Microsoft honcho Steve Ballmer's visit to the Czech lands yesterday and his much-heralded speech at Prague's Economics University just goes to show you that it doesn't take Einstein-like ingenuity to (still) make a killing in Cesko.

Erik Best said it, um...best, this morning in his resounding Final Word "...that CEE countries are 'much more open to modern technologies' than the U.S. or W. Europe...because they still play by the rules that Microsoft understands." Translated into Crass, my second-strongest language, it means that whatever no longer passes muster on the other side of the Pond -- for reasons of antitrust, corporate malfeasance, or other fishy business practices -- can successfully be pressed into speedy service over here in the Developing World. Note to all carpetbagging foreign investors...Cesko's still open for business.

But there's a silver lining to all of this: to succeed in Emerging Europe's small- and medium-sized business milieu isn't any big shakes.

Have a close look at some of the business models firing on all cylinders in more established economies, for example, and just press it into service here. Presto! Tweak for local variables, linguistic differences, cultural sensitivities, and the like, and your likelihood of making a mini-killing is highly likely.

As for me, I walk around the city and keep a small blue journal of several opportunity areas which have yet to be fully examined...dare I say, exploited. I'm talking about businesses that can still deliver sizable benefits to our local population -- especially in urban areas. To implement these with any degree of success would require the enterprising individual in question to do the following:

** bring a local sherpa on board to assist during the implementation and rollout phases of the project only -- not during product or service development.

The reason you don't want to bring in a local during the development or drafting phases is because you'll only encounter negative responses of the "that simply can't be done here," or "we don't do things like that here" variety. At the outset, this can only slay your forward thrust, and we all know how much energy it takes to bust through the stratosphere. My personal experience with this in connection with my own businesses has proven to be true.

Proof of concept, by the way, is in the tens of other firms now thriving beyond the most conservative of expectations in the Czech Republic -- just mosey on down Prague's Na Prikope street and see for yourself. This, despite the most strident of protestations shortly after Wall Fall.

** delivery mechanisms will kill you; not your business model or your overall conceptualization.

Take, for instance, the DVD-by-mail business in the Czech Republic. Notwithstanding the torrent-teeefing that's only slated to rise in synch with the proliferation of broadband connections in Czech homes and businesses, think about how the postal service here, Ceska posta, can put a quick damper on such a business.

Without a suitable standard-sized postage-paid envelope -- a la Netflix in the US -- sent along with each and every mailed DVD, the distribution channel for the "Czech Netflix" comes to a screeching halt. If C.P. is unwilling to collaborate closely and effectively with the DVD-by-mail entrepreneur in the design of a customized mail product for clients, it doesn't matter how reliable is your source of supply for DVD product. The whole effort is for naught.

** the spread of credit cards (not debit!) in most post-communist countries makes online shopping for products and services radically simpler.

I've keep a growing short list of potentially lucrative business ideas which I'd seen working well abroad, and whose time has come for Cesko. What's more, the local culture here is such that Czechs pay their various obligations in a timely fashion (compare to Romanians, for example), not to mention having become increasingly familiar with the time value of money, delayed payments, and card loyalty programs. Baiscally, if you've got a sound business model which involves payment processing, PayPal, credit clearance, a tzv., the future looks bright for you.

In short, why reinvent the wheel when we still haven't yet laid the asphalt it's going to roll on?

Wishing you the best of things for the weekend,
ADM