Shop Goes Global Tells the Meaningful Story

¶ … Shop Goes Global" tells the meaningful story of the tenacity, beneficial opportunism and importance of capitalism. The article opens memorably, discussing one of the most historical moments of the 20th century -- the destruction and removal of the Berlin Wall. While the eradication of the Berlin wall symbolized many things to many people, for the most part it symbolized the unraveling of communist rule in Eastern Europe. And the unraveling of communist rule in Eastern Europe meant opportunities for all -- not just opportunities for citizens of Eastern Europe, but for everyone, because the 20th century demonstrated how the world was becoming more and more of a global society. The article tells the story of Paul Panitz, an American who went to a government-run copy center in Budapest, which was apparently one of the very few copy centers in Hungary at all; however this was no surprise. As the article aptly explains, "In Communist countries the last thing the government had wanted was for ordinary people to have access to a means of sharing information."

The following is one of the key elements of capitalism: Panitz saw a need and thus an opportunity. Furthermore, the fact that the idea came to him while he was visiting a government run copy shop can help one assume that the copy shop was dreary and perhaps difficult to use and perhaps even had long lines, as government run agencies aren't always synonymous with efficiency. This presented yet another opportunity -- the opportunity to provide not only a more widespread service, but a more pleasant overall experience, one can assume. Panitz, upon returning home contacted two qualified friends who would be beneficial to going into business with (Chaletzsky and Holscher) and they all began the arduous attempt to open this business in a country which was still organized in an extremely community manner.

The multiple attempts and tenacity of this team to open up what would be a flourishing business, demonstrate how driven they were to succeed -- in a nation that was particularly inhospitable to entrepreneurs, particularly foreign entrepreneurs. One can assume that part of the reason this team was so driven to achieve this objective was that (apart from the lucrative appeals of the endeavor) what they were attempting to accomplish was fundamentally unraveling the legacy of communism. This team of men was attempting to help empower the people so that they could stay informed and easily transmit information. It was a simple, yet noble task. This objective signifies that all members of the team simply had a greater understanding of what was at stake and how they wanted to address it: it demonstrated that they were in sync with what the people wanted and what their needs were. For instance, when Panitz brought his team over to Budapest to work, he made sure that they weren't staying in an extravagant hotel that cost per night what many of their team of natives/locals made in an entire month. Instead Panitz secured his team an apartment in the working-class section of Budapest. As the author of the article explains, this move alone signified what the corporate culture of copy general was going to be like. However, such a move also demonstrates that Panitz had extremely gifted skills with people. He understood how people thought and what motivated them. This no doubt had a hand in the success of this business overseas.