Cultural Differences in International Business Negotiations'w#Y5Q/I'h1s#D
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Abstract: With economic globalization and China??s entry into WTO, commercial contacts among various countries are bound to be increasingly substantial. How to negotiate with people from different cultural backgrounds and who come to work with different work-related values effectively? In short, at no time in history has there been so great a need for international business negotiation skills
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/s-])?)]*k-B9W'u6BFOB Business ForumKey words: Culture differences   International business   Negotiation  %O'B$_6r#g4x-Y8M.O6^

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With economic globalization and China??s entry into WTO, commercial contacts among various countries are bound to be increasingly substantial. Gradually, negotiation among people who come from different cultural backgrounds has become a universal issue that arouses concern among people in different countries. A great number of multinational corporations and international companies have been mushrooming in our country. The fast changing international economic environment brings domestic corporations great business chances and challenges. How to negotiate with people from different cultural backgrounds and who come to work with different work-related values effectively? Misunderstanding gives rise to conflict and dispute. Hence, enhancing cross-cultural sensitivity as well as improving cross-cultural negotiation and cooperation becomes crucially important. In short, at no time in history has there been so great a need for international business negotiation skills5d F)N'R8G1j3j
Culture is a dynamic, multidimensional, complex, and all-pervasive phenomenon. Clearly, no shortage of definitions of this concept exists. As history keeps moving forward, so does culture. The part of culture at the base of the iceberg that is deeply rooted in a nation??s tradition and ideology resists to any changes. It??s this relative stability of the core aspect of culture that unifies and makes each culture unique, and that makes it possible to discuss the varieties of culture. Different value orientations exert great impact on perception of leadership, ways of management, and process of decision-making as well as on negotiations.
$p2@'q#w0s6R*a+V7m$qThis article analyzes the impacts of cultural differences on international business negotiations. During negotiation, culture difference is one of the factors that have important impacts on business negotiations. The failure of international business negotiation has seriously affected the smooth progress of exchanges. forum.fobshanghai.com/H2k*h%S"R6i#}&Q3|2Z
1. Culture and International business negotiations [A Professional Business Forum]7N1e.F(A0b8o4`!q'm'C6Y
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1.1 Characteristics of culture 0T"m:E3z(P1U6q+W9h*I3a
Regardless of how many definitions of culture we could have examined, there would have been a great deal of agreement concerning the four major characteristics of culture. Being aware of these characteristics will help one become a better communicator. One can notice the strong connection between culture and communication. That is to say, communication and negotiation are deeply affected by culture.
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7z*[5T.K9L6q"h.H.}3~forum.fobshanghai.com1.2 An introduction to business negotiations [A Professional Business Forum]%A){.U"I"H#z0]'b
Negotiation is a kind of basic human activity that we are involved everyday. It is a process of giving and taking where both parties modify their offers and expectations in order to come closer to each other. It occurs on one of the two reasons: (1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own, or (2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties3. A modern definition of negotiation widely accepted is two or more parties with common and conflicting interests who enter into a process of interaction with the goal of reaching an agreement (preferably of mutual benefit). "n'?'t3a!U.@%j
Business negotiation refers to the negotiation that takes place in the business world and deals with business relationship. Business negotiation may be understood as encounters between firms (or economic organizations) with the goal of reaching agreements to gain economic benefits. forum.fobshanghai.com!g6W'@6Z.U)l:V*{7b
In international business settings, the development of the negotiation process and how parties perceive the relationship are crucial. This process is influenced by some facts and factors beyond the negotiation process in question. Cultural difference is one of the most important factors. Culture is a major determinant of strategies and tactics in international business negotiations, because negotiations involve communication, time, and power and these variables differ across cultures. Cultural differences create a challenge to the negotiators involved, and demand understanding as well as flexibility. An ability to assess these differences and properly handle the consequences is essential for success in international business negotiations.
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[ Last edited by crystalxl at 2008-6-3 07:40 ]

2. Cultural differences in international business negotiation
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In international business settings, the development of the negotiation process and how parties perceive the relationship are crucial. This process is influenced by some facts and factors beyond the negotiation process in question. Cultural difference is one of the most important factors. Culture is a major determinant of strategies and tactics in international business negotiations, because negotiations involve communication, time, and power and these variables differ across cultures. Cultural differences create a challenge to the negotiators involved, and demand understanding as well as flexibility. An ability to assess these differences and properly handle the consequences is essential for success in international business negotiations.
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2.1 Personal space
T1s7s.v;D8}'Jbusiness forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil businessOur Personal space, that piece of the universe we occupy is contained within an invisible boundary surrounding our body. Edward Hall??s work has demonstrated clearly that cultures differ substantially in their use of personal space. Cultures that stress individualism generally demand more space than do communal cultures. FOB Business Forum&h+d"S"n1m*?
A culture??s use of space is directly linked to its value system. For example, in Western countries husband and wife share their personal space, they walk side by side in the street, but in Arab countries, husband always walk ahead of their wives, even at the dinner table, husband and wife do not sit together. In those countries, a man??s personal space is his alone. FOB Business Forum8W0S,n,M)N&W
In some Middle Eastern and Asia countries, you will see it is very crowed in buses, banks and other public places, for these cultures demand very little society distance. They have unique orientations towards space and privacy. A mixing of these orientations can cause communication problems. In China, many public places such as bank has ?¡ãone meter line?¡À, but Chinese don??t always pay attention to it. If a Western is in front of you in a bank, you pass the ?¡ãone meter line?¡À and are close to him or her. You may cause a misunderstanding, you will be said to invade his personal space. 0L*}$X8X8V9a'h.Z

