Project managers are responsible for ensuring that the organizations that they are working for have smooth translations when the organizations that they are working for want to move to a new country. The success of the organization depends on the skills of the project managers in ensuring that the organizations are successful. Project management ensures that organizations follow the relevant regulations to be allowed to operate in a foreign country. Before running a company in Germany, there are set regulations that the company is supposed to comply with before being allowed to operate. The laws ensure that the organizations abide by the wishes of the people of Germany. The German rules are aligned to the values of the people and the government plan.

The German people and the government is passionate about new organizations and companies that add value to the economy and the welfare of the people as well. The project manager carries the vision of the organizations that they represent, and therefore they need to convince the relevant authorities that allow new companies in Germany (Germany Trade and Investment, 2019). There are some areas of the economy where the law does not allow foreign companies to operate in Germany. Companies offering such services are not allowed to operate because the aspirations of such companies do not conform with the believes and the aspirations of the people (Binder, 2016). The German constitution has sectors of the economy that do not allow foreign companies to operate in Germany. The project managers need to survey to determine whether the company that they represent will be allowed to operate in Germany.

The implementation of a project in a foreign country entails a lot of activities, and the activities are meant to ensure that no factor is left out that might influence the operations and success of the company in a foreign country (Germany Trade and Investment, 2019). The project manager oversees the implementation of the company in Germany such as setting up. There are a lot of activities that are involved in the implementation of the project which includes following up the requirement of setting up a company in Germany. The application might consist of the company acquiring premises where it will operate from and the resources that it will require while undertaking its activities. Some of the resources that the company will need might require importation to Germany.

There are different areas that the project managers need to consider while facilitating the incorporation of a company to Germany. Germany follows specific guidelines when it comes to considering the companies that they will allow to operate and run their activities in Germany (Binder, 2016). Among the areas that the project managers include the legal/political factors that may influence and determine whether the company will be allowed to run their operations in Germany or not. There are set laws that guide companies and organization on what they need to do. There are licenses that the government issues after all the requirements are met as proof that the company is allowed to operate.

There is general law requires that every company is allowed to meet and specific law requirement depending on the industry and the type of services that the company. One of the purposes of the laws is to ensure that the company does not offer illegal service and products that are not allowed in Germany (Schoper, Wald, Ingason, & Fridgeirsson, 2018). The laws ensure that the activities of the company are genuine and legitimate in terms of offering quality services and products to the people. The services and products that the company offers to meet the standards set. The laws also facilitate taxation of the company once the company started operating in Germany. Some of the policies require a specific type of companies such as the manufacturing companies need the companies to operate in certain areas. The project manager is responsible for ensuring that the all law requirement is met for the company to be allowed to operate in Germany.

Different laws are set to ensure that foreign companies are controlled in terms of the activities that they engage in. The project manager should ensure that the company they represent is compliant with all the laws that are set (Schoper, Wald, Ingason, & Fridgeirsson, 2018). The German market is open to foreign investment as long as the company follows the law. The project manager represents the interests of the company; therefore he/she need to prioritize the interests of the company they represent. Once the project manager follows the law and meets all the requirement on behalf of the company, then the company will not face challenges setting up and operating in Germany.

The other factor that is very important and the project manager need to emphasize is on matters of security. The German laws are sensitive about the safety of the people in terms of the activities of other companies that are allowed to operate in Germany. The security means that the company is compliant with all the laws to guarantee the public that the activities of the companies do not risk the lives of the people. This means that the activities of the company do not affect the people living in areas around the company. The project manager needs to ensure that the activities that the company engage in. One measure that the project manager take is carrying out an evaluation such as an environmental study to ensure that the activities of the company do not put the lives of the people into danger.

Infrastructure is an important aspect to consider when conducting business may it be locally or internationally. Germany has a challenge especially for transportation of heavy materials because the bridges are old with some of them ripping off and others ad breaking (Audretsch, Heger, & Veith, 2015). Traffic jam is another aspect that should be evaluated keenly because every business requires infrastructure to transport both raw materials as well as the finished goods. Poor infrastructure is attributed to a lack of investment in the sector. The government is, however, is investing in the construction of roads, railways, bridges, and waterways.

