If we want to understand how the Orientals negotiate, we must immerse ourselves in the history of China and Japan and we will realize the great riches and blessings they have had on strategists, thinkers and philosophers.
For example, recalling some paragraphs of Sun Tzu's art of war we could reflect on how complex it is to negotiate with Chinese.
The art of war, the basis of modern business strategy, dictates the following:
- Know yourself, know your enemy and they will not fear 100 war battles Know only your person and not your enemy and for each victory you will get a defeat Do not know your person or your enemy and you will lose each war Your strengths will eventually become on your weaknesses The key to victory is not to defend yourself from your enemy, but from your strategy. Therein lies your vulnerability.
In fact, if we want to negotiate efficiently with the Chinese, we must know each other, know them, and understand their strategies.
Another oriental culture rich in history is Japan, I recently met, together with a Japanese executive from the United States and bound for a city in central Mexico. Both Japanese and Chinese are alike in discretion and enigmaticness and in not providing too much information.
If we know this and we ask them the key and assertive questions, we can inform ourselves of the business they have in hand. For example, if on the plane, you ask the Japanese, OH "first time in Mexico" and if the answer is "YES" and he hardly speaks Spanish and comes in a suit, believe me "he's not coming on vacation", he's coming to a business important.
Well, after asking the Japanese that question, he replied that "if this is the first time you visit Mexico" and the obvious question is "ah, then are you going to Monterrey" and to our surprise he says "No, no, I'm going to Pachuca "Well, what follows is and in which company does he work," OH in X "and obviously with this information that was obtained in three minutes and that of the market, we are most likely sitting with the decision maker of the construction of a new plant company X.
Well, in this case, the next question was "Oh so they are in the construction project of X in Pachuca", Obviously we hit him, but we embarrassed him when we asked him, because we discovered the move, that we cannot do or the orientals are blocked. In this case, the Japanese began to read the immigration documents as if they were the most interesting comedians. What a barbarian, we surprised him.
It is not about surprising, and it is not about being surprised, it is about having a sensitivity of what can and cannot be done with the other culture.
In this case, the correct thing should have been, to continue empathizing, building trust since it is proven that for Eastern cultures the relationship is above all.
Another experience of negotiation is that an oriental rarely tells us "NO", but neither does he tell us "YES", this is because it is difficult for them to separate the person from the problem. The signing of a contract for an oriental does not mean that we reach an agreement, as in the western world, rather it means that it is only the beginning of the negotiation.
Take these business trends and behaviors into account when facing a Chinese or a Japanese.
Typical trading tendencies of Orientals:
- They like the game They introduce disorder when negotiating They use tradition in their favor They do not give too much information They are tombs, enigmatic They are punctual They make a decision for a leader They are superstitious They are protocol
What should we do when we negotiate with another culture:
- Understand differences in negotiating behaviors and attitudes Clearly talk about cultural differences Show respect and tolerance Understand the interest behind the position See what moves them Do not assume that they think the same as we Do not take things personally Evaluate alternatives to the disagreement of the parties
