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The influence of Chinese-westernCultural Differences in Business NegotiationABSTRACTIt has been more than 30 years since the policy of reforming and opening was carried out. The international business activities got more and more showing. The results of whether the negotiation achieved or not impacted the foreign trade directly, but the results always depended upon many factors: economic basis, political background, enterprise capacity, providing and competing of the markets. But there was a very important factor behind those factors. It was culture factors. With the economic globalization and the frequent business contacts, cultural differences seem to be very important; otherwise they could cause unnecessary misunderstanding, even affect the result of the business negotiations. If you want to succeed in negotiation, you must dig the culture differences.The purpose of writing was to stress the splendid culture factors which are neglected in the past. By excavating the unity and diversity of culture factors, we advanced step by step to evident the great impact of culture factors for international business negotiation. The point innovation was to give specific impact from the specific difference, other paper was not. The ultimate goal of this thesis was to provide the theoretical evidences for those negotiations who pay more attention to the culture factors when they began to negotiate. Key Words:business negotiation, cultural difference, the influenceThe influence of Chinese-western Cultural Differences in Business NegotiationCulture is an abstract concept, it refer to all aspects of human life,including belief, art, knowledge, morals, convention, etc. Culture consist of two factors-material culture and mental culture. Science culture and humanism culture form the mental culture. And the humanism culture always refer to ethnic culture. The living environment effect humans behavior unconsciously from ones birth even not yet born. The first function of culture is to make man a human being, It is culture that regulates his conduct and prepares him for group life. It teaches him the art of living as per the cultural traits of the group. He takes the food, wears the clothes, goes to school, speaks the language and does so many other little things of day-to-day life which are a part of the conventional norms, mores, laws, customs and morals of the group. The culture of a group plays a major part in the heightening human qualities of its individuals and save them from avoiding participation in the cultural stream. The second important role of culture is to keep social relationship intact so that the group as a whole can maintain and develop the values and ideals of the group through the regulation of behaviors of its members and by satisfying their primary needs and objectives in respect of the necessities and luxuries of life . People learn to behave socially in a group because their behavior is subject to approval or disapproval.Here are some specific effects below, including the political system, thinking mode, different values and belief, language styles, the translation and interpretation.The effect of political environment The relationship between the two parties counties is the determined factor that whether the negotiating environment is loosed. If the relationship is friendly, the probability of successful negotiation will be bigger, otherwise itll be small. The effects of political environment mainly reflect in the ideology and political system. China is a socialist country. Western countries are capitalist states mostly. For the reason of incompatibility of Chinese-western political system, adversarial and discriminatory terms may be written in the contract, which cause a bad cooperation or even a failure in cooperation.The effect of thinking modePeoples thinking play an important role throughout the business negotiations. The features of Chinese-western thinking differences are obvious: Chinese culture prefer Comprehensive thinking, and emphasize unified and deductive inference; Western culture prefer analytical thinking, emphasize opposite and inductive inference. To a question, Chinese and westerners put forward to different solution.Chinese negotiators focus on working out rules, and then talk about the details. Once the principles have been confirmed, they will keep it and never compromise. However, they are flexible when handling some details. Chinese usually may compromise or promise, finally sign a contract. Western negotiators, especially the Americans, wont be limited by the frame of rules. They emphasize the whole, not the individuals. They like to start with specific things.Chinese mind the responsibility of the group, authority of individual, that is to say “centralization”; Western mind the power of the group, the responsibility of individuals, that is to say “separation of powers”. The number of Chinese members is a lot, but the decision maker is only one. While western negotiators enforce codetermination. In the view of Chinese point, self-respect is more important than negotiation result. Western negotiators notice result which is more relevant to individuals profit. Thus, they will try their best to pursue, if they can obtain benefit. Achievement is the way to judge ones status. The effect of language styleLanguage style:Chinese style seems to be formal that they always use business expressions in the negotiation and be fixed within the framework of preparation beforehand; Western style is humorous that they use daily expressions and are flexible according to the changing situations. On the part of intonation, westerners use passive voice frequently, but they are logical inside; Chinese are habituated to use terms and long sentences. Language strategies:Business negotiation is just like playing chess, you will frequently change your psychology, standpoints and negotiation strategies including language strategies according to the changed and changing situations. The following will be useful when you enter the negotiating room: 1. Aggressing as well as defending, try to find your counterparts weakness (in expressions, in inside logics) and use your own strength to get the upper hand;2. Change your standpoints and language strategies according to the changing situations;3. be sensitive to the taboos in your counterparts culture;4. Your language must serve your purpose, serve to realize your interests; to aggress as well as defend, to arrive at win-win end. 5. Your language must be professional and logical (to resolve the problems) and sometimes humorous (to relax the tense atmosphere or break the stalemate).The effect of Translation and InterpretationThe ability to make oneself understood is essential if any agreement is to be reached. International negotiations often require the use of translators or interpreters to attain this goal. The optimal translator or interpreters will understand both the linguistic and cultural nuances so necessary to communication. Translators or interpreters must also be adept at comprehending the intricacies of everything from body language to seating arrangements. Rarely will a solo negotiator or team have sufficient language skills to operate anywhere in the world. The quality of the translators or interpreters involved will greatly influence the negotiations outcome. And generally speaking, the translators or interpreters in international business negotiations should: 1. Have a large vocabulary of English, 2. Be familiar with the business terms in source and target language, 3. Understand the lexical, syntactic characteristics of business English, especially oral English in international business, 4. Know about relevant business knowledge, 5. Be sensitive to cross-cultural communication, 6. Have good interpersonal skills, 7. Specialize in using dictionaries, encyclopedia and relevant reference books.The Effect of Different BeliefAs different ideologies