中美商务谈判中的文化壁垒及应对策略

论文总字数：39431字

摘 要

在不同的文化背景下，谈判双方存在文化壁垒，谈判风格有着巨大的差异。自中国加入世贸组织以来，中美商务交往日益频繁，商务谈判在两国间的商业活动中发挥着越来越重要的作用。因此，谈判双方有必要深入了解并认真学习中美文化壁垒从而促成成功有效的商务谈判。在深入研究的基础上，论文列出了跨文化商务谈判中必须重视的一些关键点，希望以此减少商务谈判中的文化冲击。从跨文化角度，本文论述了中国与美国之间礼仪文化、语境、群体观念存在差异。这些文化壁垒影响着双方谈判的交流方式、沟通过程和决策方式。为了打破中美商务谈判的僵局，谈判者要树立跨文化意识，灵活运用语言策略，改变决策方式，使中美贸易谈判顺利进行，实现合作共赢。

关键词：文化壁垒；中美商务谈判；应对策略

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………1
3. The Cultural Barriers in Business Negotiation between China and America …………………………………………………………………...3

3.1 The differences of etiquette culture ……………………………………….3

3.2 The differences of contexts …………………………………………........4

3.3 The differences of group attitudes ……………………………………...6

1. The Influence of Cultural Barriers in Business Negotiation Between China and America …………………………………………………………...7

4.1 Negotiation mode……………………………………………………….8

4.2 Communication process………………………………………….......9

4.3 Decision making…………………………………………………………...9

1. The Strategies of High-efficiency Business Negotiation……………….10

5.1 The cultivation of intercultural negotiation consciousness ……………10

5.2 The flexible use of linguistic strategy………………………………...11

5.3 The change of decision structures …………………………………….12

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..12

Works Cited………………………………………………………………...14

1. Introduction

As economic big powers in the world, the trades between the US and China have become an indispensable part of the world economic system. At the same time, there are more and more trade frictions between the two countries, which make greater demands on business negotiations between the two countries. Business negotiations are a common activity in foreign trade. With the development of economic trade and continual and intimate business interaction activities, it is so much more important at cultural barriers between two nations. Because of, the business negotiation is gradually increasing. However, owing to the tremendous cultural differences, the habits of mind and behaviors of the two peoples are too different to avoid communication barriers and unnecessary misconceptions during the process of Sino-US negotiation. Therefore, in order to make the negotiations effective, the negotiators must not only understand the cultural differences between the two sides, but more importantly, they should understand how cultural factors influence the negotiations, so as to formulate effective coping strategies, thus facilitating the negotiation of a satisfactory agreement.

2. Literature Review

To define cultural barriers, we must first define culture. Culture has broad and narrow meanings. The former refers to the sum of all material products and spiritual products created by human beings; the latter refers to the spiritual products of human beings, including language, literature, art and all ideologies. (Fangamp;Liu 112)The difference between a culture and other cultures constitutes a cultural barrier, which is mainly reflected in the differences in language, mode of thinking, customs, religious beliefs, morality, political and legal systems, and outlook on life, world outlook and values. Cultural barriers refer to measures that respond to the influence of foreign cultures on local cultures due to cultural differences or misunderstandings between different cultures.（Li 118）

The process of economic integration between China and the United States has accelerated and the development of business contacts has become more frequent, and the importance of business negotiations has become increasingly apparent.

