Partner
bpv Braun Haškovcová
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Survey
Czech Population and Advertising
Factum Invenio has presented the latest results of an annual survey focused on the attitudes of the Czech population
towards advertising. Formal face-to-face interviewing was conducted from 7th to 14th January 2007 on a representative
sample of 1,014 respondents aged 15 and above.
e results of the survey have proved that
Czech people continue to think that there
is too much TV advertising, especially
on commercial TV channels (Nova: 79%,
Prima: 72%). Regarding the prevalence of
adverts on the public Czech TV, 50% of Czechs
consider the quantity of advertisements
there to be ‘average’.
About two thirds of people think
there are too many post box inserts (leaflets).
In comparison with previous surveys, a significant
increase was recorded in evaluating
the quantity of adverts in magazines (from
43% in 2005 to 51% in 2007) and a moderate
increase regarding daily newspapers. e
percentage of people who believe there
is too much advertising on the radio has
stabilised at around 33%.
e percentage of those who consider
there to be too much Internet advertising
has increased a lot since 1999. While in
1999 only 4% of respondents thought there
was too much advertising on the Internet,
six years later (2005) almost one quarter
(24%) of all respondents shared this opinion.
e latest results indicate the most excessive
forms of Internet advertising are those that
cover original content of the web page, spam
in e-mail and pop-up windows.
Almost one quarter of Czechs believe
that there are too many adverts on public
transport. Nearly one fih of all respondents
(15%) consider SMS/MMS advertising and
adverts in the cinema to be too excessive.
On the other hand, Czech people would
appreciate more point-of-sale advertising.
Especially in-store tastings (26%) and TV
screens at the point of sale (11%) are popular.
e majority of Czechs believe that
advertising does manipulate people (81%).
However, significantly few people admit its
impact on their own purchase behaviour
(30%). e tendency to ‘confess’ the impact
of the advertisement on their purchase
behaviour is more typical of women and
young people under 30.
Cigarette advertising still evokes
strongly negative reactions: 36% of people
think it should be prohibited and almost
one third of respondents would accept it
only if restrictions were imposed.
Considering alcohol advertising,
opinions differ according to the type of
alcohol. While almost a quarter of Czechs
demand a complete ban on advertising for
hard alcohol, attitudes towards adverts
focused on beer and wine are more liberal.
Two fihs of respondents would keep beer
advertising with no restrictions (42%),
which is not surprising because the beer is
cherished almost as ‘the national beverage’
in the Czech Republic.
Women and seniors (aged 60 and
above) tend to demand complete prohibition
of both cigarette and alcohol advertising
significantly more oen than men and young
28-29
F O C U S 2
people under 30. Women and elderly people
are also less broad-minded if thinking about
advertising for OTC products (over the
counter pharmaceuticals) and nutritional
supplements (vitamins, minerals, etc.).
In any case, the mainstream attitude
towards OTC products and nutritional
supplements adverts is liberal in the Czech
Republic: 48% of people do not demand any
restrictions of OTC products advertising
and 57% of respondents are totally liberal
regarding advertising for nutritional
supplements. Only a marginal percentage
(5%) of Czech people would completely
prohibit advertisement focused on such
types of products.
1
1
19
79
Nova TV
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
1
2
25
Prima TV
2
4
26
72 68
Post box
inserts
47 47 49
2 2 2
23 24 22
ADVERTS IN MEDIA – 1ST PART (N=1014, in %)
4
3
40
53
Magazines
2
3
50
Czech TV
e last topic discussed was the eligibility
of particular types of TV advertisements to
be broadcast during children’s TV programmes.
More than one quarter (26%) of Czechs
demand a complete ban, while one third
(33%) would restrict it. It is not surprising
that women (mothers) and older people (aged
60 and above) demand a total prohibition
significantly more oen than any other
socio-demographic group. Nearly one
quarter (24%) of respondents feel that the
setting of restrictions should be the parents’
responsibility. Only 8% of the population
believes that children are capable of critical
thinking in regards to advertising content.
