Abstract

Business negotiations that are carried out by people from different culture backgrounds are cross-cultural business negotiations. With the development of economic globalization and increase of close business activities between China and the United States, business negotiations have played an increasingly important role in Sino-U.S. bilateral trade exchanges. As there are huge differences between the two cultures, cultural conflicts are likely to occur, which may lead to misunderstandings between Chinese and American negotiators. Therefore, it is very important to know the cultural differences between the two countries when engaged in international business negotiations. Only when Chinese and American negotiators sharpen their sensitivity of cultural differences and know the differences in values and styles of negotiations, can they make appropriate negotiation strategies. Therefore, this paper studied cultural differences between China and the United States and their impacts on business negotiations, in order to explore how to deal with the cultural differences correctly in the process of negotiation and put forward some suggestions on how to carry out the Sino-US trade negotiations successfully.

Key words: Business negotiation, cultural differences, cross - cultural communication

CONTENTS

中文摘要

Abstract

Chapter 1 Introduction.1

Chapter 2 Literature Review2

 2.1 Culture.2

   2.1.1 Individualist vs. collectivist culture2

2.1.2 High context vs. low context culture3

2.1.3Universalist vs. particularist culture4

   2.1.4 Hierarchical vs. egalitarian culture.4

 2.2 Negotiation5

2.2.1 Definition of negotiation.5

2.2.2 Understanding negotiation.5

Chapter 3 Case Studies and Analysis.6

3.1 Cultural impact on attitudes: win/lose or win/win.,.6

3.2 Cultural impact on communication: direct or indirect7

3.3 Cultural impact on agreement building process: bottom-up or top-down8

3.4 Cultural impact on personal style: informal or formal….8

3.5 Cultural impact on willingness to take risks: high or low.9

3.6 Case analysis of Sino-U.S. business negotiation.9

Chapter 4 Reconciliation of Dilemmas .11

  4.1 Awareness of cultural differences.11

  4.2 Respecting cultural differences..12

  4.3 Reconciling cultural differences….12

Chapter 5 Conclusion.12

Works Cited.14