Jan - British Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Events Calendar
Mark in Your Diaries
FEBRUARY
MARKETING SEMINAR
(date to be confirmed)
PATRON’S DINNER
21 February
PUB MIXER
(date to be confirmed)
MARCH
LEADERSHIP IN A CHANGING
ENVIRONMENT
(date to be confirmed)
25 EUROPEAN STARS
AT DIPLOMAT MIXER
22 March
‘BEING A BOARD DIRECTOR’
ROUNDTABLE
(date to be confirmed)
MARK IN YOUR DIARY!
‘BRITISH BUSINESS IN THE
CZECH REPUBLIC’ CONFERENCE
London, 24 April
www.britishchamber.cz
advantages, company reputation and welfare
and codes of conduct.
Managers of British firms emphasised
the importance of considering the longterm
prospects of a business. �at was why
most of them deemed unethical practice
detrimental in the long run. 4/5 of British
managers believed this in contrast half of
the Czech managers. In addition a lower
proportion of British managers considered
corruption a competitive advantage. British
managers felt that loss of reputation was
a very damaging for the welfare of any
business. Only war on home soil outranked
this in terms of perceived risk and damage.
Codes of ethics were deemed more
important for the British than for the Czechs.
Although the British also differentiated
between “good” and “bad” corruption in
relation to whether it aided or hindered
BCC Info
Join the Board of Directors
�is year’s Annual General Meeting will be
held on �ursday, 18th May at 6.30 p.m. in
the offices of KPMG, Pobřežní 1a, Praha 8.
Now is a good time to invite those
members who are interested in playing a role
in the development of the British Chamber
of Commerce to put their names forward
for membership of the BCC Board. �is
year there are four places available.
Membership of the Board of Directors
is a voluntary position and the candidates
should be prepared to commit a minimum
of one year to this function, but ideally
a full election term which is three years.
Board members need to be able to attend
as many of the monthly Board Meetings
as possible and to give some of their time
(estimated at least 10 hours a month) to the
continuing development of the Chamber.
All candidates must have a current Czech
visa (short term residence) or have permanent
Czech residence. �e key responsibilities of
the Board members are:
• To continue implementing the existing
strategy and activities in 2006
• To contribute to the development of the
Chamber by identifying new activities/
initiatives beneficial to the membership
• To represent the Chamber during
various events organised by the Chamber
and other institutions
• To maintain contact with the Chamber
members
• To encourage potential members to join
�e candidates should have experience with
the Czech market and business environment,
good strategic thinking and be goal oriented.
�e Chamber Board operates on the
basis of activity areas; each of the board
members is responsible for one specific area.
�e Chamber executive office provides the
a company, they were stricter with regards
to its treatment. Half of the British
respondents believed unethical conduct,
though the company benefited, should be
punished.
According to half of the interviewees
the situation in the Czech Republic is
comparable to that found in many of the new
EU members states and former Eastern
Bloc countries. �e older EU member states
have a very good reputation concerning
Board with full support and is responsible
for the implementation of all approved
plans/initiatives and events. Details on
the chamber activities and their scope are
provided on www.britishchamber.cz.
All candidates will be introduced to
the membership during a Pre-AGM Mixer
organised by the Chamber for this purpose
two weeks before the AGM.
If you are interested in working with
the Board of Directors, please contact the
Chamber office. �e current Board members
and the Executive Director are prepared to
meet with you to discuss in detail the work
of a Board Director. Please bear in mind
that nominations for membership of the
Board of Directors must be received by the
BCC Executive Director by 3rd May.
�is year we intend to attract as many
voters as possible to ensure a fair and
balanced result. Please also remember
the following rules set by the Articles of
Association:
• a Member entitled to attend and vote
at the Annual General Meeting shall be
represented by an Individual Member
(in the case of individual membership) or
by one of its nominated representatives
(in the case of Corporate Membership)
• No Member shall be entitled to vote or
be elected unless it has paid its dues in full.
• Members are entitled to appoint a proxy
to attend and vote at the Annual General
Meeting, or proxy votes can be sent directly
to the Chamber offices prior to the AGM.
A proxy form will be circulated to all
members together with the List of Nominees
two weeks prior to the AGM.
Renata Scharfová
director@britcham.cz
business ethics. 70% of interviewees thought
that conditions were better than in the Czech
Republic, and 2/3 of the interviewees
claimed that firms from these countries
behave in an ethical way.
If you wish to join the BCC CR ‘Corporate
Social Responsibility Working Group’,
please contact Executive Director Renata
Scharfová at director@britcham.cz.
Transparency International – Czech Republic will present the survey results jointly with their
long-term project Viva Etika at a seminar held in cooperation with PricewaterhouseCoopers
and the British Embassy. The seminar, titled ‘Two Faces of Unethical Behaviour in the Czech
Business Environment’, is targeted mainly towards representatives of the private sector.
It will take place on 1st March at the offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Prague.
BCC – Working for a better business environment