Abstract

Recently, along with the fast development of Chinese economy, especially after it’s joining the WTO, business enterprises face more and more negotiations. Among them, the United States plays an important role. At the same time, Sino-US economic and trade exchange also have rapidly developed, and business negotiations between the two sides become more frequent. Cultural differences exist between the two countries due to the differences in political environment and education, etc, which will affect the business negotiations directly. There will be communicating obstacles or unnecessary troubles because of the ignorance of cultural differences. So it is very important to recognize the cultural differences between China and the USA. This paper will discuss the influence of Sino-US cultural differences on their business negotiations, and then give some suggestions to tackle it. Only when we have a good knowledge of the cultural differences between the two sides, can we use suitable strategies to reach a win-win situation.

Key words: Business negotiation; cultural differences; influence

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-4

2 Cultural Differences and Their Impacts on Business Negotiations-5

2.1 Linguistic and Non-linguistic Differences-5

2.1.1 Linguistic Differences and Impacts-5

2.1.2 Non-linguistic Differences and Impacts-7

2.2 Differences in Values-8

2.2.1 Individualism and Collectivism-8

2.2.2 Equality-10

2.2.3 Time-11

2.3 Differences in Thinking Pattern-12

2.3.1 The Overall Thinking Pattern and Individual Thinking Pattern-12

2.3.2 The Curved Thinking Pattern and Linear Thinking Pattern-13

2.3.3 The Comprehensive Thinking Pattern and Analytical Thinking Pattern-14

3 Strategies to Tackle the Cultural Differences in Business Negotiation-s15

4 Conclusion-17

References-18