中美商务谈判所需技巧浅析（1）

摘要

从中国加入世界贸易组织到当今的全球金融危机，大批中国企业涌入国际市场，中国商人对国际谈判技能的渴求也空前强烈。然而，由于谈判规则和惯例在文化间存在着较大差异，在一种文化中游刃有余的谈判者在另一种文化中可能就无大的建树。事实上，文化差异越大，交流的障碍也就越大，也就越可能影响谈判的效果。因此，谈判的成功需要谈判双方明确其中的文化差异并着手加以了解与学习。

本文旨在对中美商务谈判技巧进行研究。一种谈判风格的形成可能于多种因素，毫无疑问，文化是其中最重要的一个方面。本文从跨文化的角度来探讨中美两种谈判风格差异背后的文化因素。通过对影响谈判的文化差异因素的深刻理解，作者试图为参与中美商务谈判的中国谈判者提出自己的一些建议和策略。

关键词：商务谈判；中美；文化差异；影响；策略

Abstract

From China’s entry to WTO to today’s global financial crisis, more and more Chinese firms are stepping into the international market. So far Chinese businesspersons are concerned great about international negotiating skills. However, what makes a good negotiator in one culture may not work well in another, as negotiation rules and practices vary observably across cultures. The greater the cultural differences exist, the larger barriers occur in communication, and the more possible misunderstandings happen in the negotiation. In order to negotiate successfully, it is necessary to get a thorough understanding of cultural differences in cross-cultural business negotiations.

This thesis analyzes the skills in China-US business negotiations. There are many factors contributing to a certain type of negotiating, among which cultural system may be the most important one. In the thesis, the author tries to explore the underlying cultural factors behind the distinctions of negotiating styles between China and the U.S.. The objective is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of cultural differences in China-US business negotiations and provide some recommendations and strategies for Chinese negotiators involved in China-US business negotiations.

Key words: business negotiations; China-US; cultural differences; impacts; strategies

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................................................I

摘要……………………………………………………………………………………………………....II

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………….III

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………………..IV

Introduction 1

1 Definition of Business Negotiation 2

2 General Impacts of Culture on Business Negotiations 3

3 Differences of Negotiation Culture between 5

China and the U.S. 5

3.1 Differences in Negotiation Habits 5

3.2 Differences in Belief and Values 7

3.3 Differeces in Decision-making Factors 8

4 Strategies in Business Negotiations with the U.S. 10

4.1 Cultivating Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity 10

4.2 Making Sufficient Preparations 10

4.3 Having a Good Command of the Target Language 11

4.4 Paying Attention to Non-verbal Communications 12

Conclusion 13

Notes 14

Bibliography 15

Introduction

International trade has multiplied over the last twenty years and will definitely increase a lot in the future. Experts estimate that over fifty percent of an international manager’s time is spent in negotiating. In fact, cross-cultural negotiations are of increasing importance to the globalizing firms. It is obvious that negotiations become a crucial part of business life, especially for the globalization of China-based firms. With the development of society and economy in China, more and more companies and enterprises in China have been taking part in cross-cultural business negotiations. Among the international markets, Chinese businessmen may find it harder to negotiate with American people, because their behaviours are so different from us. This distinction comes mainly from culture differences. Thereofre, it is of great necessity for negotiators to get a thorough understanding of the culture differences in China-US negotiations.

Researches from various perspectives and by different approaches have been carried out in the attempt to explain and analyze cultural differences in business negotiations. However, most of the researches only focus on the business negotiation strategy itself, hardly involving the influence of cultural differeces. As a result, we could not see a whole picture of cross-cultural business negotiations. Thus, it is necessary for us to take into full consideration of cultural differeces in analysis of strategies in business negotiations. This thesis will analyze skills in China-US business negotiations, taking cultural differences into consideration.

The present thesis consists of four chapters. After introduction, it discusses the definition of business negotiation in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 focuses on the general impacts of culture on business negotiations. Chapter 3 elaborates the differences of negotiation culture between China and the U.S., including differences in negotiation habits, in belief and values, and in decision-making factors. Chapter 4 explores main strategies that could be used in business negotiations with the U.S..

1 Definition of Business Negotiation

Negotiation is a basic human activity that most people do at some point every day, such as to sort out differences with other people, or to get what they want. A housewife negotiates with a salesperson over the counter for the price of fruits, a driver with a policeman for removing ticket over a traffic violation, a purchasing agent with a supplier for the quality of a product, so on and so forth, all of which involve negotiation.

What is negotiation? The word “negotiation” originated from the Latin expression, “negotiatus”, past participle of “negotiare” which means “to carry on business”. According to Larry A. Samovar et al, “Negotiation is a process in which two or more entities discuss common and conflicting interests in order to reach an agreement of mutual benefit.” 1It is a decision-making process that provides opportunities for the parties to exchange commitments or promises through which they will resolve their disagreements and reach a settlement. In brief, a negotiation is two or more parties striving to agree when their objectives do not coincide. Negotiations take place within the context of the four Cs: common interest, conflicting interest, compromise, and criteria. 2Common interest considers the fact that each party in the negotiation shares, has, or wants something that the other party has or does. Without a common goal, there would be no need for negotiation. Conflict occurs when people have separate but conflicting interests.

This is also the case with business negotiation, which is referred to as “the process whereby interested parties resolve conflicts, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage, and/or attempt to craft outcomes, which serve their mutual business interests.”. 3 It is often considered as a form of alternative conflict resolution. In international business negotiations, conflicting interests could include payment, distribution, profits, contractual responsibilities, and quality. Compromise involves resolving areas of disagreement. Although a win-win negotiated settlement would be best for both parties, the parties cannot avoid making compromises during negotiation. The criteria include the conditions under which the negotiations take place.

2 General Impacts of Culture on Business Negotiations

Culture has influences over all the basic elements of business negotiation. It can influence the behavioral predispositions of negotiators. For example, some cultures place group over the individual, some to the contrary. Culture differences also have different aspects; some are traditional such as religious belief while some are only distinctive in the particular environment such as protocol. This kind of distinction will inevitably have different influence on people’s attitude toward people’s basis for trust, people’s way of thinking, and people’s way of making decisions.

Culture has impacts on people’s perception of business negotiation and consequently the strategies they take. Some cultures regard the business negotiation as a problem-solving process and are more likely to adopt an integrative strategy while some others tend to see it as a competition and have a strong aversion to the concept of “compromise”. For example, people from some cultures are long-term oriented and they can sacrifice short-term profits if they can sense future gains such as Chinese businessmen. However, people from some other cultures are short-term oriented and try to get as much as they can in the one-off deal, for instance American businessmen.

Culture also influences the structure of the business negotiation. Preference for sites and dates differs across cultures. Composition of the negotiating team also varies greatly. Some cultures regard time as money and would like to set fixed agendas, but some feel that time is abundant and humans should not follow blindly the timetable.

During the business negotiation process, culture plays an important role, too. People from different cultures may have different ways of handling issues, some preferring sequential approach while others a holistic one. Some may depend more on verbal communications and some more on non-verbal ones. People also have different outcome orientations. People from some cultures look for a contract while others for a relationship. Some prefer a detailed written agreement, others an agreement with general guidelines.