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Business Negotiation
Japan VS United StatesIntroduction:
Undertaking any business requires a number of skills. These would normally involve negotiation which is defined as a voluntary process by which the involved parties could reach an agreement on common business matters (Cellich and Jain 2004). One of the main purposes of such a process is to enhance the elements of the business at hand; to gain a better deal than simply accepting or rejecting what the other party has already offered. However, according to Alder (1991) regardless of cultural differences, the negotiation process involves business communications, exchanging information and decision making. However, the area of business negotiation is the focus of this paper, as issues relating to the effect of culture on business negotiation process will be evaluated and critically discussed; focusing on the case of Japan and United State, where the negotiation styles in these countries are briefly examined.
Culture aspects of business negotiation: American culture VS Japanese Culture:
Greet Hofestede (1994), after extensive research found five dimensions of culture which are relevant to the international business. These are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity. The majority of authors who wrote about business negotiation tried to analyze and to test theses dimensions to understand the relationship between them and business negotiation.
Power Distance: Japan has a higher power distance when compared with the united state according to Hofetede’s cultural dimension. Equality, a horizontal relationship, is strongly valued in the United States but it is less important in Japan (Graham and S ...