Cultural differences in international business negotiations
brief introduction
With the economic globalization and China's entry into WTO, the commercial ties between countries will be increasingly rich. Therefore, negotiating with people from different cultural backgrounds will inevitably become a common problem, which has attracted the attention of people all over the world. A large number of multinational corporations and multinational corporations have developed rapidly in China. The rapidly changing international economic environment has brought great business opportunities and challenges to domestic enterprises. How to negotiate with people with different cultural backgrounds, and who will effectively handle different work values? Therefore, it is very important to strengthen cross-cultural sensitivity and improve cross-cultural negotiation and cooperation. In short, the demand for international business negotiation skills is unprecedented.
Culture is a dynamic, multidimensional, complex and universal phenomenon. Obviously, the concept of culture has countless definitions. With the development of history, culture is constantly changing. Of course, the process of this transformation is gradual, difficult and sometimes even arduous and revolutionary. But we should know that culture is the cornerstone of the nation and deeply rooted in it. Tradition and consciousness oppose any change. The stability of the core part of culture makes culture unified and unique. Different value orientations have great influence on leadership concepts, management methods and the process of decision-making and negotiation.
Culture and International Business Negotiation
1. Cultural characteristics
No matter how many cultural definitions we have come up with, the four main characteristics of culture have been widely recognized. Recognizing these characteristics will help people become better communicators. People can notice that there is a close relationship between culture and communication. More importantly, most cultures are subconscious, so learning culture can help you understand the morality conveyed by people's behavior.
2. Introduction to Business Negotiation
Negotiation is a basic human activity that we participate in every day. In this process, the two sides constantly revise their bids and expectations to get closer to each other. Negotiations can bring things that cannot be done unilaterally, and can solve many problems and differences. A widely accepted definition of modernization is that two or more parties with the same interests and conflicts interact with each other to reach an agreement.
Business negotiation refers to the negotiation that takes place in the business world to deal with business relations. Business negotiation can also be understood as the contact between companies (or economic organizations), and its goal is to reach an agreement to obtain economic benefits.
In the international business environment, the development of the negotiation process and how to treat the relationship between the two sides are very important. This process is influenced by some factors other than negotiation. Cultural differences are one of the most important factors. In international business negotiations, culture plays an important and decisive role in negotiation strategies. Because negotiation involves communication, time and power, and these variables are also related to culture. Cultural differences bring challenges to relevant negotiators, and it is the basic requirement for them to have the understanding and flexibility to evaluate cultural differences and properly handle the relationship between the two sides.
Cultural differences in international business negotiations
1 personal space
Our private space, the space we occupy, is contained in the invisible boundary around our bodies. Edward Twitchell Hall Jr's work research clearly shows that people's use of private space varies from culture to culture. A culture that emphasizes individualism usually needs more space than a public culture.
In western countries, husbands and wives share their private space. They walk side by side in the street, but in Arab countries, husbands always walk in front of their wives. Even at dinner, husbands and wives don't sit together.
In some countries in the Middle East and Asia, you will see buses, banks and other public places are very crowded, because their culture requires a very small social distance. They have unique space and privacy orientation. Confusing different orientations will lead to communication problems. In China, banks and many other public places have a rice noodle, but China people never pay attention to it. If a westerner stands in front of you in a bank, you cross the 1 rice noodle and get close to him/her. You may be misunderstood and accused of invading other people's private space.
2 time positioning
Time orientation refers to people's cultural preferences when they make long-term or short-term prospects for life and work (Rouses, 2002). Some cultures are more future-oriented than others. For example, Hongkong, Japan and Taiwan Province Province are all facing the future. Elsewhere, we find that in Pakistan and some West African cultures, they pay more attention to the present and the past than the future. Canada, Germany and the United States are in between. Compared with people in the northern United States, the British attach more importance to the past.
In a culture with a single time habit, time is considered to be linear. It is like an arrow, pointing straight and clearly in one direction. Time is divided into modular and predictable segments, so that you can only focus on one thing at a time. Any change or confusion in order will bring more uncertainty to the people behind. In this world where time is money, time is regarded as a resource that can be spent and saved, and wasting time and being late are depriving others of their time. Many western cultures, such as Germany, Canada, the United States and the Nordic countries, tend to be unitary, which is a typical culture with a single time habit. For example, Americans tend to make plans very compact and arrange many things in a short time. Even being a few minutes late is impolite, because it will affect the schedule of the whole day.
