Communicating and Negotiating

Across Cultures

Presenter:

Richard R. Gesteland

Global Management LLC

Business Culture: A set of expectations and assumptions

about how to do business.

Two Iron Rules of International Business:

• The business visitor is expected to understand the local culture.

• The seller is expected to understand and adapt to the buyer’s culture.

But there are over 6900 cultures in today’s global marketplace…

Patterns of Cross-Cultural Communication and Negotiating

Behavior

First: How to avoid stereotyping when we compare business cultures?

• Stereotypes are lazy ways of describing people.

• So we will refer to cultural tendencieswhen we compare international business behavior.

Cross-Cultural Communication and

Negotiating Behavior: 5 Key Variables

• Deal-Focus vs Relationship-Focus

• Direct vs Indirect Communication

• Informal vs Formal Business Behavior

• Monochronic vs Polychronic Time

• Reserved vs Expressive Communication

Comparing Deal-Focused and Relationship-Focused Business

Behavior

Deal-Focused Business Cultures:

• United States

• Nordic countries, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Canada

• Australia/New Zealand

Moderately Deal-Focused Cultures:

• France, Belgium, Southern Europe

• Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia

• Hong Kong and Singapore