Adept negotiators do some research to develop a profile of their counterparts so that they know, in most situations, what to expect, how to prepare, and how to react. Exhibit 5-3 shows 12 variables to consider when preparing to negotiate. These variables can, to a great degree, help managers understand the deep-rooted cultural and national motivations and traditional processes underlying negotiations with people from other countries.
After developing thoughtful profiles of the other party or parties, managers can plan for the actual negotiation meetings. Prior to the meetings, they should find out as much as possible about (1. the kinds of demands that might be made, (2. the composition of the opposing team, and (3. the relative authority that the members possess. After this, the managers can gear their negotiation strategy specifically to the other side's firm, allocate roles to different team members, decide on concessions, and prepare an alternative action plan in case a negotiated solution cannot be found.8
In some situations, however, the entire negotiation process is something people have to learn from scratch. After the splintering of the Soviet Union into fifteen independent republics, managers from the Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, wishing to form a joint venture to refine gold deposits in Uzbekistan, found themselves at a standstill. Officials in Uzbekistan had never negotiated a business contract and had no one to tell them how to proceed.
Following the preparation and planning stage, usually done at the home office, the core of the actual negotiation takes place on-site in the foreign location (or at the manager's home office if the other team has decided to travel there). In some cases a compromise on the location for negotiations can signal a cooperative strategy, which Weiss calls Improvise an approach: Effect Symphony-a strategy available to negotiators familiar with each others' culture and willing to put negotiation on an equal footing.1 Weiss gives the following example of this negotiation strategy:
For their negotiations over construction of the tunnel under the English Channel, British and French representatives agreed to partition talks and alternate the site between Paris and London. At each site, the negotiators were to use established, local ways, including the language,. . . thus punctuating approaches by time and space.
In this way, each side was put into the context and the script of the other culture about half the time.
The next stage of negotiation-often given short shrift by westerners-is that of relationship building; this stage, in fact, usually has either taken place already or is concurrent with other preparations in most parts of the world.
Variables in the Negotiating Process : Chinese article from Market Negotiation Catagory Variables in the Negotiating Process
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