Business negotiation is an activity carried out by buyers and sellers in order to facilitate a transaction, or a way and means to resolve disputes between buyers and sellers and to obtain their respective economic interests. Business negotiation is created and developed under the conditions of commodity economy, and it has become an essential part of modern social and economic life. It can be said that economic activities cannot be carried out without business negotiation which exists in bargaining in life, as well as cooperation between corporate legal persons and economic and technological exchanges between the states. In The Cultural Barriers between China and the United States, Zhu Min analyzes the differences between Chinese and American cultures and the impact of these differences on trade from three aspects: way of thinking, language and values. She proposed that it is necessary for us to establish a legal and standardized trading environment and establish an international cultural exchange organization; formulate trade strategies which should pay attention to integration with local culture and cultivate cross-cultural management with cultural awareness, knowledge and talent（Zhu 94-95）. In The Influence of Cultural Differences between China and The United States on Business Negotiations, the cultural differences are the key points in the business negotiations between the two countries. A reasonable treatment of the cultural differences will greatly help the success of the negotiations. Cultural differences are reflected in the way of speaking, customs, and modes of thinking. They are issues of concern in Sino-US business negotiations（Niu 28-29）. Nowadays, Sino-US economic and trade ties have further development and business negotiations between the two countries have become more frequent. At the same time, there are more and more trade conflicts in all forms, which put higher demands on business negotiations between the two countries. In this regard, negotiators must strengthen their understanding of the culture of both sides in business negotiations, prepare for work, and take effective measures to promote the various stages of the negotiations, smooth development and finally reach a consensus.

This paper first introduces the importance of Sino-US business negotiations, introduces what major cultural barriers in the negotiations can affect business negotiations, and then pay attention to the differences between Chinese and American cultures and the impacts in the negotiations between the two countries, and in the US business negotiations, we must pay special attention to and avoid problems, and formulate a negotiation strategy of winning the joint efforts to enable the two sides to successfully conclude business negotiations.

3. Cultural Barriers in Business Negotiation between China and America

Business negotiation is not only the exchange and cooperation between the two parties based on economic interests, but also the collision and communication between the different cultures of the two sides. The most difficult thing to control is cultural factors. Due to the obvious differences in the historical traditions, political institutional economic conditions, cultural backgrounds, customs and values of the countries, the negotiators of various countries will form different negotiation styles in business negotiations. Every negotiator came to the negotiating table with his deep cultural brand. Negotiators have different cultural backgrounds, people"s values, ways of behavior, language, and customs are diverse, which greatly increases the factors affecting negotiations, leading to more negotiations and makes the negotiation more complicated.

3.1 The differences of etiquette culture

The difference between Sino-US etiquette is mainly reflected in the aspect of language habits and culture customs. This aspect will be divided into four small aspects. First, China pays more attention to the festivals such as the Qing Ming Festival, the Spring Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The United States pays more attention to Christmas and other festivals. The dates of the legal holidays in the two countries are different（Zhanamp;Zhao 72）. Differences in holidays will affect the timing of the negotiation. When scheduling the negotiation time, we must take the national holidays into consideration and take care of the holidays. Second, the frequency of polite expressions is different. Chinese people often use respectful words, while Americans rarely use respectful words. For example, when the Chinese are praised, they often say "you have won the prize" and some other common words. When Americans are complimented, they often say "thank you" and receive the praise of others. Third, there are differences in times of usage of phatic utterances what Chinese are used to. When meeting the business partners, Chinese people are welcoming and hospitable who are fond of asking numerous questions through conversation. At the same time, they can understand each other"s background, experience and personal preferences, etc. which helps them to know each other and facilitate the most suitable business cooperation program. However, Americans rarely use the phatic utterances. They take no notice of the greetings in the business meeting and pay attention to work efficiency. They met and asked for a good voice, and reached out to each other with enthusiasm, made a brief introduction, and then they cut the subject. They think that time is money, success is efficiency. Fourth, the style of speaking is different. Chinese businessmen speak more formal and serious in their workplaces, especially in formal business activities. But American businessmen like to express their easygoing and sense of humor whenever and wherever they want.（Zhao 14）

In 2010, a US company sold a color TV glass bulb production line to the Shijiazhuang factory in China. After installation, the results of the commissioning have been unsatisfactory. When it was time for Christmas, American experts would go back to the festival. Since the equipment has to be stopped, especially the glass furnaces have to be maintained and maintained, there is a price for the Chinese production line to stop, but the US holiday is legal, the two cannot be integrated. After the US side left, the Chinese experts studied the technology and started to solve the problem. After a week of work, day and night, the machine with the biggest problem was debugged. This is also the key to the whole line. After the machine can produce qualified glass bulbs, other equipment can operate at its rhythm. After the US personnel had finished the festival, it was three weeks after returning to the Chinese factory. They were very surprised to see the glass bulb of the factory warehouse. The Chinese told the US that they adjusted the production line on their own. The US personnel were furious and thought that the Chinese personnel should not debug the device by themselves and refuse to assume all responsibility.（Xie 89）

