Abstract

As the rapid development of reform and opening-up, the communication between China and other countries is increasing and the conflicts in intercultural business negotiation arise due to the cultural differences. This is why it is difficult to achieve success in business negotiations. For the moment, as two of the largest countries in foreign trade, America and China have witnessed the frequent trading activities between them, which shows the ever-increasing importance of business negotiations. In fact, business negotiation between two countries is intercultural negotiation. In order to reach an agreement, negotiators need to communicate. Only by understanding cultural differences can we have effective communication and get a satisfactory result. 

This paper takes pains to discuss cultural impacts on business negotiation and comes up with several suggestions to reconcile cultural conflicts in negotiation from the perspective of intercultural communication theory so as to make negotiation develop smoothly.

Key words: cultural differences; intercultural communication; business negotiation

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-2

3 Intercultural Communication between China and America-4

3.1Theory of Intercultural Communication-4

3.2 Cultural Differences between China and America-5

4 Impacts of Cultural Differences on Sino-US Business Negotiation-7

4.1 Impact on Negotiation Objectives-7

4.2 Impact on Communication Means-8

4.3 Impact on Decision-making-9

4.4 Impact on Negotiation Style-9

4.5 Impact on Negotiation Scale-10

5 Proposals for Effective Intercultural Negotiation-10

5.1 Enhancing Cultural Awareness-11

5.2 Preparing Well before Negotiation-11

5.3 Conquering Communication Barriers-12

5.4 Tolerating Different Cultures-12

6 Conclusion-13

References-15