The_Essential_Manager_s_Handbook

NEGOTIATING INTERNATIONALLY / 441

Chinese business leaders invest heavily in making interpersonal

connections and creating a dependable social network, known as

“guanxi.” They prefer to do business within their trusted network.

The Confucian teaching xinping qihe, meaning “being perfectly

calm,” makes it difficult for Western negotiators to “read” their

counterparts and to know where they stand.

The concept of fairness is based on needs: those who have more

should give to those with less.

Asian businesses like to do business with trustworthy individuals

rather than faceless organizations. The lengthy process of building

trust is based on openness, mutual assistance, understanding,

and the formation of emotional bonds.

Dignity and prestige are gained when individuals behave morally

and achieve accomplishments. Face is a formidable force in the

Asian psyche that negotiators in Western organizations must be

particularly aware of.

You risk insulting your Asian counterpart if you emphasize

penalties for not honoring commitments in detail. Contracts are

short and merely a tangible expression of the relationships being

created. They are not treated as “fixed” legal instruments.

Although Chinese and Japanese societies are hierarchical, they

use the consensus style of decision-making. Lead negotiators

refrain from dictating a decision in order to preserve

relationships and give face to others.

US_440-441_Negotiating_int_2.indd 441 30/05/16 3:07 pm