The culture with multiple time habits has the opposite understanding of time. People think that time is cyclical and various activities are carried out at the same time. Many things can happen at the same time. They tend to pay more attention to completing the current thing or communication, rather than suddenly terminating it in order to start the next plan. They are more committed to the possible time to complete their goals than the time they have to finish. Compared with single habit training, multiple habit training is frequent and easy to change plans. Many Latin American cultures are characterized by multiple time habits. Interestingly, according to Hall's research, Hall (1987). There are two kinds of Japanese cultural tendencies. When dealing with foreigners, it shows a single time habit, and when dealing with Japanese, it shows multiple time habits.
3 interpersonal relationships
This cultural level deals with expressing your own style in front of others. At the negotiating table, because they attach great importance to maintaining the relationship between the two sides, people think that China people give others special face and expect others to give themselves face. Because of this sensitivity, they seek harmony and communicate with people they think are capable and worthy of respect. Their collectivism and their understanding of social face make them hesitate to participate in interactions that may challenge others. They think contradictions and conflicts are unpleasant and unwelcome. So they want to avoid conflicts, and once they get involved, they will respond with compromise and mediation. On the contrary, English speakers, like the United States, attach importance to the traditions of frankness, freedom of speech, independence and debate in order to promote straightforward expression. For example, American culture is famous for its self-confidence and positive communication. Because it has a long history of encouraging self-confident behaviors such as different values, individualism, competition and freedom of speech. They tend to express their views directly and frankly, regardless of the ensuing conflict with China.
In the process of negotiation, if there is a conflict, the aggression of either side will ruin the face of the other side. Losing face is regarded as ignoring each other's self-esteem, so China people are very concerned about hostile and aggressive behavior and usually hesitate to do so. In addition, in the case of contradictions, acting with respect and dignity is considered as a way to maintain harmony.
Analysis of cultural differences
Culture restricts the behavior of enterprises in international business negotiations and the ways and means to control the negotiation process. The influence of different cultures will increase the uncertainty in international business negotiations and make it difficult to reach an agreement. Understanding cultural differences and overcoming cultural barriers have become the core link to enhance the influence of enterprises in international business negotiations.
First of all, values are one of the most important factors, which includes six parts. The first is individualism and collectivism, which describe the relationship between individuals and collectives that are dominant in a particular society. They affect the negotiators' thinking, negotiation methods and modes, and the results of negotiations. The second is the sphere of influence, that is, the scope of unfair distribution of power accepted by vulnerable organizations. People in different countries pay different attention to prestige, wealth and power. It affects the decision-making process of negotiators and the atmosphere of negotiations. The third is private space. This part of the space we occupy is the invisible boundary around our bodies. Fourth, time orientation refers to people's cultural preferences in long-term or short-term outlook on life and work. According to Hall and Hall (1987), it can be divided into single-time habit and multi-time habit. They also affect the process and way of negotiation. The fifth is interpersonal relationship, which determines the style people use to express themselves in front of others. The last one is uncertainty avoidance, which refers to the degree of tension that people with a certain cultural background show when they think it is unorganized, unclear or unpredictable, or try their best to avoid it in order to maintain their strict code of conduct and beliefs. High or low uncertainty avoids cultural influence on the outcome of negotiations.
Secondly, language is the basic tool of negotiation. Language is a set of symbols, and the rules for combining these symbols are mastered and used by most people. It influences negotiation through spoken language and body language. High and low context orientations affect the whole negotiation process. Together with body language, these three factors contributed to the success of the negotiation.
The last and most important thing is the way of thinking, also called the way of thinking. Under the same circumstances, everyone in every culture has a slightly different way of thinking about the same problem. Furthermore, the same person has a slightly different way of thinking about the same problem on different occasions. It includes linear thinking mode and connecting thinking mode. They have an impact on the negotiation style and outcome. Therefore, for positioning international business negotiations, it is more important to learn to think from each other's perspective and enhance mutual understanding.
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