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Natural Agreement
Culture has a deep influence on the formation of negotiations and
agreements. “Agreement” does not necessary mean the same thing in
different cultures. In one of his studies, Foster (1992) pointed out that a

memorandum in an agreement is often used by the Chinese to represent
the formalness of a relationship, whereas the Americans believe that an
agreement is reached through a logical framework; it is official and is

based on the legal system. In some countries, a contract has no sanction
at all, and the people in these countries believe that it is impractical to
expect the other party to fulfill their obligations when two parties cannot
trust each other. Moreover, in certain cultures, reaching an agreement is

based on who the negotiators are, instead of what they can do.
Multinational Negotiation
Whether we are discussing the personality of a nation’s citizens or

Chinese values, these variables can be viewed as the cultural factors that
influence negotiations in different settings. It is challenging to
understand multinational negotiations since they involve many

complicated factors. Salacuse (1988) has also pointed out that besides
cultural factors, there are also factors that involve politics, international
economy, the governmental and administrative system, society, and

individual ideas, making multinational business negotiations more
complex and challenging than domestic negotiations. The following 23
items in actual practice can be used as the guidelines in international
negotiations:

 Be a pragmatist instead of a moralist.
 Understand whether the opponent adopts a win-win or a win-

lose strategy.
 What is the meaning of “losing face” to them?
 Do they value long-term or short-term relationships?

 How can one make them yield?
 Is their quotation of prices at the extreme end?

 How much do they care about their opponent’s reputation?
 Do you expect to face a single opponent or a group of
opponents? If a group, how many people are in the group?

 What do they really mean when they say “no”?
 How do they perceive “silence” during a negotiation?

 How often do they change their job positions?