A Study Of Cultural Factors In Sino-west Business Negotiation

With the emergence of a global economy, the communication between West andEast becomes more and more frequent. Sino-West business negotiation plays a vitalrole in Sino-West business relationship. To make the business negotiation go smoothly,it is a must to figure out that what and how factors have huge influence on theintercultural business negotiation. By doing that, a win-win success in theinternational business would be achieved.As culture forms the outlook of world and value, which determine almost everyaspect of human life from thinking to behaving, culture factors have a deep influenceon the business negotiation in many aspects. It is due to the difference culture,different people would think, talk, and behave differently according to their ownoutlook of value. These culture factors include individualism vs collectivism, powerdistance, uncertainty avoidance and language contexts. The negotiators come to thetable with their own culture all the time. The larger the cultural differences, the greaterbarriers to business negotiation. This paper makes the comparative and case studies ofthese cultural factors in the business negotiation. Efforts in the thesis are devoted toexploring the underlying cultural factors which impacts the negotiation. To negotiatesuccessfully, cultural differences between the parties concerned must be identified andbridged. The objective is to improve the knowledge and understanding ofnegotiation-related cultural differences and furnish some recommendations fornegotiators involved in Sino-West business negotiations. First, the negotiator shoulddeeply understand culture. Second, the negotiator should enhance the communicationcompetence. Third, negotiators should be well prepared in tech and in culture beforethe negotiation.Theoretically, this study will add new thinking in the interculturalcommunication field. Practically, it could have many practical uses in enhancingpeoples’ international business negotiation. The thesis includes six chapters.Chapter One makes an presentation of the significance of the topic, the researchcontents and methodology, and the structure of the thesis.Chapter Two introduces culture and business negotiation respectively and make ageneral review of intercultural communication. Chinese culture rooted in Taoism,Confucianism and Buddhism. So, harmonious relationship, collectivism areemphasised. Under the influence of the Rationalism, Christianity and Puritanism, theWest culture takes on individualism, adventurism and etc. Then the author gives ageneral review of the status quo of studies at home and abroad and put forward thatcultural factors is one of the important factors that causes the failure of the businessnegotiation.Chapter Three and Chapter Four make a specific study of the different Chineseand the Western negotiating ways. The underlying cultural influence is investigated.The author researches the cultural influences on business negotiation throughHofstede’s dimensions: individualism and collectivism; power distance; uncertaintyavoidance and the long-term orientation. The author also studies the culturalinfluences on business negotiation through Edward Hall’s ideas: covert and overtmessage, ingroup and outgroup, time.Chapter Five points out the potential problems in cross-cultural businessnegotiations and then provides the negotiators with some recommendations for themin the business negotiations.Chapter Six brings the thesis to a conclusion, states restrains of the research andprovides some advice for future research.