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SECTION B INTERVIEW
M: I'm talking to Janet Holmes who has spent many years negotiating for several well-known national and multi-national companies. Hello, Janet.
W: Hello.
M: Now Janet. You've experienced and observed the negotiation strategies used by people from different countries and speakers of different languages. So before we comment on the differences, could I ask you to comment first of all on what such encounters have in common?
W: OK, well, I'm just going to focus on the situations where people are speaking English in international business situations.
M: I see. Now, not every one speaks English to the same degree of proficiency. So, maybe that affects situations.
M: Yes, perhaps. But that is not always so significant. Well, because, I mean, negotiations between business partners from different countries normally mean we have negotiations between individuals who belong to distinct cultural traditions.
M: Oh, I see.
W: Well, every individual has a different way of performing various tasks in everyday life.
M: Yes, but. but isn't it the case that in the business negotiation, they must come together and work together to a certain extent. I mean, doesn't that level up the style of , the style of differences or somewhat?
W: Oh, 1 am not so sure. I mean there's people in the so-called Western World who say that in course of the past 30 or 40 years, there were a lot of things had changed a great deal globally, and that as a consequence, national differences had diminished. We have got fewer, giving way to some sort of international Americanized style.
M: Yeah, I've heard that. Now some people say this Americanized style has acted as a model for local patterns.
W: Maybe it has, maybe it hasn't. Because on the one hand, there does appear to be a fairly unified even uniform style of doing business with certain basic principles and preferences, you know, like "time is money", that sort of thing. But at the same time, it is very important to remember the way all retain aspects of national characteristics. But it is actual behavior that we will talk about here. We shouldn't be too quick to generalize that to national characteristic and stylistic type. It doesn't help much.
M: Yeah. You mentioned Americanized style. What is particular about American style of business bargaining or negotiating?
W: Well. I've noticed that, for example, when Americans negotiate with people from Brazil, the American negotiators make their points in a direct, sophistical way.
M: I see.
W: While Brazilian make their points in a more indirect way.
M: How?
W: Let me give you an example. Brazilian importers look at people they're talking to straight in the eyes a lot. They spend time on what some people thinks to be background information. They seem to be more indirect.
M: Then, what about the American negotiators?
W: American style of negotiating, on the other hand, is far more like that of point-making, first point, second point, third point, and so on. Now of course, this isn't the only way in which one can negotiate and absolutely no reason why this should be considered as the best way to negotiate.
M: Right. Americans seem to have different styles, say, even from the British, don't they?
W: Exactly, which just show how careful you must be about generalizing. 1 mean, how asking you explain how the American negotiators are seen as informal, and sometimes much too open. For British eyes, Americans are direct even blunt.
M: Is that so?
W: Yeah, at the same time, the British too. German negotiators can appear direct and uncompromising in the negotiations, and yet if you experience Germans and Americans negotiating together, it is often the Americans who are being too blunt for the German negotiators.
M: Fascinating! So people from different European countries use different styles, don't they?
W: That's right.
M: OK. So what about the Japanese then? I mean, is their style different from the Americans and Europeans?
W: Oh, well, yes, of course. Many Europeans nod its extreme politeness of their Japanese counterparts, the way they avoid giving the slightest defense, you know. They're also very reserved to people they don't know well. At the first meetings American colleagues have difficulties in finding the right approach sometimes. But then when you meet the Japanese negotiators again, this initial impression tends to disappear. But it is perhaps true to say that your average Japanese business person does choose his or more really her words very carefully.
M: So can we say that whatever nationalities you are dealing with, you need to remember that different nationalities negotiate in different ways?
W: Well, it's perhaps more helpful to bear in mind the different people behave in negotiating in different ways. And you shouldn't assume that everyone will behave in the same way that you do.
M: Right. It is definitely a very useful tip for our businessman who often negotiate with their overseas partners. OK, Janet, thank you very much for talking with us.
W: Pleasure.
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