Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations

Wayne Hendon Donald

Description

How to negotiate with business executives all over the world and win. Readers learn the favorite deal-making tactics used by: Americans Australians Germans Saudi Arabians Chinese in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and, of course, mainland China Filipinos Indonesians Readers also learn how and when to haggle, how to pick the right people for their negotiating team, important do's and don'ts, spotting danger signals in contracts, the best time to make a deal, how persuasion works and doesn't work in different parts of the world, good and bad negotiating venues, how to make sure the other person lives up to the agreement...and much, much more.

Sujets

• Marketing et communication

Informations

• Publié par: Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 15 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780883918432
• Langue: English

Extrait

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hendon, Donald W.
Cross-cultural business negotiations / Donald W. Hendon, Rebecca Angeles Hendon, and Paul Herbig. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56720-064-8 (alk. paper)
1. Negotiation in business-Social aspects. 2. Intercultural communication. I. Hendon, Rebecca Angeles. II. Herbig, Paul A. III. Title. HD58.6.H458          1996 658.4-dc20 96-3619
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright 1996 by Donald W. Hendon, Rebecca Angeles Hendon, and Paul Herbig
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95–3619 ISBN: 1-56720-064-8
First published in 1996
Quorum Books, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to the memory of Hugh Kramer (April 17,1929–December 24, 1995), Professor of Marketing at the University of Hawaii-Manoa: A close friend, esteemed colleague, respected academician, well-loved professor, lifelong student of the marketing sciences, and devoted husband and father.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: What: The Art of Negotiations
Chapter 2: Why 1: International Negotiations
Chapter 3: Why 2: Cross-Cultural Negotiating Behavior
Chapter 4: How 1:Verbal
Chapter 5: How 2: Nonverbal Communications in Cross-Cultural Negotiations
Chapter 6: When: Before and After-Time, Planning, Debriefing
Chapter 7: Who: More or Less-the Composition of the Negotiating Team
Chapter 8: Where: Place
Chapter 9: What: Contract
Chapter 10: Haggling
Chapter 11: Country Study: Indonesia
Chapter 12: Country Study: Germany
Chapter 13: Country Study: Saudi Arabia
Chapter 14: Country Study: Hong Kong/China
Chapter 15: Country Study: Australia
Chapter 16: Country Study: Philippines
Chapter 17: Conclusions: Dos and Don ts of Cross-Cultural Negotiations
Selected Bibliography
Index
Introduction
When two people communicate, they rarely talk about precisely the same subject, for effective meaning is flavored by each person s own cognitive world and cultural conditioning. Negotiation is the process by which at least two parties try to reach an agreement on matters of mutual interest. The negotiation process proceeds as an interplay of perception, information processing, and reaction, all of which turn on images of reality (accurate or not), on implicit assumptions regarding the issue being negotiated, and on an underlying matrix of conventional wisdom, beliefs, and social expectations. Negotiations involve two dimensions: a matter of substance and the process. The latter is rarely a matter of relevance when negotiations are conducted within the same cultural setting. Only when dealing with someone from another country with a different cultural background does process usually become a critical barrier to substance; in such settings process first needs to be established before substantive negotiations can commence. This becomes more apparent when the negotiation process is international, when cultural differences must be bridged.
When negotiating internationally, this translates into anticipating culturally related ideas that are most likely to be understood by a person of a given culture. Discussions are frequently impeded because the two sides seem to be pursuing different paths of logic; in any cross-cultural context, the potential for misunderstanding and talking past each other is great. Negotiating internationally almost certainly means having to cope with new and inconsistent information, usually accompanied by new behavior, social environments, and even sights and smells. The greater the cultural differences, the more likely barriers to communication and misunderstandings become.
When one takes the seemingly simple process of negotiations into a cross-cultural context, it becomes even more complex and complications tend to grow exponentially. It is naive indeed to venture into international negotiation with the belief that after all, people are pretty much alike everywhere and behave much as we do. Even if they wear the same clothes you do, speak English as well as (or even better than) you, and prefer many of the comforts and attributes of American life (food, hotels, sports), it would be foolish to view a member of another culture as a brother in spirit. That negotiation style you use so effectively at home can be ineffective and inappropriate when dealing with people from another cultural background; in fact its use can often result in more harm than gain. Heightened sensitivity, more attention to detail, and perhaps even changes in basic behavioral patterns are required when working in another culture.
Members of one culture may focus on different aspects of an agreement (e.g., legal, financial) than may members of another culture (personal, relationships). The implementation of a business agreement may be stressed in one culture, while the range and prevention of practical problems may be emphasized in another culture. In some cultures, the attention of people is directed more toward the specific details of the agreement (documenting the agreement), while other cultures may focus on how the promises can be kept (process and implementation). Americans negotiate a contract; the Japanese negotiate a personal relationship. Culture forces people to view and value differently the many social interactions inherent in fashioning any agreement. Negotiations can easily break down because of a lack of understanding of the cultural component of the negotiation process. Negotiators who take the time to understand the approach that the other parties are likely to use and to adapt their own styles to that one are likely to be more effective negotiators.
American and Russian people are not similar; their ethical attitudes do not coincide: they evaluate behavior differently. What an American may consider normative, positive behavior (negotiating and reaching a compromise with an enemy), a Russian perceives as showing cowardice, weakness, and unworthiness; the word deal has a strong negative connotation, even today in contemporary Russia. Similarly, for Russians, compromise has negative connotation; principles are supposed to be inviolable and compromise is a matter of integrity (The Russians are not alone here: a Mexican will not compromise as a matter of honor, dignity, and integrity; likewise, an Arab fears loss of manliness if he compromises.) A negotiation is treated as a whole without concessions. At the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) talks, the Americans thought they had an agreement (meaning conclusive commitment), while the Russians said it was an understanding (meaning an expression of mutual viewpoint or attitude). When the Americans thought they had an understanding, the Russians said it was a procedural matter, meaning they had agreed to a process for conducting the negotiation.
Different cultural systems can produce divergent negotiating styles-styles shaped by each nation s culture, geography, history, and political system. Unless you see the world through the other s eyes (no matter how similar they appear to you), you may not be seeing or hearing the same. No one can usually avoid bringing along his or her own cultural assumptions, images, and prejudices or other attitudinal baggage into any negotiating situation. The way one succeeds in cross-cultural negotiations is by fully understanding others, using that understanding to one s own advantage to realize what each party wants from the negotiations, and to turn the negotiations into a win-win situation for both sides.
A few potential problems often encountered during a cross-cultural negotiation include (Frank, 1992):

