1. 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

2. 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;

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.