Project managers should budget for alternative means of transport such as air and water before venturing into the business. The country’s air transport is developed with the World best airlines such as Lufthansa (Audretsch, Heger, & Veith, 2015). Marine transport is also developed with ports such as Kiel, Rostock, and Luebeck. If the business venture is industrial the project will have to consider the accessibility of raw materials and the supply of energy. For this reason, the manager should consider setting up the business near the ports where the supply of raw materials, as well as coal, is adequate.

Where the activities of the company risk the lives of the people, then the company faces the risk of being closed down and being sued for their activities. The other related issue is that the company will be required to produce goods and offer quality services that do not risk the lives of the people by producing substandard products and services. The goods produced by the company will be subjected to quality checks regularly to ensure that the company is providing quality goods that are not a risk to the people. The project manager is responsible for all the activities that take place within the company; hence they should ensure that the products meet the quality standards. The users of the products should be guaranteed in terms of security and quality of the product. Also, the company needs to have a secure working environment for the employees, and it’s a requirement of the law in Germany that all the companies need to provide a safe environment for their employees.

The project manager needs to identify the skills and strengths of different employees to delegate the roles to employees based on their skills and competencies. The manager understands the employees more; hence they are in a better position of assigning roles depending on the competencies of the employees; thus the company will be successful. Also when it comes to prioritizing roles, the project manager carries the vision of the company. The manager needs to prioritise the roles that need to be implemented first. Some activities involved in a company are not of much importance; hence they need to allow other activities that are more important to the company. The more activities that are better dealt with before others for the success of the organization.

Many activities take place in case the company set up a branch in Germany, and the activities need someone to oversee them and ensure that the objective and goal of the company is achieved. The activities that the company engages in should be legal in Germany. Some of the activities that are legal in other countries might not necessarily mean that the activities are legal in Germany. The project manager should ensure that the activities that the company or the organization will be doing in Germany are legal. According to the German laws the project manager is responsible for all activities that take place within the company, and therefore they will be held accountable.

International projects are challenging to manage; therefore the project manager needs to be qualified enough and be competent to run the organizations. There are also requirements that managers need to have before being allowed to manage companies in Germany (Germany Trade and Investment, 2019). They need to be people of the same reputation and have a history of conducting themselves responsibly. The German values believe that if the project managers have bad habits, they are more likely to influence their employees. Such personnel is required to present certifications that they are people of good reputation.

Project managers face various challenges while they are setting up their base in Germany; the manager needs to overcome the challenges for the companies and organizations that they represent to be successful (Coface, 2018). The challenges come because Germany offers a different environment of working that is not similar to the mother country where the company operated before. The companies face challenges before they settle in Germany, the project managers need to carry out the feasibility study to determine the challenges likely to be faced and the solutions to the challenges.

Among the challenges likely to be faced in Germany include cultural differences. Culture is a significant factor that influences the people and the things that they value and love. The services or the product that the company offers in Germany must be culturally acceptable by the people (Coface, 2018). When people accept the service being provided, then they will purchase the services of the product being offered. The cultural dimensions include what people like and love. People cannot go against the cultural dimensions to purchase items and services that are viewed against the belief and acceptable behavior of the people (Deresky, 2017). Some services offered in other countries might not be acceptable in Germany because of cultural differences.

The other challenge that the project manager is likely to face is the language challenge, and the German language is not spoken in other countries; therefore, people from other countries might not be knowing the German language (Coface, 2018). The team that will be working in Germany once the company sets up base in Germany need to learn the language that they will be used in Germany to have a common understanding with the people. Learning the language make the locals in Germany view the service providers as one of their own and hence they will procure the services and the products. Where the project manager does not know the language, they will not be able to communicate with the locals and hence making it hard for the company to offer their services to the German people.

Setting up companies in Germany is also challenging in terms of fulfilling the law requirements that are set by the state. The German government has set up laws that foreign companies that set up branches in Germany are supposed to follow (Coface, 2018). Companies cannot be allowed to operate without following all the rules that are set in place for foreign companies. The laws are meant to ensure that no illegal companies or illegal operating businesses are allowed to operate in the country. Some sectors of the economy are protected by the state to help the local companies from stiff foreign competition. Where the industry is regulated from an outside entrance, then such companies cannot be allowed to operate in Germany. The feasibility study will make the project manager know whether offering such services and products to avoid the challenge and loss of finances as the company tries to set up a new branch in Germany.

