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The Hidden Challenge of Cross-Border Negotiations

As written in the negotiation's book of David S. Hames and as James K. Sebenius said « Cultural differences can influence business negotiation in significant and unexpected ways, as many a hapless deal maker has learned. In some cases, it's a matter of ignorance or blatant disrespect, as with the American salesman who presented a potential Saudi Arabian client with a multimillion-dollar proposal in pigskin blinder, considered vile in many Muslin cultures »

The first idea we have to keep in mind is that cultural tendancies influence how people interact as well as the processes involved in negotiations.

In cross-cultural negotiations, we have got different players. Abroad we can find extra players that are different than ones we would fine at home. In the most cases, they are non-obvious.
We can loose a lot of money and waste loads of time when we don't understand each player's role and who owns which decision.
On the other side, the cultural asumptions can sometimes make it very difficult to recognize who has formal decision rights and who is the executive. We need to understand both formal decision rights as well as cultural asumptions.


It's essential to identify what are the informal influences that can make or break a deal.
Firstly, we need to know who signs the contract and finalizes the deal.
Every country has a different culture, a different religion, a different politic system. Knowing the legal frame and the sources of the power in the societal construction of every country is crucial.

We have to constantly adapt our business and negotiation strategies to our interlocuteurs. Here is three forms of processes : Top; Consensus or Coalition Building.

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