45 44
Martina Rubášová graduated in sociology (methodology of sociological
research) from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague.
In 2004 she joined Factum Invenio as a Research Executive. Since 2005 she
has been working as a Project Manager. She is responsible for consumer,
media and retail market research.
45
Billboards
and posters
35
40 38
Other TV
stations
ADVERTS IN MEDIA – 2ND PART (N=1014, in %)
28 27 27 24 23
Internet adverts
covering the
original content of
the web page
Pop-up window
Spam
in e-mail
11
7
58
Public
transport
46
2
29
Internet
banners
5
6
22
11
22
2
30
4
52 51
4
3
55
Newspapers
42
8
3
56
33
Radio
15 15 15 13
TV screens
at the POS
too much average could be more no answer
SMS / MMS
2
41
Cinema
13
26
49
In-store tasting

Discover Britain
The Treasures of North East England
From the heather-covered hills of Northumberland to the vibrant cities of Tyne and Wear; the historic landmarks of County
Durham and the peaceful countryside of Tees Valley, North East England has a wealth of treasures to share. A rich history
and heritage will unfold before your eyes as you travel from coast to countryside.
Romaldkirk, County Durham
Tyne bridges, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear County
The ruins of Egglestone Abbey, County Durham
Raby Castle, County Durham
Each of the four regions that make up this
stunning destination has its own character,
attractions and charm – united in a passion
for life and living it here!
e beauty of North East England
is not only its masses of award-winning
attractions and amazing things to do, it’s
the compact nature of the region, which
means you can fit more of them into every
day of your stay.
You can explore castles, country houses
and glorious gardens – many with their own
programmes of events. Discover areas of
outstanding natural beauty, heritage coastline
or the Northumberland National Park and
blow away the cobwebs on exhilarating
walks, cycle routes or pony rides. Or you can
‘shop ‘til you drop’; be pampered in a spa,
visit a gallery or museum; hit a restaurant
or bar and take in a show. e choice is yours.
You can sit back and watch at superb
sporting venues or take part in everything
from golf and fishing to dancing and water
sports. Visit a farmers’ market and pick up
some fine local produce. Take a ride back in
time on a steam train or tram. Spot puffins,
rare red squirrels and other wildlife. rill
the kids with a wealth of fascinating, fun
and family-friendly attractions or feel your
pulse beating to the tune of excellent live
music. Would you like a beach almost all
to yourself? Fun at the funfair or a surfer’s
playground? Dunstanburgh, South Shields
and Saltburn-by-the-Sea are just three
of the many coastal experiences on offer.
Or how about a relaxing trip on the river
– Tyne, Wear or Tees?
For a change of pace, take a jaunt to one
of our vibrant cities – Newcastle, Gateshead,
Sunderland, Durham or Middlesbrough – to
shop, dine out or simply to enjoy an evening
of entertainment at one of the myriad theatres,
cinemas and music venues across the region.
Matěj Špiroch, www.visitbritain.com
THE NORTH EAST ENGLAND IN FIGURES
AREA: 8,592 square kilometres
POPULATION: 2,515,479
PRINCIPAL CITY: Newcastle
LARGEST CITY: Newcastle
COUNTIES: Northumberland, Tyne and Wear,
North Yorkshire, County Durham.
EDUCATION: Leading Universities in Newcastle,
Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham.
TRANSPORT: Durham Tees Valley Airport,
the main national road and rail links.
BUSINESS: Investments in the area have been made
by the well known companies such as AstraZeneca,
British Steel and Procter & Gamble.
BCC – Working for a better business environment

Members of the BCC
30
F O C U S 2
Patrons
BAE SYSTEMS ✔
Bovis Lend Lease, a.s. ✔
Clifford Chance LLP ✔
Cushman & Wakefield, s.r.o.
DHL Express (Czech Republic) s.r.o. ✔
Egon Zehnder International
Flow East a.s. ✔
International Power plc
LINKLATERS, v.o.s.