The project manager also needs to understand the challenge of competition when opening a branch in Germany. Some local companies in Germany get government subsidies and exemption when it comes to being supported by the states to offer their services at favorable prices.  The companies might get stiff competition such that it will be unable to due competition. The competition will make foreign company incur losses and finally become unable to operate. The project manager should be in a position to tell based on the feasibility study conducted.

There are also things that need to convince the project manager that the decision of opening a branch in Germany is the right decision. The company must have seen the need for the services or the products that they offer in Germany. The need is what prompts the company to open a branch in Germany to offer the services and earn a profit. Where there is no need the company is at the risk of making profit, the product or the services that the company is offering will not be purchased, and therefore they will lose money.

The other challenge that the company is likely to face is expensive operational costs more than what the company projected. Huge operational will make the company incur losses and finally close down when the company is unable to operate in Germany. The increase in operational costs might come in the form of taxes that the company will pay to the government and the costs of running the company in Germany. Operational costs are not the same from one country to the other and hence the difference. For the company to survive the operations, the expense that the company incurs must be less than the profit that the company makes.

The company needs to understand the strengths that it has that will make it have a competitive advantage over other companies that are already operating in Germany. The advantage may be in terms of the quality of the products that they offer or the uniqueness of the product in terms of satisfying the needs of the customer. The strength of the company is what will help the company before it builds its customer base. Also, the company might be offering a product that has not been provided in Germany before. Where the company provides similar products with those offered in the market, it faces challenges in getting its market.

The German economy will also determine the success of any company, and the economy reflects the ability of the ability of the people to purchase the goods and services offered by the company (Germany Trade and Investment, 2019). When the economy is doing well means that the people have money; hence there is a high likelihood of them purchasing the items that the company will be selling. Poor economies mean that there are no opportunities for the people that the need to earn money that they can spend. Such economies it’s not advisable for foreign companies to invest because there is less likelihood that the companies will get returns for their money invested.

The risks that the project manager takes while opening a branch of a company in Germany is that the company. The skills that the project manager will have gained over the years are supposed to help him or her to face the challenges that the company will face once it set up in Germany. All the activities that take place in an organization in terms of projects, the company is the one responsible for ensuring that they are running smoothly. If the project manager miss manages the company, then the company will close down because the resources of the company will be lost. The skills of the project manager will determine the success of any company, he/she carries the vision of the company, and therefore he/she is responsible for ensuring that the vision of the company is achieved.

The advantage of any company opening a branch in another country is that the companies increase the profit that the company earns. The branch in a foreign country will make the company increase the customer base that the company services. However, the company needs to be careful not to invest its resources where it does not have a high likelihood of getting a return on investment. The German government expects foreign companies to comply with all the regulations that are set in place to ensure that the interests of the people are protected. The government promotes foreign companies to invest in the country in order to promote the economy of the country. Foreign companies bring new opportunities to the people; hence they will promote the people.

References

Audretsch, D. B., Heger, D., & Veith, T. (2015). Infrastructure and entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 44(2), 219-230.

Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. Routledge.

Briney, A. (2017, 03 17). Thought Co. Retrieved from thoughtco.com: https://www.thoughtco.com/geography-of-germany-1434929

Coface. (2018, 07). Global Edge. Retrieved from Global Edge: https://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/germany/risk

Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. Pearson Education India.

Germany Trade and Innvestment. (2019, 02 07). Germany Trade and Innvestment. Retrieved from https://www.gtai.de/GTAI/Navigation/EN/Invest/Investment-guide/The-legal-framework/planning-and-building,t=building-permits,did=6834.html

Germany VISA. (2019, 02 07). Germany VIsa. Retrieved from https://www.germany-visa.org/working-germany-getting-german-work-permit/

Internations.org is a site that explains the safety of Germany and the most likely crime you will encounter. This will help the project manager keep himself and workers safe while working in Germany.

internations.org. (2019). internations.org. Retrieved from internations.org Safety and Security: https://www.internations.org/germany-expats/guide/29460-safety-security

Passport to Trade 2.0. (2019). Business Etiquette: Passport to Trade 2.0. Retrieved from Passport to Trade 2.0: https://businessculture.org/western-europe/business-culture-in-germany/business-etiquette-in-germany/

Schoper, Y. G., Wald, A., Ingason, H. T., & Fridgeirsson, T. V. (2018). Projectification in Western economies: A comparative study of Germany, Norway, and Iceland. International Journal of Project Management, 36(1), 71-82.