Negotiating with East Asians - Article Example

Negotiating with East Asians Introduction The article, ‘Negotiating with Asians’ is basically a tool that is crafted to help the American business fraternity penetrate the fast growing and prosperous Asian market. It has not been a walk in the park for American investors, the ones already stationed in Asia and those having hopes of establishing their trade there. For there to be a business transaction between the two continents, there has got to be some sort of International Business Negotiation (IBN).

IBN is basically a kind of communication that often occurs between one or more parties to assist them deal with those issues that are agreeable among themselves as well as those that bring forth some kind of drift. Some of the countries chosen for the research carried out so that the Asian business community can be understood better are, China, Japan, and Korea. These are amongst those countries that trade so often with the United States of America and also have closely linked cultural backgrounds.

In as far as the negotiation procedures between the two are concerned; several disparities were found to exist in East Asia that is not there in America. These include; Number of Participants The East Asians attend meetings in large numbers. This is the same for all from the three studied countries. Although their reasons vary, for instance the Japanese attend in large numbers because they believe that no single individual has the capacity to understand the whole company thus represent it in full confidence in any meeting to the Chinese putting hierarchical meaning to the number, having much regard for ranks and the power that comes with it.

The Americans avoid such numbers due to several reasons such as to cut down on the expense associated to large numbers to avoiding group disagreements because they are eager to close a negotiation as fast as possible. Gender of Participants In East Asia the majority of those in meetings happen to be men. They give little regard to their female counterparts and whatever input they might have in as far as the meetings are concerned as stated by Hofstede, G (1984).. Due the there been the complete opposite of such perceptions in America, it is often quite common for their Asian partners to assume that the American women present in the board room are assistants or secretaries thus find it repulsive if these women participated in any manner whatsoever.

Preparations for negotiations The East Asians are known to arrive in any meeting fully conversant with their partner’s background, from professional such as work experience to level of study as well personal information such as what they like to eat and do at their free time. The Americans do not have this tradition to be over-indulged in their partners lives thus are always caught unaware at most times. Length of Time to Come to a Consensus The Asians have a polychronic, time associated and always occurring perception in as far as time is concerned.

The Americans perceive time as a resource they cannot afford to waste. They always do things in much hurry only to deal with long term effects later on down the line. However as for Asians they do not mind taking their time in decision making and even go as far as discussing an issue over and over again so as to tie any loose end be it short term or long term. They are always extra vigilant when it comes to important decisions to be made. Essence of Meeting Asians perceive any meeting as a foundation to a greater long time and productive relationship thus even at the signing of an understanding, they take it that they are cementing a long term friendship however for Americans, a business deal remains just that and they finalize it hoping to keep it wrapped unless in future there is dire need to meet up again, strictly for business purposes.

The different aspects of business dealings evidently make the two parties distinct and the success they share definitely reflects the importance they put in the manner they carry their business meetings. This is more evident by the rise of Asians as rising World Economic Kingpins because they are extra careful in investing while the Americans fall in business rankings due to the way the handle business dealings, spontaneously. References Hofstede, G (1984). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values.

California, USA. Sage.