Lovells
Provident Financial, s.r.o. ✔
Tesco Stores CR a.s. ✔
Zátiší Catering Group ✔
Full corporate members
Accenture Central Europe B.V.
ACCOR Hotels Praha ✔
Ahrend Central & Eastern Europe
Allen & Overy, Praha Advokátní kancelář ✔
Allied Pickfords s.r.o.
American Express, spol. s r.o.
AstraZeneca Czech Republic s.r.o. ✔
Aviva životní pojištovna, a.s. ✔
BDO Prima Audit s.r.o. ✔
Berlitz School of Languages, spol. s r.o. ✔
British Airways PLC
BRUSH SEM s.r.o.
CB Richard Ellis s.r.o. ✔
CMS Cameron McKenna v.o.s. ✔
Deloitte Czech Republic B.V.
Diners Club Czech, s.r.o.
DTZ Praha, spol. s r.o. ✔
EASTERN SUGAR ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA, a.s. ✔
EC HARRIS s.r.o.
Ernst & Young Tax & Transaction, s.r.o.,
člen koncernu ✔
Eurest / Compass Group Plc.
FORTUNA HOTELS, a.s. ✔
Four Seasons Hotel Prague
GIST CZECH REPUBLIC s.r.o.
Gleeds Česká republika s.r.o.
Hilton Prague ✔
Holmes Place Czech Republic s.r.o.
HSBC Bank plc – pobočka Praha ✔
Hudson Global Resources, s.r.o. ✔
ICI (CZ) s.r.o. ✔
IMI International, s.r.o.
Imperial Tobacco Czech Republic ✔
ING BANK N.V.
John Crane Sigma a.s.
Jones Lang LaSalle
Kajima Europe B.V. Czech Branch
King Sturge s.r.o. ✔
KPMG Česká republika, s.r.o. ✔
Lloyd’s Register EMEA
LogicaCMG ✔
Mandarin Oriental, Prague
MARSH, s.r.o.
MAZARS AUDIT s.r.o. ✔
Metrostav a.s. ✔
Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz v.o.s.
OKIN FACILITY CZ, s.r.o. ✔
ORCO Property Group
PBW Czech Republic s.r.o. ✔
Prague Marriott Hotel, Renaissance Prague Hotel
PricewaterhouseCoopers ✔
Regus Business Centre, s.r.o.
Rexam Beverage Can Czech Republic s.r.o. ✔
Salans
SSL Česká republika
Storck Česká republika, s.r.o.
Synovate ✔
Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, a.s. ✔
TMF Czech s.r.o. ✔
Top.Spirit, a.s. – Corinthia Towers Hotel,
Corinthia Panorama Hotel ✔
Travelex Czech Republic a.s.
Unilever CR, s.r.o.
Vodafone Czech Republic, a.s.
Weinhold Legal v.o.s.
White & Case, advokátní kancelář ✔
XEROX CZECH REPUBLIC s.r.o.
Reduced rate members
3TS Capital Partners – 3TS, s.r.o. ✔
600 International Ltd. ✔
A.M.T. Group a.s.
ABLON s.r.o.
AC EXPO s.r.o. ✔
ACCA (e Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants) ✔
ADC Blackfire Entertainment s.r.o. ✔
Advokátní kancelář Polverini, Strnad ✔
AIMTEC a.s. ✔
AK Mašek a spol. ✔
Aktiv Change s.r.o. ✔
Alchymist Grand Hotel and Spa
Alpha Management Consultants s.r.o. ✔
AMI Communications
andel’s hotel Prague
Archer Sheridan s.r.o., Hertz Lease Franchisee ✔
Arcon Machinery a.s.
Aria Hotel ✔
ARS LINGUARUM s.r.o. ✔
Arthur Hunt, s.r.o.
ARWEN, spol. s r.o.
ASB Prague, s.r.o.
AUBERGRAY s.r.o. ✔
Aukett s.r.o.
Austria Hotels International ✔
B.I.D. services ✔
BABTIE spol. s r.o. ✔
Baker Tilly Czech Republic
/ Contract Administration, spol. s r.o.
