Abstract：With the economic and business activities globalization,the business negotiations is the cross-cultural negotiations under different cultural background.That means to know the different culture in different countries is the necessary and should know the way to avoid the culture conflicts in the business negotiations.
Key words: Cultural differences;Business negotiation;Strategies
Introduction
With the development of society and along with the advancement globalization,business enterprises in China have to face more and more business negotiations with foreign enterprises.In these negotiations,Chinese negotiators sometimes feel uncomfortable,puzzled,lost,because of unfamiliar custom and behaviors demonstrated by negotiators.Cultural differences between China and western countries could cause many problems.Therefore,understanding cultural differences and overcoming them is crucial in international business negotiations.
I.Types of Cultural Differences
Value View.In the business activities,value view is the standard that people use to measure objective things.It includes time view,equality view and objectivity.It can influence the attitude, needs and behavior of people. Chinese person focus on collectivism,while the western people pay more attention to individualism.Generally speaking,in business negotiation,Chinese emphasize the benefit of the group,consider interior harmony of the collectivity,and the nation and government have large influences on decision-making of enterprise.
Negotiating Style.Negotiating style refers to the tolerance and graces which the negotiator shows in the negotiation.The negotiators show their negotiating style through behavior, manners and the method of controlling negotiation process during the negotiations.The negotiator's negotiating style has a bearing on their culture background.According to the culture differences,negotiating style divides into two types:the eastern negotiating style pattern and the western negotiating style pattern.
Thinking Pattern.Thinking Pattern,value view and behavior rules constitute the diverse characters which stride across one nation from another nation, and the different way of thinking reflects the cultural connotation.Almost certainly, there is more than one thinking pattern of a nation,but one is more obvious compared with others. As a whole, eastern people,especially Chinese have strong comprehensive thinking,image thinking and curved thinking,while analysis thinking,abstract thinking and direct thinking are possessed by the western people .
II.Strategies for Negotiating across Cultures
The culture differences in cross-cultural communication have various impacts on operation of enterprises.These differences will influence negotiation and management of transnational operation;what's more,it may have bad effects on the harmonious relationship between our country and foreign countries.So,How can we avoid the subtle pitfalls and make deals go smoothly?I will give us some detail way to solve this phenomenon.
Making Preparations before Negotiation.The negotiators must make good preparations if they want control the development of negotiation successfully in the complex situation.The preparations often include the analysis of the negotiators themselves and the opponents.To knowing about the opponents means understanding their strength such as credit status,the policy,business customs and regulations of their countries and the conditions of their negotiating members and so on.And then you should selecting team members,gathering of information, and know more detail about the negotiation.
Overcoming Cultural Prejudice.Tolerating different cultures and overcoming cultural prejudice contribute to the better communicating with each other and understanding each other.Western people often think that they are powerful,capable and experienced,so sometimes,we need to recognize them and give them some good comments.We should learn about the foreign cultures before negotiation and accept and understand their cultures in negotiation.
Conquering Communication Barriers.In negotiation, sometimes we can't make much progress although we have talked for long time.And sometimes both parties are not satisfied.Generally speaking,we should pay more attention to the following three communication barriers in cross-cultural negotiation:the communication barriers caused by culture background of both;the ones caused by misunderstanding of the contents and information from the partner; the ones caused by not being willing to accept the opponent's contents and ideas .
Conclusion
International business negotiation is playing a more and more important key to our economic lives in modern society.Of course, cross-cultural communication will meet the problem of culture differences surely.In order to step into the international market successfully,we must have the awareness of culture differences,acknowledge culture differences and understand different cultures.What's more,we should find the way to overcome them.In the same time,our country is mentioning to establish harmonious society,so we should set up an atmosphere of harmony.I think the best result is a win-win result in international negotiation.
