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- QUESTION
For this assignment, create a business of your choosing. You may use your current employer, an employer you are familiar with or a well known business as a guide. Describe in this paper a situation where you will be negotiating with a different culture. Identify the culture (Asian, Indian, French, South American, etc) and the likely situations that may require attention to the cultural differences. List steps you would take to ensure that the cultural differences are taken into consideration. This paper should demonstrate your understanding of Negotiating across cultures. APA, double spaced, 2 references. Book: Lewicki, R, Saunders, M., Minton, J.& Barry, B (2015) Negotiation: Readings, exercise and cases. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
| Subject | Business | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Negotiation and culture
Jake’s electronics LTD is a wholesale merchandise store based in California that deals with almost all types of electronics from mobiles, computers to electronic appliances. At Jake’s electronics, we embrace all our customers and ensure that they leave the store happy and satisfied. We also ensure that our staff are cultural-conscious and can comfortably strike great deals with customers across all cultures. Recently, an Indian buyer visited the store and after a tour, he decided that he wants to purchase the Apple IPhone X in two weeks’ time. As protocol, all products are to be sold at a negotiable price. Hence, as the sales person, it is clear that such a negotiation will require one to have knowledge on the Indian business culture, especially negotiations. Lewicki, (2015) argues that overcoming cultural barriers in negotiation is crucial in ensuring that objectives are achieved, relationships are built and disputes are resolved.
Brett (2017) outlines four key strategies for coping with cultural differences in business negotiations. These strategies will help a salesperson to successfully undergo the preparation phase before negotiation. The first step is to ensure that you do a thorough research about the buyers’ culture. In this situation, the sales person should be aware of the Indian negotiation culture. Several blog posts and article describe Indians as individuals with such incredible entrepreneurial skills that is basically a blend of business-minded antagonism, arithmetical intelligence and innovative thinking. Hence, it is correct to say that Indians portray remarkable negotiation skills that would easily get them a 70% off worth deal. The second strategy is ensuring that you have the capacity to demonstrate utmost respect for cultural differences. In this case, the sales person needs to identify and understand the cultural differences in relation to negotiations in India. Therefore, the sales person should be aware that in India, the negotiation process is slow, it may take multiple longer and that hierarchy is a vital consideration. In response, the sales person should be patient, observant when negotiating with the Indian buyer.
The third strategy would be to identify how your culture is perceived by the foreign buyer. The salesperson needs to be aware of how Indians perceive his culture and negotiation styles. Generally, US negotiators are known for their integrity and adherence to business ethical codes and their expertise in verbal expressions that enable them to effectively express their concerns and opinions. The final strategy would be to identify means to bridge the cultural gap. According to Brett (2017), one way to bridge culture gap is by identifying things you share in common such as goals or interests which may direct you towards reaching a common understanding. In this case, both Indians and Americans believe in showing respect towards each other in a negotiation.
Therefore, it is important for businesses to be aware of cultural differences and be able to overcome cultural barriers during negotiations. The key steps to overcoming culture barriers include: doing thorough homework on the foreign culture, identifying the cultural differences, placing yourself on the foreign negotiator’s shoes and finally finding ways to bridge the cultural gap. Overcoming cultural differences in negotiations ensures that objectives are achieved, relationships are built and disputes are resolved.
References
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Brett, J. M., Gunia, B. C., & Teucher, B. M. (2017). Culture and negotiation strategy: A framework for future research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(4), 288-308. Lewicki, R, Saunders, M., Minton, J.& Barry, B (2015) Negotiation: Readings, exercise and cases. 7th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin
Appendix
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