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•For each Question 15-20, mark one letter (A, B, C or D) on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.

Negotiation is a common and necessary process in concluding an international transaction. Businesspeople from different cultures may sometimes find themselves in an awkward position owing to the cultural conflict. As a matter of fact, when two parties of different cultures sit at the negotiation table, two cultures are conflicting. Cultural conflict may result in a failure of a deal or loss of opportunity or loss of profits. For example, foreigners with some knowledge about Chinese culture will avoid making an appointment with Chinese businesspeople to negotiate during the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, especially on the New Year's Eve and in the following three days, as Chinese people think that it is not the time to make money during the Festival. On the other hand, they need relaxation after a whole year's hard work.

Cultural elements influence the style, method, pace, and goals of the negotiators. The negotiators must remain alert to not only the culture of the society represented hut the personal views and outlook of the negotiator across the negotiation table and even across wire (talking on the phone).

Negotiation between businesspeople is an activity of cross cultural communication, and closely linked with communication is the accommodation of differences in negotiating styles. Some cultures are more formal than others, others more confrontational; some will be understated. others inclined to exaggeration; some more conscious of status and far less egalitarian than Americans, others so circumspect (to save face and preserve harmony as to leave a typical Western businessman baffled in trying to find out the intent).

Understanding manners and customs is especially important in negotiations because misunderstanding manners or customs of another culture may result in poor outcomes or even disasters.

To negotiate effectively in cross-culture negotiation, all types of communication should be read correctly. For example, Americans often interpret inaction and silence as negative sign. Japanese managers tend to expect that their silence can get Americans to lower prices or sweeten a deal. Even a simple agreement may take days to negotiate in the Middle East because the Arab party may want to talk about unrelated issues or do something else for a while. The aggressive style. of Russian negotiators and their usual last-minute change requests may cause astonishment and concern on the part of ill-prepared negotiators. The following examples may further show how culture conflicts damage international trade transactions.

At the negotiation table, Western business negotiation group leader found the Japanese negotiation leader nodding his head after he made his offer to the Japanese negotiator, so he thought the Japanese business counterpart agreed to their offer, and he took out the contract, hoping to conclude the negotiation by signing the sales contract. But, to his great astonishment, the Japanese counterpart did not show any sign of signing the contract. The Western business negotiation group leader, however, felt offended. He thought the Japanese counterpart was not serious. The negotiation then ended resultless.

The process of decision making is varied. The time taken to make one decision will depend on whether such authority is centralized, assigned to a committee of technical people, routed through a network within the organization, or entirely delegated to the negotiator. For example, again it is concerned with the negotiation between the Japanese businesspeople and an American group. After being offered the price, the Japanese negotiators habitually remained silent for some time. The Am

A．negotiation is very important in international business

B．differences in culture in negotiation cannot be neglected

C．businesspeople must negotiate carefully

D．culture is very important

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