3.2 The differences of contexts

The concept of high and low contextual culture was first proposed by the American anthropologist Edward T. Hall, whose purpose is to illustrate the diversity of world culture based on differences in context. According to the mainstream communication in culture, Hall divides different cultures into high-context culture and low-context culture. In these two cultures, context and language are different in communication, and they also play different roles. The United States is a typical low-context culture country. In this particular culture environment, people usually express their opinions clearly and concretely. In China"s high-context culture countries, people are euphemistic and expressive, and information expression usually requires body language for a more comprehensive understanding. During the negotiation process, when the representatives of the Chinese side hold different opinions on the other party"s problems, they will express their opinions indirectly, for example, they may take silence or other means to reject the other party"s standpoint. When the US representative has an opinion on a certain clause, they usually present their opinions in person. This direct rejection of the Chinese side will make the Chinese feel very faceless. For the Chinese, it is hurtful to dismiss others" views in person and think that the other party should express their views in a more euphemistic way. But Americans don"t like to express their own ideas by turning around, and they like to come up with their own opinions and suggestions. Information and intention have a tendency to be mistaken only if they make a conscious effort to this basic difference.（Pan 55）

Different contexts have different modes of communication. The differences between Chinese and American expressions are mainly manifested in direct and indirect expressions. In a high-context culture, speaking straightforward in negotiations is considered rude and undesirable. People often prefer to communicate indirectly. However, indirect expression sometimes leads to ambiguity in speech and misunderstanding between the two parties. In addition, Chinese people have always attached importance to harmony and face, and attached importance to establishing friendly relations with each other, and try to avoid direct conflicts. Based on this, the Chinese also tend to use more euphemism in business negotiations. If there are any problems and differences in the negotiations, taking into account the other"s face, they often do not directly point out these issues, but use euphemism to express dissatisfaction. In contrast, in a low-context culture, Americans tend to express in clear and accurate speech while trying to avoid ambiguous information. In communication, try to avoid irrelevant information and unclear expression（Huang 94-95）.They believe that direct expression can reduce the complexity of the situation and enable the problem to be solved efficiently. For example, in the negotiations, when the US is not satisfied with the quotation, they will respond quickly and give a counter-offer in time. If there are any problems in the counter-offer, they tend to point directly to the other party and hope to get a quick fix.

In 2011, two American companies OML customers come to visit the factory and showroom. Because both parties had a prior knowledge of their respective cultures, the US customers wanted to use the Chinese indirect expression to answer the question of lunch when first came to OML. They originally thought that China would invite them to lunch. Later, the Chinese thought that the direct expression of the US indicated their meaning and they did not ask them to have lunch. When visiting the factory, one of the American customers saw a poster with the wrong English letter. It is awkward that the American customer directly pointed out the mistake of the English letter, and did not take into account the face of the deputy general manager.（Pan 55）

