The Impact of Cultural Difference on International Business Negotiations

Abstract

As Manrai and Manrai (2010) demonstrate, "international business negotiations (IBN) play a fundamental and critical role in just about every aspect of conducting business in today’s global economy" (p. 69). With increasing integration of globalization and the rapid development of international trade, international business negotiation has become an indispensable part of commercial activity. Metcalf, Bird, Peterson Shankarmahesh and Lituchy (2007) point out that "business negotiation involves two or more distinct entities with various cultural backgrounds" (p. 147). Research from Graham (1985), Foster (1992), Li and Zhang (2004), and Bülow and Kumar (2011) demonstrates that cultural difference largely impacts the success of international business negotiations.