Abstract:

Thanks to rapid development of China’s economy, especially after China’s entry into the WTO, China’s enterprises have faced more and more kinds of transnational cooperation which makes international business negotiation an essential part of China’s foreign trade. Because the main part of international business negotiation is cross-cultural business negotiation, cultural differences are unavoidable in the process of a international business negotiation. As a result, conflicts appear. Only a good understanding of cultural differences can help to develop right strategies to overcome those problems and promote international business negotiations. This paper will take China and America as an example to study English and Chinese different thinking modes and values and the way how they affect international business negotiations. Besides, this paper will discuss some strategies to guide negotiators to treat cultural differences better.

Keywords: international business negotiation; cross-cultural business negotiation; cultural differences; strategies

摘  要：

随着中国经济的快速发展，尤其是在中国加入世界贸易组织之后，中国各企业和单位所面临的国际商务谈判的机会也日益增加。因此，国际商务谈判逐渐成为中国对外贸易中的一项必不可少的环节。由于国际商务谈判的主要部分是跨文化谈判，所以一些不可避免的文化差异会出现在这过程中，随之而来的就是由文化差异引起的文化冲突。因此，正确认识各国之间的文化差异对于国际商务谈判的谈判者而言就显得尤为重要，只有先了解了差异，才有可能找到应对这些差异的策略，然后促使谈判成功。本文将通过以中美两国为例来研究中国人和美国人之间不同的思维模式和价值观，以及这两项差异是如何对国际商务谈判产生影响的。另外，本文还将介绍一些能让谈判人员正确对待文化差异的策略。

关键词：国际商务谈判；跨文化商务谈判；文化差异；策略

1  Introduction
In this day and age, with the fast development and integration of the global economy, international business activities are increasingly frequent. The growth of international business has resulted in an increased number of face-to-face negotiations between negotiators of different cultures. During this period, different ethnic negotiators’ cultural differences may have some impacts on the negotiating process. In a cross-cultural business environment, if cultural differences cannot be treated properly, they may become an obstacle to the smooth progress of a negotiation. Conversely, properly dealing with those cultural differences can help negotiators to fight for more benefits. Therefore, while seeking the success of international business negotiation, it is vital for negotiators to understand cultural differences between them and its impacts.