Balcarek & Rekova, spol. s r.o.
BarHill Real s.r.o.
BCD Travel
BEROX Machine Tool Co Ltd o.s. ✔
Best Communications
Blyth Praha spol. s r.o.
bnt – pravda, noack & partner v.o.s.
bpv Braun Haškovcová, sdružení advokátů ✔
Brasserie M
Brichta & Partners
BRITEX – CZ s.r.o.
British/Czech Commercial Consultancy ✔
British Council in the Czech Republic ✔
Britská mezinárodní škola, o.p.s. ✔
BT Česká republika, s.r.o.
BT, organizační složka ✔
BTI Czech Republic
BUSINESS LEASE s.r.o. ✔
Catalise plc ✔
CATRO s.r.o. ✔
Central Europe Trust Prague
– obchodní zastoupení
Central European Real Estate Services, s.r.o.
CENTREPOINT s.r.o.
Cepona s.r.o. ✔
CG Pay Limited ✔
Chapman Taylor International Services s.r.o.
CHEERS / LE CLUB Restaurant
Chemelek spol. s r.o. ✔
CHI Czech s.r.o. ✔
CIC Consulting s.r.o.
Citco Česká Republika s.r.o.
City Self-Storage s.r.o. ✔
Colliers International s.r.o. ✔
Consult Group Int. spol. s r.o.
Cook Communications s.r.o.
Corstjens Worldwide Movers Prague, spol. s r.o. ✔
Corus Central Europe s.r.o.
CTP Invest, spol. s r.o. ✔
CVO Group ČR, s.r.o. ✔
CzechEuro s.r.o. ✔
CZECH-LOGISTIC s.r.o.
Česká Informační Agentura, s.r.o. ✔
Český Web, a.s. ✔
DBG Eastern Europe s.r.o. ✔
DC SPED spol. s r.o.
deVere and Partners
Digital Resources, a.s. ✔
Diplomat Hotel****Prague
Dr. Helena Krepelkova,
registered trade mark Associated Consultants
DRILL Business Services
DSA a.s.
Dunross s.r.o. ✔
EBO
Elok-Opava spol. s r.o.
Employment Express s.r.o. ✔
English College in Prague, o.p.s., e
English International School, Prague, e ✔
English Non-stop
Enviros, s.r.o. ✔
ERPET Group a.s.
Et netera a.s.
ETHER Consulting s.r.o. ✔
EUROGATE BOHEMIA spol. s r.o.
European Reality ✔
Expat Business Association ✔
Factum Invenio, s.r.o. ✔
Fairway, s.r.o. ✔
Fleet Sheet/E. S. Best s.r.o.
Fleishman-Hillard
Fractal, s.r.o. ✔
Fringe Festival Praha (PRAGUE FRINGE s.r.o.) ✔
Genesis Capital s.r.o.
Geneva Consulting Finance ✔
Gerry Tipple, s.r.o. ✔
Glatzová & Co., v.o.s.
GONDRAND, a.s.
Graon Recruitment, s.r.o. ✔
Great Step s.r.o. ✔
GROSSMANN JET SERVICE s.r.o.
HANEX GROUP s.r.o. ✔
Hašek a spol. s.r.o.
Hays Czech Republic, s.r.o.
Holiday Inn Prague Congress Centre ✔
Hotel Le Palais Prague
Hotel Leonardo
Hotel Palace Praha ✔
Hotel Savoy
Hotel Voroněž – Congress Centre
Ian Bryan Architects (IBA)
iAudit International
IB Grant ornton Consulting s.r.o.
ICT Recruitment s.r.o. ✔
Identity Ltd., s.r.o.
IDM Security Int. s.r.o. ✔
INTECON spol. s r.o.
International School of Prague
International SOS Assistance (CZ) s.r.o.
International Study Programs s.r.o. ✔
James Cook Languages ✔
JANÁK ZEITHAML & spol.
Jeakins, Robert ✔
JGA Legal – Jan Grozdanovič, advokát ✔
Johnson & Kramařík, Advokátní kancelář
Jokl Appraisal ✔
JWA Prague s.r.o. ✔
Kensington s.r.o.
