中美文化差异对商务谈判的影响

中美文化差异对商务谈判的影响
CONTENTS
Abstract (1)
Introduction (2)
Chapter 1 Definitions Of Culture and Business Negotiations (3)
1.1 Culture (4)
1.2 Business Negotiations (5)
Chapter 2 Analysis of Cultural Difference Between China And America (5)
2.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism (5)
2.2 Inductive Thought vs. Deductive Thought (6)
2.3 Low-context vs. High-context (7)
Chapter 3 The Impact of Cultural Difference on Sino-American Business Negotiation (11)
3.1 The member of Negotiation Team (10)
3.2 Forms of Agreement (11)
3.3 Pace of Negotiation Process (11)
Chapter 4 Suggestions for Effective Cross-cultural Negotiation
4 .1 Overcoming Cultural Bias (12)
4.2 Preparing Well before Negotiation ............ 错误！未定义书签。

4.4 Overcoming Communication Obstacles (15)
Conclusion (20)
Notes (22)
Bibliography (23)
Impacts of Cultural Differences on
Sino-U.S. Business Negotiations
JiangYufeng
（Foreign Language Department, Hunan City University, Yiyang, Hunan 413000, China）
Abstract：With the rapid development of economic trade between china and America , the business contacts of the two countries become more and more frequent , the importance of business negotiation gets obvious gradually. However, the huge cultural differences between the two countries may give rise to potential cultural conflicts and unnecessary misunderstandings. So it is imperative that negotiators should learn the cultural factors in Sino-U.S. business negotiation. The thesis emphasizes the importance of taking cultural sensitivities into consideration during business negotiation to make proper negotiation tactics. In view of such a situation, this thesis makes an effort to highlight the cultural impacts on negotiation and puts forward several suggestions in reconciling cultural differences in order to make the negotiation develop smoothly.
Key words:cultural differences; Sino-U.S. business negotiation; impact
摘要:中美两国间经济贸易飞速发展，双方商务交往活动越来越频繁，商务谈判的重要
性也日渐显现。

