The Pervasive Impact of Culture on Negotiation Behavior Companies and countries do not negotiate—people do Cultural differences cause four kinds of problems in international business negotiations, at the levels of: Language Nonverbal behaviors Values Thinking and decision-making processes

Implications for Managers and Negotiators Four steps lead to more efficient and effective international business negotiations, which include: selection of the appropriate negotiation team; management of preliminaries, including training, preparations, and manipulation of negotiation settings; management of the process of negotiations, that is, what happens at the negotiation table; appropriate follow-up procedures and practices;

Negotiation Teams Criteria for selecting successful negotiators include: Maturity Emotional stability Breadth of knowledge Optimism Flexibility Empathy Stamina Willingness to use team assistance Listening Influence at headquarters

Negotiation Setting There are at least seven aspects of the negotiation setting that should be manipulated ahead of time if possible: Location Physical arrangements Number of parties Number of participants Audiences (news media, competitors, fellow vendors, etc.) Communications channels Time limits

At the Negotiation Table Differences in the expectations held by parties from different cultures are one of the major difficulties in any international business negotiation.