中美商务谈判风格

I.Introduction

With the development of economic globalization and China’s entry into WTO, international business becomes increasingly popular and concerned.As international business relations grow,so does the frequency of business negotiations among people from different countries and cultures.And that can create considerable challenges for business representatives unfamiliar with the cultures of different groups.Different cultural factors can form different business negotiation styles.Therefore,the approaches to international business negotiation have attracted increasingly academic attention.Negotiations can easily break down because of a lack of understanding of cultural components in the negotiation process.Furthermore,China and America are key economic and trade partners to each other.At present,the U.S.is the second largest trading partner to China,and China is the fourth largest market to the U.S. export.Business negotiation plays an essential role in international market.Thus,to successful negotiations,two sides must first understand the cultural differences. 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.Thus in an intercultural negotiation,in addition to the basic negotiation skills,it is important to deeply understand the cultural distinctions,and to modify the negotiation style accordingly.

This paper focuses on some dimensions of culture and Sino-US negotiation styles to illustrate the functions of the cultural factors in business negotiations.

.Business Negotiation and Communication

II II.Business

2.1The Nature of Business Negotiation

It is easy to define negotiation,because it is a basic human activity which we undertake in daily life to manage our relationships,such as between a husband and a wife,children and parents,students and teachers,employers and employees,buyers and sellers.It is so familiar to us.This kind of negotiation is communication activity to human beings.Meanwhile,it is so hard to define negotiation,because the contents

of negotiation are relatively extensive and people cannot exactly express the definition of negotiation in everyday life with one or two sentences.(Zhu Wenzhon g＆Zhou Xingying,2007)According to the common recognition,negotiation is a process of coordinating relationships and meeting each other’s needs to reach unanimous suggestions by discussion.(Yu Muhong＆Zhang Ruwen,2005)Therefore,we describe the general outline of negotiation from different levels and different analysis angles in order to grasp some basic elements of negotiation concept.

In1971,a British scholar Mash gave a definition to negotiation in his book Contract Negotiation Handbook:“So-called negotiation is a constantly coordinating process of reaching satisfied agreement by modifying conditions you put forward in a business involved in your interests.”After doing overall research on many European and American negotiation experts’works,a French negotiation scholar,Christophe Dupont define what the negotiation is in Language,Conduite,Theorie,Application:“negotiation refers to two parties or some parties react to each other on face-to-face position.Every role has different and contrary opinions,but they have to survive relying on each other.They select reality attitude of achieving an agreement to suspend divergences and create、continue、develop a certain relationship between them(even though it is temporary).”

Famous American negotiation consultants C.Wayne Barlow and Glenn P.Eisen in their co-work Negotiation Skills pointed out:“negotiation is an operating skill of exchanging ideas when two sides are devoted to convince the other side to accept its requirements.The destination is to reach a mutual-benefit agreement.”

The following negotiation definitions from Chinese scholars’views:

“Negotiation is an interpersonal activity of both sides exchanging ideas,reacting emotions and earning mutual benefits.”(Yi Kaigang,2006)

“Negotiation refers to a behaviour of people trying their best to reach unanimous goal for their own sakes.”(Liu Yuan,2006)

“Negotiation is a process of using discussing skills and coordinating goals again and again,on the precondition of your benefits,between individuals,organizations and nations.”(Ding Jianzhong,2004)