3y!o#O0M3q"e+i!kFOB Business Forum2.2 Time orientation business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business*S1o$];B*E.E
Time orientation refers to some cultures?? preference for a long-term or a short-term outlook on life and work (Rouses, 2002). Some cultures are much more future-oriented than others. For example, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan have a future orientation. At the other end of the continuum we find those such as Pakistan and some West African cultures where the focus is more present and past-oriented than oriented towards the future. These cultures tend to have a great respect for tradition. Canada, Germany, and the United States are in the middle. Compared to North Americana the British tend to emphasize the past much more. [A Professional Business Forum]0W8P6c;k+p-N,i'U
Time has other dimensions, too. Time has been characterized by Hall (1987) as either monochromic or polychromic. ?¡ãMonochromic time?¡À refers to the preference in some cultures for only doing one thing at a time. ?¡ãPolychromic time?¡À, on the other hand, refers doing or paying attention to many things at once (Rouses, 2002).
-y!g!B"?1A'U1?forum.fobshanghai.comIn cultures characterized as monochromic, time is assumed to be linear. It is like an arrow, straight and clearly pointing in one direction. Time is divided into segments that can be modularized and scheduled so that only one thing needs to be handled at one time. Any change or turbulence in this sequence will make the sequential person more uncertain. Time is perceived as a resource that can be spent and saved, wasted or lost，and lateness deprives the other of precious minutes in a world where ?¡ãtime is money?¡À. Many western cultures such as those of Germany, Canada, the United States and the Scandinavian countries tend to be predominantly monochromic cultures. For example, Americans tend to make their schedules very tight, squeezing a lot of activities into thin time slots. It is rude to be even a few minutes late because the whole day??s schedule of events is affected.
-v.I6O+N.p[A Professional Business Forum]Polychromic cultures perceive time in the opposite way. People hold a cyclical view of time and conduct various activities in parallel. Many things can and do happen at the same time. They tend to put more importance on completing their current business or communication than in terminating it abruptly in order to start the next. Plans change frequently and relatively easily compared to monochromic cultures. Many Latin American cultures are characterized by a tendency towards polychromic time. Interestingly, according to Hall and Hall (1987), Japanese culture tends to be divided between monochromic time that is used when dealing with foreigners, and polychromic time that is invoked when dealing with other Japanese.
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(|*])?+\$k }+})J)[2.3 Interpersonal relationship
%f$j-n6N9bThis cultural dimension deals with the manner in which people ?¡ãpresent?¡À themselves to others. On the negotiating table, Chinese people, as they put a strong emphasis on maintaining relationships, are expected to be particularly motivated to protect face of others as well as be concerned that their own face be accepted. Given this sensitivity, they seek harmony and communicate that they respect partners as capable and worthy. Their collectivism in general and their understanding of social face lead them to be hesitant about engaging in aggressive interaction that may challenge the face of others. They regard conflict and confrontation as unpleasant and undesirable. So they want to avoid conflict and, once engaged, use compromise and accommodation to deal with conflict. On the other hand, the people of the United States, value frankness and freedom of expression. For example, American culture is known for its assertive and aggressive communication style because it has a long history of valuing non-conformity, individualism, competition, and freedom of expression is bound to encourage assertive behavior. FOB Business Forum3u-n#m*M'T#J
During negotiation, if conflict arises, aggressive behavior from either party can damage the face of the other. Not giving face to a person is perceived as denying that person??s pride and dignity.In addition, the adoption of ?¡ãface-giving?¡À and ?¡ãface-saving?¡À behaviors in conflict situations is valued as a means to maintain a sense of harmony.

3. Factors of cultural differences in International business negotiations  FOB Business Forum/s:d*t.m/O6I2E'K:C

T7^/j1g)B6r#O[A Professional Business Forum]The culture restricts the behavior and manner of enterprises?? international business negotiations and their method and means for controlling the progress of the negotiation. In International business negotiations, culture plays an important part in terms of values, language and thought patterns.
7`2d5n6s/\business forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil businessFirstly, values are one of the most important factors. The first dimension is individualism and collectivism which describes the relationship between the individual and the collectivity that prevails in a given society. They impact the negotiators?? thinking, methods and patterns of negotiation, as well as the result of the negotiations.FOB Business Forum m/u X)R"M1O2U!?0W E
Secondly, language is the basic tool of the negotiation. It impacts the negotiation in terms of verbal and nonverbal language. The high and low-context orientations influence the whole process of the negotiation. Adding the nonverbal language factor, the three factors resolve the success of the negotiation.
3Q-z&H-`4|$b[A Professional Business Forum]The last but not the least is the thought patterns, which are termed ways of thinking. Under the same circumstances, each individual in one culture may think in a slightly different way on the same question. Furthermore, the same individual may also think in a slight different way in the same question under different circumstances. It concludes linear and linkage thought patterns. They make impacts on negotiating styles and the result of the negotiation. Therefore, it is somewhat important to localize international business negotiations, learn to think on the side of others, and promote mutual understanding. Through the elimination of cultural barriers, the favorable cultural conditions can be created by the concerned efforts so that business negotiations can be effectively carried out.
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8q!p&_/N7j#R.K)W:o7[[A Professional Business Forum]4．How to negotiation and to deal with cultural differences in negotiationforum.fobshanghai.com'T)u+b%I+[

