International Business Project: The Czech Republic

International Business Project: The Czech Republic

International Business Project: The Czech Republic

Introduction

The Czech Republic is a small, landlocked country located in Central Europe, southeast of Germany, bordered by Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. Slightly smaller than South Carolina, the Czech Republic covers 78.866 square kilometers (sq km): 77,276 sq km of land and 1,590 sq km of water.

Following the First World War, the closely related Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire merged cultures to form Czechoslovakia. During the interwar years, the country's leaders were frequently preoccupied with meeting the demands of other ethnic minorities within the republic, most notably the Sudeten Germans and the Ruthenians (Ukrainians).

After World War II, a truncated Czechoslovakia fell under the control of the Soviet Union. An unsuccessful invasion by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968 ended any efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize the Communist party’s rule and create "socialism with a human face." As anti-Soviet demonstrations continued, a period of harsh repression was ushered in by the Soviets.

With the collapse of Soviet Union in 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its freedom through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution." On January 1, 1993, the country underwent what historians have termed a "velvet divorce" and divided into two national components: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 1999, the Czech Republic became a member of NATO was accessioned into the European Union in 2004.

Of the ≈10.2 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic, most are ethnically and linguistically Czech (95%). Other ethnicities include Germans, Roma, and Poles. After the 1993 division of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, some Slovaks remained in the Czech Republic, comprising roughly 3% of the current population. Laws establishing religious freedom