Key 6 Business Solutions
Kinnarps a.s. ✔
KŠD ŠŤOVÍČEK advokátní kancelář, v.o.s.
L&H Architektura: Praha ✔
Lease Plan Czech Republic, s.r.o.
LEXXUS a.s.
Linstram, spol. s r.o.
LLP Prague, s.r.o.
LMC s.r.o.
Lordship Estates spol. s r.o.
lvds Associated Law Offices ✔
MAI INSURANCE BROKERS, s.r.o.
The magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic
Management TC, s.r.o.
Marketing Solutions s.r.o. ✔
Mayfield Management s.r.o.
McKinnon & Clarke
(formerly REA KLADNO s.r.o.) ✔
MDA Praha, s.r.o. ✔
MEDIA STRATEGY s.r.o.
MEDIA TRADING CZ s.r.o. ✔
MEDIARESEARCH, a.s. ✔
Mediatronic spol. s r.o.
Millward Brown Czech Republic s.r.o. ✔
MIPA Real Estate, s.r.o. ✔
Mmd Corporate, Public Affairs
& Public Relations Consultants
Monitor CE media services, s.r.o. ✔
Moores Rowland Levey & Jung ✔
Move One relocations
Neumann & Partners s.r.o.
New Day Activity Marketing s.r.o.
NSG MORISON
On-Target Enterprise Training s.r.o. ✔
Optaglio s.r.o. ✔
Option One a.s.
ORBIX, s.r.o.
ORION Realit s.r.o.
Pedersen & Partners ✔
PETERKA & PARTNERS v.o.s. ✔
Positive s.r.o.
Pragoimport-Adam a.s.
Prague Adventures
Prague City Apartments Ltd.
Prague College, s.r.o.
Prague Congress Centre
Prague Post, e
Prague Tours (UK) Ltd ✔
PRESIDENT HOTELS, s.r.o. ✔
PRESTO – TRANSLATION CENTER s.r.o.
Priečinská – Hanyk, advokátní kancelář ✔
PrintSo Česká republika, s.r.o. ✔
PRIORITY, spol. s r.o.
Professionals s.r.o. ✔
Proudfoot Consulting s.r.o.
Quinlan Private Golub
Recruit CZ
RENOMIA, a.s. ✔
RESTAMO HOLDING a.s. ✔
Restaurant U modré kachničky
Ricardo Prague, s.r.o.
Riverside School ✔
Robert Half Czech Republic, s.r.o.
Savant (Czech) s.r.o.
Schaffer & Partner spol. s r.o. ✔
Scott & Hagget Consulting ✔
Seddons v.o.s. ✔
SHArchitects + Forresthill Architects
Skills Base s.r.o. ✔
Slough Estates ČR
Solutions HR Specialists, s.r.o.
Somerston Olympia CZ, s.r.o.
Spencer Stuart Management Consulting s.r.o. ✔
Společnosti Online s.r.o. ✔
ST. JAMES LANGUAGE CENTER, s.r.o. ✔
Star Capital Finance s.r.o. ✔
Target CR s.r.o. ✔
TAX DIMENSION s.r.o. ✔
Techo, a.s.
amesdown CZ, a.s.
e Source Network (CZ) s.r.o.
Tiskárna Impéria s.r.o.
TMI s.r.o. ✔
TMM, s.r.o.
TOP HOTEL Praha s.r.o.
TRADE WIND s.r.o.
TRIBUTUM CONSULTING s.r.o.
UNICARE Medical Center
University of Pittsburgh,
Katz Graduate School of Business ✔
Vision Training and Consulting, s.r.o.
Vyskočil, Krošlák a spol. advokátní
a patentová kancelář
Weber Shandwick/GJW ✔
Wood & Company Financial Services, a.s.
WORLD OF JUST FOR YOU LTD
(English Just for You, s.r.o.) ✔
Wrightson Urquhart spol. s r.o. ✔
Zlatý Lihovar, a.s.
