Bargaining Styles of Different Cultures

1. Americans are rather informal and promote equality of relationships. Status is down-played.

2. The French and Japanese are more formal. Formality for the Japanese can even seem a bit ceremonial.

3. Russians don’t seem to be as concerned about deadlines as many other cultures.

4. The Japanese will allow that the conditions of the contract change with unforeseen circumstances (unforeseeable acts of nature of example). Trust and maintaining the harmony of the relationship is more important the contractual obligations.

5. The further south and west you go the more the people are expressive (conversant). Thus to enhance negotiations allow them plenty of verbal space for expressing themselves.

6. But Japanese and Finns are the opposite. They are quiet listeners. Japanese can even fall into short periods of silence.

7. Americans need facts and statistics.

8. The Germans like details.

9. Arabs are attracted to emotional appeals.

10. Russians are attracted to appeals to ideals.

11. In Southeast Asia (as is true in most communal cultures) business does not begin until you have established a relationship. The first steps are relationship building and then it is time to get down to business.

12. Far Eastern negotiators work very hard to earn your respect and maintaining a harmonious relationship is very important to them.

13. Americans are very time and schedule conscious. Being late can almost be considered as a mild insult.

14. Latin Americans (multi-linear cultures) are not as time conscious. However this could mean that they expect you to be on time but don’t be surprised if they are late.

15. American Indians are known for having a completely different time orientation and they rely on verbal agreements rather than written contracts.

16. For Americans the deal is not complete until it is in writing and the contract is binding in spite of unforeseen circumstances.

17. For Americans and British compromise is regarded as an acceptable settlement for difficult negotiations.

18. In some cultures yielding to compromise can be seen as giving ground. For some cultures success in negotiating has something of a macho regard. The challenge is connected with their sense of pride. This can especially be true when dealing with negotiators from highly developed countries.

19. French offer well reasoned arguments and don’t see a need to compromise unless you can show them a problem with their reasoning.

20. Japanese work their agreements out as part of a group (or collective) process. Representatives do not tend to have the freedom to make final decisions. In some respects they play the role of reporting to the larger unit.

21. In American negotiations the person representing the firm usually has the freedom to make decisions unless there is some very important complications.

22. Africans associate age with deserving respect (as is true of most traditional cultures).

23. Many people have been surprised that after independence many representatives of Estonian interest were very young (maybe even recent graduates).