Chapter 19 – Negotiating with International Customers, Partners, and Regulators
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Chapter 19 – Negotiating with International Customers,
Partners, and Regulators
Teaching Objectives
The main thrust of this last chapter is the recognition that all international marketing strategies and plans
are implemented via negotiations with managers, partners, and customers from foreign countries. Cross-
cultural negotiation skills are a key attribute of the successful international executive. The teaching
objectives are:
1) To clearly describe the dangers of stereotyping foreign managers.
2) To illustrate the pervasive influence of culture on negotiations styles.
3) To list the most common problems that arise in cross-cultural negotiations.
4) To understand how negotiation processes differ across cultures.
5) To outline the most important considerations in selecting negotiators and preparing for
negotiations in foreign countries.
6) To make clear the greater importance of follow-up communications and procedures in foreign
countries.
Comments and suggestions
1. The material in this chapter is perhaps best presented “surrounded” by the two negotiation
simulations included in the cases. Before the lecture material and the Chapter 19 reading assignment
it is recommended that the students participate in the Case 3-2 Olympics negotiations. This will give
them some idea of what their “natural” negotiation behaviors are like. Indeed, Case 3-2 (questions 1
and 2) can be used as an interesting Pricing case related to Chapter 18. Then deliver the material in 19
and close with a second experiential negotiation – Case 4-3. The students then will see the effects of
training and knowledge. They can be asked how their behavior changed from the first simulation to
the last. Another approach is to start the entire course with a bang, that is, Case 3-2
2. Video material will be quite important in demonstrating how culture influences negotiation behavior.
Several excellent sources are represented in an earlier section of the Instructors’ Manual.
3. A useful assignment would be for each student to pick a country and write a 5-page memo to their
“boss” advising her/him on how to negotiate in that country. Ample literature is available on many
countries and each student should interview an executive from the chosen country. The interview will
help verify and amplify the lessons from the literature.
Chapter 19 – Negotiating with International Customers, Partners, and Regulators
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Lecture Outline
I. The Dangers of Stereotypes
II. The Pervasive Impact of Culture on Negotiation Behavior
A. A Hierarchy of Problems
B. Problems at the Level of Language
C. Differences in Nonverbal Behaviors
D. Summary Descriptions Based on Videotaped Negotiations
E. Differences in Values
1. Objectivity
2. Competitiveness and Equality
3. Time
F. Thinking and Decision-Making Processes
III. Implications for Managers and Negotiators
A. Selecting Negotiation Teams
B. Negotiation Preliminaries
C. At the Negotiation Table
1. Non-task Sounding
2. Task-related Information Exchange
3. Persuasion
4. Concessions and Agreement
D. After Negotiations
IV. Creative International Negotiations
Discussion Questions
1.
Define:
Stereotypes
BATNA
Non-task sounding
Task-related information exchange
Creativity in negotiations
2. Why can cultural stereotypes be dangerous? Give some examples.
Chapter 19 – Negotiating with International Customers, Partners, and Regulators
3. List three ways that culture influences negotiation behavior.
4. Describe the kinds of problems that usually come up during international business negotiations.
Four kinds of problems usually come up in international business negotiations. (1) The most obvious
are language problems. Fluency in a foreign language helps of course, but even the best speakers of a
5. Why are foreign language skills important for international negotiators?
6. Describe three cultural differences in nonverbal behaviors and explain how they might cause
problems in international business negotiations.
7. Why is time an important consideration in international business negotiations?
8. What might be different about how a Japanese manager might address a complex negotiation
compared to an American negotiator?
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9. What are the most important considerations in selecting a negotiation team? Give examples.
10. What kinds of training would be most useful for international business negotiators?
11. Name three aspects of negotiation situations which might be manipulated before talks begin? Suggest
how this might be done.
Time, location, and the number of parties are all situational factors that should be manipulated before
12. Explain why Americans spend so little time on non-task sound and Brazilians so much.
Americans depend on the legal system and a tightly written contract to settle future disputes.
13. Why is it difficult to get negative feedback from counterparts in many foreign countries? Give
examples.
In high-context cultures maintaining positive personal relationships is more important that accurate
Chapter 19 – Negotiating with International Customers, Partners, and Regulators
14. Why won’t getting mad work in Mexico or Japan?
15. Why are questions the most useful persuasive tactic?
16. What is the parable of the orange, and how does it relate to international negotiations?
Perhaps the most famous negotiation parable involves an argument over an orange. The most obvious
approach was to simply cut it in half, each person getting a fair share. But, when the negotiators began