然而，由于中美两国之间存在着巨大的文化差异，中美两国谈判者之间很可能出现文化冲突以及不必要的误解。

因此，两国商务谈判者了解中美文化的差异显得十分必要。

中美双方在商务谈判中必须增强对文化差异的敏感性，制定出合适的谈判策略。

本文重点讨论了中美之间的文化差异及其对商务谈判的影响并提出了化解文化冲突的几点建议，使中美贸易谈判能顺利进行。

关键词: 文化差异;商务谈判;影响
Introduction
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the vision of a
global village is no longer regarded as an illusion but a reality due to the technological advances in communication, travel, and transportation, which has made transnational business a common phenomenon. As to China, it has been undergoing tremendous changes since its entering into WTO. China and the United States, serve as the two typical countries in the East and the West. Since the normalization of relations between China and America began 35 years ago, Sino-U.S. business relationships have been growing at a fast pace. At present, America is the second largest trading partner of China.
However, The culture of the two countries is totally different from each other in terms of beliefs, values, lifestyles and world perspective. That may result in the unsuccessful and unfruitful negotiations, so we should take a close look at the cultural differences.
This thesis is mainly a comparative study of impacts of Chinese and American cultural differences on the international business negotiation. And the objective is to improve the knowledge and understanding of relevant negotiation-related cultural differences and offer some recommendations for negotiators.
Chapter 1 Definitions Of Culture and Business Negotiations 1.1 Culture
1.1.1 What is Culture?
As far as we all know, the definition of culture is numerous and vague, Culture can be viewed as consisting of everything that is human made (Herskovits 1955);collective programming of the mind which distinguishes members of one human group from another(Hofstede 1980);
a set of shared and enduring meanings, values, and beliefs
that characterize national, ethnic, or other groups and orient their behavior( Faure and Rubin 2001).Thus, we can say that culture can include language, arts, morals, beliefs, custom and even everything in our life. Cultures provide people with ways of thinking, ways of seeing, hearing, and interpreting the world.
1.1.2 The characteristics of culture
The characteristics of culture are as follows:1) Culture is learned.2) Culture is transmitted from generation to generation.3) Culture is based on symbols.4) Culture is subject to change.5) Culture is integrated.6) Culture is ethnocentric.7) Culture is adaptive(Samovar and Porter and Stefani 1998).
1.2 Business Negotiations
1.2.1 What is Business Negotiations?
Business negotiation refers to the negotiation that takes place within business fields, such as commerce, economic cooperation, international trade, etc. It’s conferring process in which the participants of business activities communicate,discuss,and their views,settle differences and finally reach a acceptably satisfying agreement in order to close
a deal or achieve a proposed financial goal.1)
1.2.2 General Process of Negotiations
Business negotiation is the process whereby interested parties resolve disputes, agree upon courses of action, bargain for individual or collective advantage, and attempt to craft outcomes, which serve their mutual business interests. It is usually regarded as a form of alternative dispute resolution.
Chapter 2 Analysis of Cultural Difference Between China
And America
As is known to all,the east countries and west countries have produced different cultures on the different continents. Among
the different cultures, value views, negotiating style and thinking model appear more obvious.
China is a typical Eastern country, while America is a typical Western one. There is no doubt about their big cultural differences. In view of business negotiations, many researchers have found some core values concerning business cultures of China and the United States.
2.1 Individualism vs. Collectivism
“Individualism-collectivism is the major dimension of cultural variability used to explain cross-cultural differences and similarities in communication across cultures”[1].
Individualistic cultures emphasize personal rights and responsib ilities, privacy, voicing one’s own opinion, freedom and self-expression. Collectivistic cultures emphasize community, collaboration, sharing interests,cooperation and interdependence. harmony, tradition and public good.
Chinese culture is collectivism-oriented, their relationships are based
on mutual self-interests. They tend to maintain harmony within groups at all cost,the society rewards individual as a member of a group rather than an individual. This is quite different from Americans, when in business negotiation, Chinese people always choose mutual self-benefits, seek to advance the interests of the group and group rewards.
However, individualism is highly prized in the United States. In American culture, individual achievement, sovereignty and freedom are the virtues most glorified and canonized.They hold that every person is his own master and that no person should be sacrificed for another one. In terms of business negotiation, Americans are realistic and pragmatic in negotiation,American
negotiators emphasize efficiency and short-term interests.“A deal is a deal”and “Bang for the duck”is widely accepted by them, and they tend to be self-motivated and their business relationships are based on self-interest.They tend to pay much attention to the task rather than relationship building.
1.2 Inductive Thought vs. Deductive Thought
“Thinking patterns refer to forms of reasoning and approaches to problem solution. Thinking patterns differ from culture to culture, a logical, reasonable argument in one culture maybe considered as illogical and undemonstrative in another culture”[2].
Deductive thought is observing and considering everything in the world as a whole, paying attention to the overall function, complex relationship and operation process but not care about the internal structure
of something. Chinese people’s thinking patterns belong to this orientation. They always emphasize the details must come after general principles. Therefore, at the very beginning of a business negotiation, Chinese negotiators would like to discuss the general rules which both parties should obey and mutual interests.
However, American culture is towards inductive thought. they focus on analyzing complicated things into several simple elements and then study one by one. So at the start of a negotiation, they attach importance to specific aspects. Which is quite different from Chinese people, They would like treat contract just as a set of clauses with legally binding that should be comply, that is to say, only real specific issues can make negotiation go smoothly.
2.3 Low-context vs. High-context
high-context cultures are those in which people have extensive information networks among family, friends, colleagues, and clients and are involved in close personal relationships. While low-context cultures are those in which members know explicitly what to do to deal with the present matters and the people emphasize on the content above context.
Chinese are in the high-context culture, while American people are in the low context culture. Chinese prefer to communicate indirectly. Meanings are involved in the context of message and must be inferred to be understood. There is also a large emphasis on nonverbal clues, such as facial expression, movements, speed of the interaction and other subtle forms of nonverbal communication. And they will pay much attention to how to keep a long-term relationship with other ones.
However, low-context communication is just like a computer program, everything must be specified in the coded message or the computer will not run. In the USA, the environment is less important and non-verbal behaviors are often ignored, the American seldom habitually conceal their feelings ,sorrows and joys, communication has to be made more explicit. Feelings and thoughts are expected to express in precise words, and information is more readily available.
Chapter 3 The Impact of Cultural Difference on
Sino-American Business Negotiation
