Negotiation plays an elementary role in our lives, since it is a means that by executing it properly allows us to achieve our objectives.
According to Carlos Altschul: Negotiating is the process through which, in the face of a particular project, the tensions of a conflict are detected, opportunities are investigated, one's own resources are expanded, personal differences and specific objective situations are resolved, and benefits are obtained., impossible to achieve alone.
Every day thousands of agreements are closed worldwide, between companies of different nationalities, so knowing how to negotiate is undoubtedly one of the fundamental managerial skills for executives who work in companies.
Thousands of agreements are closed every day worldwide, between companies from different countries, so knowing how to negotiate is an elementary managerial skill for those executives who work internationally.
National and international negotiations are conducted in different ways since cultural, legal, ideological and language barriers interpose between them. For this reason, it is essential that the people in charge of executing the negotiations have the necessary information both about the country and its protocol, to understand these differences and adapt in such a way that the denial can be concluded in the most satisfactory way possible.
(Llamazares, 2015) in his book international negotiation mentions some aspects that must be taken into account:
Legal framework
Since the regulations change according to the country, so it is important to know the fiscal, labor and commercial regulations of the country with which you want to negotiate, to arrive prepared with enough information and thus avoid that these can delay and even prevent an agreement is reached.
Less information from the other party
When dealing with companies from other countries, obtaining information becomes a complicated task, since many companies tend to keep their history, sales volume, financial statements, etc. in total secrecy.
Greater uncertainty and risk
When dealing with negotiations with companies located in different countries, it is more prone to drastic and sudden changes, especially when one of the two is in developing countries that do not have a stable economy. Since there are many factors that affect it directly, such as; economic and political crises, natural disasters, social conflicts, etc.
Imbalance between the parties
In most negotiations, there is a company that generates the first contact and, therefore, the one that has the greatest interest, either because the company with which you want to reach an agreement has a strong presence in your country, It will help you expand your business portfolio, allow you to open a market in your country, etc. This is where the imbalance between companies is found and size plays an important role, since, depending on their size, it will be the negotiating power with which you have.
In this section we can highlight countries such as Germany, the United States and Japan that have large companies. And in the opposite case, Latin American countries in which SMEs are the ones that predominate in the market. Therefore, having a company from a potential country as an ally means a great advantage for small and medium-sized companies.
Different business practices
This is where the business protocol becomes highly relevant, since it allows us to know commercial aspects of the country, such as their working hours, where they usually close negotiations, their characteristics and how they act when doing business, the appropriate etiquette, and other factors that are usually very important and help us not to compromise the negotiation due to ignorance of the country to which we want to enter.
In summary, it is important that when approaching an international company we take the time to study in detail all the information regarding the company, the people with whom we are going to have the deal, the customs and traditions of the country (schedules, beliefs, ways of greeting, the dress etiquette that is usually used, holidays, etc.) Taking these aspects into account will give you a general overview of the situation and how the negotiation can unfold and avoid that arise barriers that lengthen it and even affect its closure.