developed and combated each other, the basic framework of Chinese civilization was established. And then Confucianism became the foundation stone of Chinese philosophy system. Confucianisms central doctrine is that of the virtue of Ren. What is Ren? Ren is translated variously as goodness, benevolence, humanity and human-heartedness. In short, Ren means affection and love. For more than 2 thousand years it has molded and shaped the civilization of China and exerted a profound influence upon almost one fourth of human race. Just as DR. Sun-Yat-Sen said:” Therefore the old morals of loyalty and piety, affection, and love, faithfulness and righteousness, are superior to those of the foreign countries Let alone that peace and harmony. These high standards of morals are our national spirit. Different from China, Christianity plays an important role in western. The English speaking countries are generally considered as Christian countries where many people believe in Christianity. Christianity is the region based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. He is the founder of Christianity. According to the doctrine of Christianity, the Trinity is the union of the three forms of God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ the son of the God, and the holy book of Christianity is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. However, the power of the church cannot compare with the past time, it still influence many aspects of people s daily life. For example, there are a few important festivals in the western is concern with Jesus Christ. Christmas day is a festival in celebration of the birth of the Jesus Christ on Dec.25.Virgin Birth refers to the birth of Christ, which Christians believe to have been caused by God rather than by ordinary sexual union.The effect of different valuesThe concept of Chinese values is often consciously or unconsciously placed in opposition with Western values. Therefore, it is necessary to determine how people define Western values. Some have stated that the modern Western value system originated in Victorian England, and describe it as social norms and behaviors common in European people during that time. The core of Western values is individualism. The core of the Chinese value has some relationship with the Confucianism. The ethnic principle of Confucianism is its discovery of the ultimate in the moral character of human relationships in which Confucius offered the solution for the ills and evils of his days. That is the well-known Five Relationships: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother and friend-friend. This was explained as “There should be affection between father and son , righteous sense of duty between ruler and minister, division of function between man and wife, stratification between old and young, and good faith between friends.” During the more than two thousand years of the feudal period, the ruling class arrange every thing by this relationships, and then formed a class society. In this kind of society, a minister owes loyalty to his ruler, and a child filial respect to his parent. The result is the humanity is neglected and people have no equality. Different from China, in the Renaissance period of England, people began to emphasize the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of their life, but also have the ability to perfect themselves and perform wonders. This is the rudiment of Humanism. People became to respect the humanity from then on. And then develop into the ideas of what we always said freedom, democracy. Today, take Americans for instance; the top personal values were self-reliance, hard work, and a tie between achieving success in life, personal achievement, and helping others. Hard work, respect for learning, honesty, and self-reliance were most valued among Chinese people. In terms of social values, the top six for Americans were freedom of expression, personal freedom, rights of the individual, open debate; thinking for oneself, and official accountability. The top six social values for Asian people were maintenance of an orderly society, harmony, accountability of public officials, openness to new ideas, freedom of expression, and respect for authority. This study finds that unlike Americans, East Asians are generally more respectful of authority and prize an orderly society, however in concurrence with the West, Asians honor new ideas, official accountability, and free expression.Subject to the different values, Chinese negotiators think that the process of negotiation is the process of establishing interpersonal relation. The purpose of negotiating is to build a long-term business cooperative relation. Entering into a contract is the start of mutual beneficial cooperation. But western negotiators advocate independent thinking and judgment. They emphasize the redistribution of profit. Its persuasive to show one view directly while Chinese present their ideas more implicit in case of hurting others self-respect. The westerners maintain egalitarian value. They stand fair competition, reasonable and open principles, and strive to distribute interest equally. Westerners usually adopt quotation database in introducing specific terms. In the relationship between the buyers and sellers, they usually regard parties as equal, and be fair in the division of profit. Different culture has different timing. American seek interest an speed, which form Americans modern commercial style in a sweeping manner. But Chinese timing is circuitous, they take a long view of the feasibility of issues, they may be thoughtful to the integrity of issues in a long run. So different negotiating styles cause different result, only know yourself as well as the enemy, you can use the differences of values to occupy initiative position in negotiation. SummaryIts direct and wide that culture effect on negotiation. With people knowing the culture factors deeply, they found the impact of culture factors for business negotiation beyond the impact of other factors. If you wanted to succeed in negotiation, you must dig the culture differences, cross it, admire it, bridge it. In the field of culture, Marxism in China was a right choice by Chinese under the circumstance of collision of Chinese-western culture for hundreds years. When we confronted the combination of world civilization and many cultures, we should step to know Marxism in China. In this way, we can merge the Chinese-western culture differences, so the culture can serve the economy, serve the trade an serve the international business negotiation. The international business negotiation was a kind of cultural collision and accommodation. In the trend of globalization, all the foreign enterprises should combine the cultural sensitive with the negotiation skill then they can achieve their objectives of negotiation victory.This article introduce the effect of culture difference on business negotiation from two points: the specific culture difference impacting the specific negotiation steps and international business negotiation making a conversion from the redistribution of economic benefit to the joint enjoyment of spirit culture. The topic of this article is not the survey of negotiating skills or negotiating strategies, but the exploration of cultural differences which effect on negotiation.With international trade activities increasing, only if you are able to be familiar with the culture differences deeply, admire others culture and put yourself on others shoes can you facilitate a successful negotiation. Reference:1 王滕宁.Impact of the culture difference between China and the West on business negotiation. 山东机械，2004年2曹菱.商务英语谈判，外语教学与研究出版社，20043 赵伟君.中西文化冲突与我国跨文化商务谈判对策.商业研究，20024尹小莹. 外贸英语函电。西安交通大学，20045 Blaker, Michael. Japanese International Negotiation Style, columbiallniversityPress.6The difference culture of business negotiation between china and China and America.
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