A Study On The Cultural Differences Between China And Western Countries In Intercultural Business Negotiation

Intercultural business negotiation refers to consultation and talks between different main bodies about related business affairs during international economic and trading communications. Intercultural business negotiation is a trans-country activity. Therefore, it is important to understand different cultural backgrounds of related countries and consider their cultural differences in business activities. Only by understanding the differences in thinking modes, negotiation methods, negotiation styles, customs, habits, body language and time concept of people, who come from different countries, can you achieve the successes in intercultural business negotiations. We should prepare and modify our own negotiation strategies according to the culture of the other side, thus increasing opportunities of coming to an agreement and mutual understandings.The paper takes the theory of context as the guiding theoretical framework. It puts intercultural business negotiation into the cultural context, analyzing the main cultural elements of intercultural business negotiations, such as language, behavior, and values, etc. from an intercultural perspective. The author has collected seven cases based on her own experiences and those of friends engaged in intercultural business negotiation, made classification and arrangement to these cases, analyzed these cases with intercultural business negotiation theory, and finally summarized the influences of the cultural differences between China and western countries in intercultural business negotiations. With plans formulated on the basis of analyses, some methods are proposed to minimize and eliminate the negative impacts of cultural differences between China and western countries in intercultural business negotiations. The aim of the study is to summarize the experiences in order to make people who are engaged in intercultural business negotiations achieve successes in intercultural business negotiations.The study shows:(1) as both sides of a negotiation do not understand cultures of the other side, a series of contradictions and conflicts appear. Therefore, both sides have to make enough preparations before a negotiation. They should also know the culture and customs of the other side as much as possible, so as to avoid cultural conflicts, and reduce their negative impacts on the negotiation. (2) The author has discovered another surprising phenomenon, namely, exchanged cultural conflict. Sometimes, both sides of a negotiation can fully understand the culture of each other. But owing to the excessive worry about the negative impact, both sides respect and follow the cultural habit of the other side as much as possible in the process of a negotiation, thus leading to the exchanged cultural conflict. Therefore, negotiators should pay attention to negotiation skills, flexibly using knowledge acquired, rather than blindly following or rejecting the culture of the other side.