Culture, as we said in previous parts, is a powerful factor shaping how people think, communicate and behave as well as negotiating styles. Different cultures have different values, attitudes, behaviors and linguistic styles, all of which can greatly affect the process and result of negotiations. Cultural differences of Sino-U.S affect the two cou ntries’negotiations in the
following aspects.
4.1 The member of Negotiation Team
The member of negotiation team considerably depend on the parties’cultural background.(Berger 1996) Due to the collective culture and preference for teamwork, Chinese teams are usually large, including experts in relevant fields. T asks are divided among team members who take respective responsibilities during negotiation. Besides, negotiators do not have the authority to make decisions independently. While in Americans, small negotiating teams are typically preferred. Negotiating teams are usually assembled at the number of two or more. The American company has a clear division of work.the information collection and decision process has high efficiency.In addition,their personality decides that they will raise detailed and reasonable condition. American negotiators have decisive power in business negotiation because they can make their own decisions without report it to their superiors.whereas negotiators in China don't make decisions since they have to report detailed negotiation matters to their leaders and decisions are made by their superiors.
On the other hand, culture also affects the selection of negotiators. For instance, American culture is low power distant and value equality. So American team usually selects its negotiators on the basis of substantive knowledge of the issue at the table. Gender, age, and status are often ignored. While for the Chinese, they prefer to choose their negotiators on the basis of status and age Great status is provided to seniority.
4.2 Forms of Agreement
American business persons prefer explicit, written agreement, for they grow up in the low-context culture that
highly values directness and
clearness. From the perspective of Americans, agreement should explicitly set out the rights and duties of the signatories and under the guidance of law, not the relationship. Vague expression may be a source of endless trouble. Obligations are limited to the specific, detailed clauses whatever circumstance changes later. Conversely, for the Chinese businessmen, the host usually uses the personal relationship interfering the business, the goal is the relationship but not the contract. Long-term cooperation is expected. They always believe mutual trust for doing business is not based on a piece of paper but friendship.
In addition, Americans view signing a contract as the end of the negotiation .once the contract comes into force,the American will strictly behave according to the contract requirement,While for Chinese, who value long-term profits, an agreement is not the highlight of negotiation, but the beginning of the business relationship of the parties.
4.3 Pace of Negotiation Process
Pace of negotiation process is also affected by some cultural factors when two different cultures meet at the table. Attitude toward time or views on power distance, to a great extent, determines how fast or slowly negotiation proceeds.
For example, Chinese view time as unlimited and rarely undertake the pressure of deadline. Haste is not encouraged in this culture. While time is a commodity that cannot be wasted in Americans’eyes. Time is money and Americans are driven by schedules. It seems that Americans
are always in a hurry. Thus in negotiation, Americans are eager to get down directly to business and want to settle the issue as quickly as possible. Whereas, Chinese negotiators feel
very uncomfortable with American haste, which they consider as disrespectful and insincere, Chinese usually spend more time building relationships with its counterpart regardless of any issues related to formal negotiation. They are patient. In many cases, Chinese do not like to take initiative to offer its position.decisions are made in a consensus way, most members of the team required to agree. By contrast, American negotiators are given more authorities to decide what to do. Much of time is saved in decision-making.
Chapter 4 Suggestions for Effective Cross-cultural
Negotiation
As the old Chinese saying goes“people are similar in their natu re, but various in their customs.’’In order to avoid the follies caused by misunderstanding and even worse results of losing the opportunities,So, it is really necessary to study the cultural differences to acquire the international vision and knowledge . Maybe the following suggestions are very useful and effective for a potential negotiator.
4.1 Overcoming Cultural Bias
Although people are generally aware of cultural differences existing, most people are not aware of the different cultures need rational treatment. Negotiators often intentionally or unintentionally explain and judge the others’culture with their own standards. Therefore, in international business negotiations, we must first give up ethnocentrism and respect for foreign cultures and traditio nal customs. Don’t make improper comments for others’cultural norms, accept and respect their moral norms and customs is good habit; we must also avoid stereotypes in culture contact. Understanding the other’s culture, respecting for cultural differences, learning tolerance and
seeking the ways and means of accommodation, those are the effective ways for business negotiations carrying out smoothly.
4.2 Preparing Well before Negotiation
In the negotiations, negotiators should clearly know themselves and properly understand others. So it is essential for negotiators to do a good preparatory work. Negotiating preparation include negotiating backgrounds, the assessment of the situation, the facts need to be verified in the negotiating process, the agenda, the best options and concession strategies. Before the negotiations, negotiators should be sure to understand the culture and customs of the parties as much as possible, avoid misconduct which can make others unpleasant and even affect the process and result of business negotiations.
4.3 Attention to the Language Barriers
Messages are carried out through the language. However, in the cross-cultural business communication, we have seen so many cases showing problems arising from language barriers. But there are a lot more examples to cited relating to language barriers, to name but a few here above. There are some options to get over the language barriers:
First, employed a consultant in cross-cultural communication will make it possible for the organization to minimize the risk of running into cross-cultural conflicts, especially for those organizations that have some branches or subsidiaries abroad. Secondly, used an interpreter is a bright idea on the condition that the interpreter has a good knowledge of your culture, and he knows how to correctly understand what you means (even when you speak with a local accent). Then he can put your ideas rightfully into another language. Thirdly, learned the targeted language costs a lot, especially when you want to send
your employees abroad for a good training. However, it will be cost-effective when you send them there to learn both the language and the technology. Nevertheless, the economical way to go is to run some intensive training classes o f the targeted language.
Conclusion
The above analysis of the cultural differences and their impact on international business negotiations, any businessmen engaged in cross-cultural activities should take seriously consideration. A cultural difference is an objective reality, the attitude of individuals or groups tend to determine the role of cultural differences, it can exaggerate the cultural differences and also reduce the barrier which causes the cultural difference to the lowest point. People in cross-cultural business negotiations, if able to overcome cultural barriers to understand, do as the Romans do, learning to stand on other people’s point to think, that we can promote mutual understanding and work together to adapt the two sides and create an economic and cultural environment, so that we can success.
Notes
Bibliography。