1. Insufficient understanding of different ways of thinking.
2. Insufficient attention to the necessity to save face.
3. Insufficient knowledge of the host country-including history, culture, government, status of business, image of foreigners.
4. Insufficient recognition of political or other criteria.
5. Insufficient recognition of the decision-making process.
6. Insufficient understanding of the role of personal relations and personalities.
7. Insufficient allocation of time for negotiations.

Over two-thirds of U.S.-Japanese negotiation efforts fail even though both sides want to reach a successful business agreement (The U.S. Department of Commerce is even more pessimistic; it estimates that for every successful American negotiation with the Japanese, there are twenty-five failures.) In fact, these numbers hold true for most cross-cultural meetings. Often barriers to a successful agreement are of a cultural nature rather than of an economical or legal nature. Since each side perceives the other from its own ethnocentric background and experience, often neither side fully comprehends why the negotiations failed. It is precisely this lack of knowledge concerning the culture and the alien and unnatural expectations of the other side that hinders effective negotiation with those from another culture.
In cross-cultural negotiations, many of the rules taught and used domestically may not apply-especially when they may not be culturally acceptable to the other party. For most Western negotiators this includes the concepts of give and take, of bargaining, and even of compromise. The stereotypical, common Western ideal of a persuasive communicator-highly skilled in debate, able to overcome objections with verbal flair, an energetic extrovert-may be regarded by members of other cultures as unnecessarily aggressive, superficial, insincere, even vulgar and repressive. To other Americ