3.3 The differences of group attitudes

Geert Hofstede, director of the Netherlands Cultural Association Institute, wrote the famous book "The End of Culture". According to the research results, Holmes believes that culture is a common psychological procedure of people in an environment, not an individual characteristic, but a psychological procedure shared by many people with the same educational and life experience. These procedures vary from group to group or region to country. This cultural difference can be divided into four dimensions: power distance and individualism versus collectivism. "Individualism" refers to a loosely integrated social organization structure in which each individual values his or her own values and needs and relies on individual efforts to seek benefits for him. “Collectivism” refers to a closely integrated social organization in which people are often distinguished by “within the group” and “outside the group”. They expect to be cared for by “people within the group”. But at the same time, it also returns in absolute loyalty to the group. The United States is an individualistic society that emphasizes individual freedom and individual achievement. Therefore, it is an effective humanistic incentive to carry out individual competition among employees and reward individual performance. Both China and Japan are socialist schools that advocate collectivism. Employees have an emotional dependence on the organization and should easily build a harmonious relationship between employees and managers. China is a society that advocates "collectivism." In the eyes of the Chinese, the collective goal is higher than the individual goal, and the collective interest is greater than the personal interest. The United States emphasizes "individualism," and they strive to achieve their ambitions and pursue individual independence. So when negotiating decisions are needed, US negotiators often collide with Chinese negotiators. Americans tend to move at the individual level rather than at the group level so that they usually can make decisions on their own at once. In China, this may vary. Chinese representatives usually make lengthy group discussions based on collective interests before making decisions. In the eyes of Chinese negotiators, the decision-making process is a consensus-based process, which explains why there are often more than a dozen Chinese participants present, and only three or two in the US. Before they agree to change their initial ideas, they must seek advice from others in the group. China emphasizes collectivism, paying attention to the seal of the unit, the fairness and cooperation of the group, and the level and hierarchy of social relations in business activities. The United States emphasizes self-realization, individual authority and responsibility, and equal unfettered free relations. The concept of time is not very strong. Americans are usually not interested in the past, most pay attention to the present, have a strong sense of time, and strictly abide by commitments and regulations（Fangamp;Liu 112-113）. Therefore, US negotiators are often frustrated by negotiating with Chinese negotiators because they find that they must convince the entire group and not just one or two opponents.

In 2000, there was a contract about a Chinese roving exhibition of archaeological artifacts in the United States. The two parties wanted to find a company to accept insurance because these precious cultural relics needed to take insurance, however, they haven"t decided to be insured by which company for a long time. Negotiations between the two sides had reached a deadlock. The Chinese negotiators had proposed to wait for the instructions of the superiors, suggesting that the two sides put this issue aside and discuss other minor issues. During this period, it took the US a long while to conduct abundant material of inquiry work and insurance rate in domestic. As a result, the US received an offer about the insurance earlier than the China. In this case, when the two parties were stalemate in which company was underwritten, the Chinese negotiators proposed to wait for the superior to give instructions, set aside the dispute, and turn to discuss secondary issues. People prefer a desirable method to discuss in group and apply for the instruction from the superior in China which has always been a community oriented culture. American negotiators seem to be more proactive and direct. They take active attitudes to answer up and work out collisions rather than avoiding contradictions. A lot of work has been done to collect information outside the negotiating field, such as asking domestic counterparts for premiums, and striving for sufficient evidence to support their views.（Zhuang 92）

4. The Influence of Cultural Barriers in Business Negotiation between China and America

In virtue of the impact on different cultures, there are different styles of business negotiation in different nations. Complex negotiations are often broken down into smaller ones by westerners, which are then solved in turn, and in many Eastern cultures, negotiations take a holistic approach. Therefore, in international business negotiations, for business partners of different cultural backgrounds, strengthening negotiation management based on cultural differences and correctly handling cultural differences are very important for improving the efficiency of negotiations. For the culture of foreign negotiators, some negotiators may have noticed the specific performance of some “different” or “complex” negotiation methods of the negotiating parties, but they do not think it is important. Some people blindly believe that foreign-related negotiations are based on facts and data, while facts and data are universal. Similarly, when negotiators go to a foreign country to negotiate, in order to maintain a harmonious relationship with each other, they will notice the cultural similarities between the two sides, and ignore the differences. If you do no take notice of the other countries" differences, it will easily give rise to the failure of the negotiations.

After China"s accession to the WTO, economic and trade exchanges with countries around the world have become more frequent, and negotiations have increasingly shown its position in social and economic life. As a powerful country in the world today, the United States is also an important trading partner of China, but the cultural differences between China and the United States have had a tremendous impact on the negotiations, making negotiations impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to study the influence of Sino-US cultural differences on the negotiations between China and the United States.

4.1 Negotiation mode

There are different performances of business negotiation in different cultural environment, because culture has an influence in negotiation mode. The negotiators are affected by the recognition of negotiation process, usage of language, selection of communication channels and final decision which can help negotiators to establish favorable fellowship in business negotiation. In a word, the main distinction between two nations is the ways and means of business negotiation. Most of the misunderstandings stem from deep cultural misunderstandings and not some specific behaviors. For example, Americans tend to think that the business communication of Chinese people is not efficient, not directly or even dishonest. The Chinese believe that the Americans" approach is too aggressive and unreasonable.（Leung 10）

On the whole, negotiation consists of horizontal and vertical modes. Horizontal negotiation is an approach which first lists all the issues to be covered. But in the meantime, all the agenda items should be talked over and make headway by negotiators. Vertical negotiation is a discussion about the topics in proper order after confirming the issues in question. Americans are delegate of vertical negotiations and tend to start with specific terms. A course of dealing is virtually aimed at a sequence of balancing and compromising for the Americans.（Niu 28-29）.