#v&J1d7a/i9z&r,A-DAccording to the culture of different countries adopt different strategies in the international business negotiations, in order to ensure that negotiations can be expected to achieve, decision-making must based on cultural differences. Through International business, we found that cultural differences is diverse, why are many, and sometimes conflict is inevitable, and how to use these cultural differences, how to reduce conflicts, how to achieve our objective, we need to become the center of discussion in business negotiations, if we fully understand the cultural differences and reasonable use in the appropriate occasions, then we will receive greater benefits, at the same time we are know from these sample, as a qualified member of the negotiations, not only by the need to know the contents of the negotiations, on their own behavior, language should be stricter requirements, but also understand each other's behavior, this is beneficial for the negotiations, we should make full preparations before negotiations, Negotiations to improve the success rate.
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9t5E&f+A)T0N$Tbusiness forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business4.1 A Pre-negotiation
#{%n5M9a!|%^9Q%vforum.fobshanghai.comThe pre-negotiation stage begins form the first contact between the two sides whose interest in doing business with each other is shown. It is form this stage on that both sides begin to understand one another??s needs and evaluate the benefits of entering into the process of negotiation. Both sides now gather as much information as possible on each other, like the operating environment, involvement of other parties, and even culture. And we should keep an open mind to recognize and accept the difference, because information gathering will to some extent determine the success and failure of the negotiation. For instance, Chinese and American negotiators always hold different opinions about the beginning phase. Chinese tend to emphasize establishing good relationship and spend much time on it whereas American regard it as a waste of time and prefer to go straight to the point.
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+G/w:Q4N-P |*H/Xbusiness forum,trade forum,business opportunity,Business China,Business India,Brazil business4.2 Face-to-Face Negotiation
3S#Z-d4R,m0jFOB Business ForumThe middle phase of negotiation includes the exchange of information and persuasion. What is worth noticing is that an initial discussion on item of common interest helps create an atmosphere of cooperation. And In this stage, I think negotiators should adopt some feasible strategies and proper communication skills to reach an agreement. And we know conflict tend to be more difficult and complex when involved negotiators with cultural differences, because methods of communication vary among cultures. But conflict is unavoidable during the process of negotiation. To make things worse, poor communication may kill deals. Sometimes, negotiators?? strategies can be revealed in the content and form of their communication. So we should avoid bringing along own cultural assumptions to the negotiating table, then try best to overcome the cultural differences on negotiation, and utilize some effective communication to gain the common interest. In view of its significance in negotiation, communication is at the heart of the negotiating process.
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4.3 Post-negotiationFOB Business Forum4w;I%K3^5j7Y7_2y#C
Finally the business negotiation is brought to the end stage, all the terms have been agreed on at this stage. The contract is being drawn up and to be signed. However, writing and wording of the contract in itself is a kind of negotiating process. For word meaning and business value might differ due to the cultural factors involved in the business negotiation, form of agreement is preferred differently from culture to culture. For example, Americans prefer the agreement that is explicit, detailed, written contract that covers all the things that may happen in the future. In the contrary, Chinese people like the other type is implicit, broad contract in the form of general principles rather than detailed rules. So it??s best to confirm that both sides understand everything they have agreed on. What??s more, note that it is the performance of the contract that is significant.
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5．Conclusion
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International business negotiation is playing a more and more important role in modem society. We can see clear that there are great differences in international business negotiation. Specially, culture can influence negotiating styles in numerous ways, because negotiator who may come form another nation is different from us, in language, beliefs, and behaviors. Different cultures employ different ways of doing business. May we think is reasonable and acceptable in our own culture, but is not necessarily acceptable in other cultures. What we consider as effective to an event seem quite the opposite to someone from another culture. As a result, to be an effective negotiator, one should recognize and accept the differences, respect the opponent??s culture, and understand how culture shapes the goals and strategic preferences in three stages of negotiation, which include pre-negotiation, face-to-face negotiation, and post-negotiation. It is crucial to resolve such cultural conflicts and help negotiators to better reach an agreement. In doing so, conflicts may be reduced to the least, or even be eliminated.forum.fobshanghai.com/^!p9I/`"X0k'v6`+|3x(?"|
Therefore, in the actual process of deepening understanding of cultural differences，in communication process to maintain awareness of the issue, use of various communication skills, and continuing to resolve differences，it will continuously promote negotiation smoothly.

References
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