Impact Of Cultural Differences On Sino-American Business Negotiation

With the progress of economic globalization and China's admission into WTO, business negotiations between China and the United States have been increasing, through direct trade, joint ventures, licensing or distribution agreements. But cultural differences between the two countries are considered an enormous challenge in business negotiations across the ocean. Many books and articles, from both academic and practitioner perspectives, have been dedicated to the complexities of negotiations between different cultures. It is widely accepted that understanding cultural differences during negotiations is of great importance to successful, cross-cultural negotiations in international trade.This thesis compares American and Chinese negotiation styles from a cross-cultural perspective. There are many factors contributing to a certain type of negotiating style, but cultural difference is one of the most important. The thesis adopts mainly the methodology of comparison and case study. The goal is to improve the knowledge and understanding of negotiation-related cultural features as well as cultural differences to minimize future misunderstandings, furnish some recommendations for negotiators involved in Sino-American business negotiations, and thus contribute to the bilateral economic cooperation between China and America.