International Negotiation

A good knowledge of cultural differences is essential to carry out international negotiations.

At a time when companies are looking to win abroad, sales managers find, first, that a good knowledge of cultural differences is essential to carry out international negotiations and secondly, that, beyond the understanding of the specificities of each other, raises the question of which culture to adopt.

When a company uses the services of an international sales force responsible for establishing partnerships with clients from different countries, the task of sales management is much more complex than the domestic market. Especially as training in negotiation, one of their many responsibilities cannot rely on what researchers have validated. In this area, in fact, research is still little advanced.

"Business is business' true or false?

Thus, a study has highlighted the similarity of results obtained by French and German negotiators by opposing strategies. The French opted for the strategy "win win", while Germans prefer that the "winning loser." In other words, the French seek to reach an agreement satisfactory to both parties while the Germans sought to prevail on all issues deemed important. These two strategies provide similar results, however. How to explain this phenomenon if one considers that there is an effective method of selling as many firms teaches training?

The differences in behaviour and attitude between negotiators from different countries are not limited to the strategy. We must also take into account non-verbal communication, structure of the negotiation process, if the objective of the negotiations. On some of these points, we can happily make some recommendations.

Beware errors of interpretation in terms of behaviours. For example, if a Spanish participant interrupts you several times during the negotiations, make no mistake, it is not rude: a Spanish is behaviour quite acceptable.

You should never obscure the face of a Chinese If you want to send a review; it must be done face to face with many precautions. It is best to avoid humour during the negotiations because it may lose a market.

Conversely, if

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