4.2 Communication process

The way of communication varies from culture to culture. People adopt immediate or uncomplicated communication methods in some places, and some use mediate or complex methods. Americans do things simply and neatly. Because of the Americans" crisp attitude, it is straightforward for negotiators to convey distinct objections that “yes” or “no” must be clear. The Chinese people attach importance to face who are unwilling to say “no” to anyone. They believe that direct refusal will embarrass the other party, even irritating, is extremely rude. Therefore, when negotiating with Chinese businessmen, the expression should be as euphemistic as possible, and it is forbidden to leave the ultimatum.

The influence of cultural differences on the negotiation process also appeared in the form of nonverbal communication. There are tremendous distinctions in the body language and action language, even the same action express the contrary information（Zhuang 85-87）. Moreover, everyone has their own private space, and when others invade private space, we become extremely upset. But the scope of this "private space" varies from culture to culture. In general, a culture that emphasizes individualism is larger than a personal space that emphasizes the cultural needs of collectivism. For example, the distance between Americans is nearly 1m. But for Chinese people it is usually 0.5 to 1 m.

4.3 Decision making

Chinese culture belongs to a high power gap culture that the vertical relationship between people and people is formed due to differences in experience, position, and cultural standing. People pay more attention to the difference in status and their position in the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Members of the Chinese negotiating team can only act within their own authority, and the final decision is usually made by the superior who did not participate in the negotiations（Yi 265）. So the way to make decisions is top-down. American culture is a low power gap culture. The concept of equality in American culture is deeply rooted, and the affirmation of various laws and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of each person have created a strong and prominent individual consciousness of the American fever. When the US side highlights the role of the individual during the negotiations, it is often designated that a person is solely responsible for negotiating, and that he or she can make decisions on his or her own initiative. Therefore, the decision-making method should be more from the bottom up.

It is very important to know in the negotiation that has the power to make an evaluation and how the decision is made. Culture is an important factor influencing the way decisions are made. Decision-making methods can be divided into two types: top-down and bottom-up（Zhao 14）. In the United States, decision-making is made from the top down, and the main person in charge of the negotiation has all the power and energy to make decisions when completing the task, so that negotiations can be completed as soon as possible. In China, emphasizing joint participation and group decision-making, all members agree, and bottom-up collective decision-making, so it takes a long time for Chinese to make a decision.

5. The Strategies of High-efficiency Business Negotiation

After acceding to the World Trade Organization, economic exchanges with the world have deepened, and business contacts between Chinese and world companies have increased. The economic and trade between China and the United States has developed rapidly with the acceleration of the process of global economic integration. However, when the two countries conduct international business negotiations, they will inevitably encounter some conflicts or unnecessary misunderstandings. Therefore, it is very necessary for negotiators to understand the cultural differences between the two countries before the negotiations. Only when China and the United States enhance the sensitivity of cultural differences in negotiations can we formulate effective strategies for business negotiations to precede negotiations smoothly.

5.1 The cultivation of intercultural negotiation consciousness

In the Sino-US business negotiations, the sensitivity of cultural differences should be cultivated, cross-cultural awareness should be established and strengthened, and a global cultural outlook should be established. The negotiators should be accurately acquainted with requirements, intentions, faith, negotiation styles and decision-making that came from diverse cultural context. At the same time, they should have an imitate knowledge of each other"s culture to be more nimble to accommodate others negotiation style and strategy. In Sino-US business negotiations, it is also necessary to establish cross-cultural negotiation awareness, learn to understand, accept, respect foreign cultures and customs, be good at seeing problems from the perspective of the other party, understand the way the other party sees the problem, and understand the needs and motivations of the other negotiator（Yang 122-128）. Overcoming communication barriers or misunderstandings formed by cultural differences between them, prompting cross-cultural negotiations to proceed smoothly.