Associate members
ABR Top Management Coaching and Training ✔
Control Risks
Cool Milk at School Ltd
Czechpoint
ekologika
Icon Photography Ltd.
Kingsley Squire International Limited
Lans G. D. Engineering Limited
Macquarie Capital G.m.b.H. ✔
Real Communication Ltd ✔
Regency Asset Management Ltd
Texane Ltd.
Trade & Invest Communications Ltd.
Individual members
Australian Trade Commission ✔
Casimaty, Peter
Tremblay, Lyne-Marie ✔
* New Members are listed in bold
✔ Members who have signed the ‘Rules of Conduct’

EASTER BRUNCH
Excellent way to celebrate
the Easter holidays
Sunday, April 8 th
12.00 -15.30 p.m.
945 CZK per person,
including welcome drink and Easter giveaway package,
egg painting and Easter decoration
Brasserie Praha
Opening hours
Breakfast: 6.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
Lunch and Dinner: 12.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m.
Reservations: 222 881 212
Prague Marriott Hotel
V Celnici 8, Prague 1
www.marriottprague.com
CZECH
CUISINE NOUVELLE
Savour traditional Czech dishes presented
in a light contemporary fashion.
U korbele | Opening hours
11.00 a.m. – 1.00 a.m.
Reservations: 222 822 433
Brasserie Praha
Opening hours
Breakfast: 6.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
Lunch and Dinner: 12.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m.
Reservations: 222 881 212
Renaissance Prague Hotel
V Celnici 7, Prague 1
www.renaissanceprague.com
Prague Marriott Hotel
V Celnici 8, Prague 1
www.marriottprague.com

Provident Financial a společenská odpovědnost
Zpráva
o společenské odpovědnosti za rok 2005
Provident Financial s.r.o.
Česká republika
Provident Financial s.r.o. je společností, která se snaží
o rovnováhu mezi podnikáním a etickými principy.
Jako společensky odpovědná firma se neomezuje jen
na vydávání každoročních výročních zpráv o výsledcích
hospodaření. Již podruhé zveřejnila také vlastní
Zprávu o společenské odpovědnosti. Tím se v České republice
zařadila mezi průkopnické společnosti, které se takovou
zprávu rozhodly vydávat pravidelně.
Důležitou součástí Zprávy o společenské odpovědnosti Provident Financial s.r.o. je hodnocení a komentář externí společnosti The Corporate Citizenship
Company (TCCC) se sídlem ve Velké Británii, zabývající se poradenstvím v oblasti řízení společenské odpovědnosti firem. Zpráva Provident Financial s.r.o.
byla TCCC ohodnocena jako jedna z nejlepších vydávaných na českém trhu. A nejen to. V rámci soutěže Top firemní filantrop 2006 se společnost Provident
Financial s.r.o. umístila na 18. místě v konkurenci 50 firem v objemu darovaných prostředků na společensky prospěšné aktivity, a to s částkou převyšující
sedm miliónů korun.
Nejvýznamnější aktivitou poslední doby bylo v tomto směru slavnostní setkání v pražském Rudolfinu v lednu tohoto roku, na kterém na dvacet devět neziskových
organizací dostalo ocenění Provident Financial s.r.o. „Společnost, která má srdce“ za svou charitativní činnost. Na setkání v Rudolfinu, uspořádaném
u příležitosti desetiletého působení Provident Financial s.r.o. v České republice, tato společnost představila formou video bloků všechny své partnerské
neziskové organizace. Slavnostního setkání se vedle zaměstnanců společnosti a jejich rodinných příslušníků zúčastnili zástupci významných neziskových
organizací a veřejné správy. Pozvání přijali i VIP hosté jako Chantal Poullain za nadaci Archa Chantal a Ing. Zuzana Baudyšová za nadaci Naše dítě.
Slavnostní novoroční setkání s neziskovými organizacemi.
Zaměstnanci Providentu vysázeli v rámci akce Suchopýr téměř 1 ha lesa.