Planning

preparation and planning it is hard to come to a successful agreement. When taking part in international relations, like as a foreigner in Taiwan, it is important to get yourself accustomed to the local culture and beliefs first. (Hinner, 2005)

Research is needed to organize and accumulate all information necessary to have an effective negotiation. Data must be analyzed. How is the market structuring your company wants to get involved in? What are the proper opportunities of this market?

What are the proper strengths and the proper weaknesses you will be able to deal with?

What threats will you be facing? It might be helpful to make a SWOT analysis beforehand to get an answer for these questions.The analysis includes the anticipation of what will happen, assessing strengths and risks as well as the identification of the interests, religion, business etiquette, macroeconomy of both parties involved.

According to Gardašević & Vapa-Tankosić, (2015) the planning part of negotiation can be divided into four parts.

1. Identify the Issue

When identifying the issue, you need to first find out what you want from this negotiation and who would be most suitable as your negotiation counterpart, also find out what the counterpart is doing or not doing that might be a problem, so that these can be addressed in the negotiation stage.(Whitley, 2004)

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立 政 治 大 學

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What is the purpose? What are possible problems? are questions that need to be answered first to find out if there is a way to reach a situation in which both parties can collaborate.

2. Set up Priorities

Of course, there can be a lot of things that you would need, but in a negotiation, it is often hard to get to a Win-Win situation. So figuring out what your current priorities are, will help you in this next step for planning.

3. Identify a Settlement Range

In a negotiation, it is good practice to set up a settlement range in advance.

It might be interesting to consider a BATNA, the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. A BATNA describes the most advantageous alternative route for a negotiator, in case an agreement cannot be reached. This normally is the minimum outcome, required of the negotiation.(Fisher, Ury, & Patton, 1991)

The maximum outcome should be your purpose. A settlement range isn’t always defined in monetary terms only, in some negotiations time may also be included in the settlement range.

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立 政 治 大 學

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N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

4. Develop Strategies and Approaches

Different strategies may have different outcomes when engaging in negotiations, therefore it’s very useful to figure out which strategy can be used in this particular negotiation. This is easier to decide once you have fulfilled the previous steps.

Katz (2006b) gives us 6 different negotiation strategies:

1. Deception, False Demands, and False Concessions

Deception, like acting as if you aren’t at all interested in the oppositions business proposal. A false demand, like discovering something you want that they don’t really value.

False concessions like repeatedly lowering the (possibly inflated) price which may result into getting you in guilt which will make you maybe give up something of value without realizing the equivalent in value.

2. Extreme openings

Starting off with an extreme demand could be a good strategy in Asian countries, as they will always try to get something off the price. .A good counter for this strategy is counter-bidding with an extremely low offer, but be sure to smile when you do. Or threaten to cut off negotiations if they consider their products’ value that high.

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立 政 治 大 學

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N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

3. Aggression and Strong Emotions

In foreign countries, using emotion is often a legitimate strategy. An effective way to counter this strategy is by remaining calm and friendly. (Katz, 2006a)

4. Silence

Silence could be a good strategy in negotiations. In American ‘cultural language, silence communicates a negative response. I’ve read an example of Americans who tried negotiating in Asia. As the Asian company used many silences, the Americans thought that the negotiation was going bad, so they lowered their price substantially.(Katz, 2006a)

5. Best Offer Pressure

In American culture ‘This is my best offer’ usually means that the offer is to take or to leave. However, in other cultures this might not always be the case. A few best offers may be considered, each one a bit better than the previous.

6. Time Pressure

Getting the counterpart to concede because of time pressure is a very valid strategy in negotiations. Therefore, it might be a good strategy not to disclose your deadline.

Of course, the number of strategies is not limited. Deciding which strategy to use first could give you a big advantage, especially when you are not alone in the negotiations. To form a joint alliance between fellow negotiators is an excellent choice.

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Coordination starts with contacting the opposite party, meeting them, and building a relationship. This goes along with the concept of establishing 關係 guanxi.

After planning everything, it is time to seek contact with your counter partner. In this stage, usually guanxi is required. If you didn’t have any guanxi with them before, you will first try to make a connection with them. This would be easier if you have a common connection. This part will often be slow and could take time. When creating and maintaining guanxi you will often have to 應酬 yingchou, this is a very Asian

cultural aspect of conducting business. When you partake in yingchou it means that you have a social gathering with business partners, usually to strengthen guanxi. During these events of yingchou they often drink together, talk about menial stuff. Often it is not needed to talk business during these events, and it might even be considered rude.

For men, it is often needed to drink a considerable amount. To have a successful business negotiation it would do you best not to refuse these kinds of events.

Besides seeking contact, we also go forth with orientation, positioning and exchanging information. Orientation commences when you meet and exchange pleasantries, extending the guanxi. Positioning happens when either party states their offer. we start with coordination by looking what it is that the counterpart wishes to achieve or find out what it is they need that we can help them achieve. Exchanging information continues throughout the negotiation process but for now this stage ends when the negotiation offer has been made.