First of all, in terms of the choice and application of negotiating language, for Western countries, we must adopt an outward-oriented communication method and try to express our thoughts in a simple, clear and frank way. Don"t be ambiguous and vague. Secondly, in the negotiation method, because the Orientals" thinking mode is the overall orientation, the methods they use in the negotiations are from the whole to the local, from large to small, from general to specific, that is to say, first reach a consensus on the overall principle, and then use this to guide the formulation of specific problem-solving plans. They do not have a clear order, and usually at the end of the negotiations, they will make concessions and commitments on all issues to reach an agreement. Westerners are most concerned about the logical relationship between things because of the influence of analytical thinking patterns. They are more specific than the general.（Zhanamp;Zhao 72）

5.2 The flexible use of linguistic strategy

For the smooth development of Sino-US business negotiations, on the basis of respecting the cultural differences between the two sides, it is also necessary to use language strategies effectively. The negotiators should be proficient in the language of the negotiating party and use them flexibly to overcome the barriers to understanding the semantics of different cultural backgrounds, improve their ability to use language, express their opinions in accurate and professional language, and avoid professional communication barriers. The translators let the opinions of both sides achieve the most accurate expression. The speech expression of a successful business negotiator must be changed according to people, time and place, respect and understanding of cultural differences. For different negotiating objects, the language application strategy should be targeted and treated differently. The use of business negotiation language throughout the negotiation process directly has an influence on the success or failure of the negotiation. In practice, we should master the pragmatic strategies of politeness, euphemism, ambiguity, humor, praise and other appropriate cross-cultural business negotiations, and choose appropriate language to promote the smooth progress of business negotiations.

5.3 The change of decision structures

The Americans negotiated the sub-tools with clear responsibilities. Once the conditions were ripe, they quickly made a decision. However, it is hard to make an agreement because of lack of patience and insufficient endurance. Of course, both as a buyer and a seller are interested in a package deal. Therefore, it is necessary to speed up the negotiation rhythm properly and the negotiation time should not be too long. As soon as the conditions are right, the board is sold. In the negotiations, we should take advantage of the characteristics of American businessmen"s bold personality, and sincerely and enthusiastically interact with them, it is easy to create a harmonious atmosphere, accelerate the negotiation process, create opportunities for success, and otherwise it will increase misunderstanding or lead to failure. Therefore, China should appropriately reduce the negotiators and give them most of their decision-making power so that they can make some decisions on their own instead of lengthy group discussions. Once the conditions are settled, you should make a decision immediately, instead of going back to the other people in the advisory group and asking your boss for advice.（Fangamp;Liu 112）

6. Conclusion

International business negotiation is not just a simple business activity, but a complex process involving cultural differences between countries. Therefore, the influence of cultural causes on international business negotiations is the most direct and extensive. As the process of global economic integration continues, economic and trade activities become more frequent, and the success of international business negotiations directly affects the outcome of trade. In order to be invincible in business activities, it is necessary to conduct in-depth and comprehensive research on national cultures to minimize and avoid the negative impact of cultural differences. The United States is the number one developed country, and the cooperation between China and the United States is beneficial to the development of both sides. Since communication and cooperation are inseparable from business negotiations, the cultural differences between China and the United States have become important factors influencing the outcome of business negotiations. Only by means of recognizing the differences between Chinese and American cultures and the impact on business negotiations can we discover the real causes of misunderstandings or conflicts between each other, and finally find effective communication channels, grasp the direction and progress of negotiations, and finally obtain mutually beneficial and win-win negotiation results.

In cross-border negotiations, in addition to understanding the cultural characteristics of different countries and understanding the theoretical knowledge of cross-culture, negotiators must also have a broad-minded and inclusive attitude and demonstrate understanding and respect for cultural differences in other countries. Only by correctly understanding and properly grasping the differences between Chinese and Western cultures can we continuously improve our negotiation skills, strengthen our own advantages, and promote the smooth progress of international business negotiations.

Works Cited

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