跨文化談判的研究：台灣談判的文化影響 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學企業管理研究所（MBA 學位學程）碩士學位論文. 跨文化談判的研究：. 政治大台灣談判的文化影響立. ‧ 國. 學. A Study of Cross-Cultural Negotiations:. ‧. The Cultural Impact on Negotiations in Taiwan. er. io. sit. y. Nat. n. al v i 指導教授：韓志翔博士 n Ch U engchi 研究生：吳菲樂撰. 中華民國一百零七年七月. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(2) Acknowledgements Two years ago, I still remember getting the schools acceptance letter, quitting my job and flying into Taiwan. I was excited to be back in Taiwan, back in NCCU and starting the MBA here. Now two years later, I don’t feel that much of the scenery has changed, but I do feel that I am changed through my journey here. I would like to thank my teachers these past few years who helped made me become the person I am today, but I’d also like to thank Professor Han in particular for. 政治大. accepting to be my advising professor for this thesis and spend time reviewing and. 立. discussing.. ‧ 國. 學. I’m also grateful to have had the opportunity to start my internship at Vinoza, where I have had the honor to witness negotiations with Taiwanese people, and I would. ‧. also like to do thank the founder Maarten, to give me the time and his vision in. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. Taiwanese negotiations.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 吳菲樂謹識於政治大學MBA. i. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(3) Abstract International negotiations in Taiwan often are difficult for foreigners to partake in. This paper focuses primarily to identify these issues and hopes to aid in making international negotiations in Taiwan smoother with a minimum in misunderstandings My research question evolves around on identifying the possible cultural issues for foreigners when trying to attempt negotiations in Taiwan. Thus, trying to make it easier for foreigners from Western countries easier to partake in negotiations in Taiwan. I tried to find a. 政治大. general behavior pattern in Taiwanese negotiations with my previous first-hand. 立. experience, data collection, and literature review analysis.. ‧ 國. 學. Also I will be investigating what effect Taiwanese culture has on negotiation, and. ‧. comparing it with western culture.. sit. y. Nat. The results showed that the way the negotiations go depends on a lot of factors.. io. n. al. er. There is a lot that could go wrong. From simple communication/ translation errors, to. v. different negotiation strategies, the use of manpower, the kind of contract. What always. Ch. engchi. i n U. will be present however, is that it’s hard to really give a general explanation, as every negotiation depends on the willingness of the opposite party. So there are always human factors involved. Which are known for their unpredictability. By conducting this research, I did find some behavior patterns that once studied, you could get more out of these negotiations.. Keywords: Cross-Culture, Taiwan, Negotiation, International, guanxi. ii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(4) Table of Contents 1.1. Research Background and Motivation ............................................... 6. 1.2. Research Goals ............................................................................................ 9. Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 10 2.1. What is Negotiation? ............................................................................. 10. 2.2. Guanxi.......................................................................................................... 12. 2.3. The Negotiation Process ...................................................................... 14. 2.4. Planning ............................................................................................ 15. 2.3.2. Contact ............................................................................................... 19. 2.3.3. Negotiation ...................................................................................... 20. 2.3.4. Contract ............................................................................................. 22. 政治大 Comparison 立 in Negotiation ................................................................. 23 Culture of Taiwan .................................................................................... 29 Culture as Mental programming .............................................. 29. 2.5.2. Layers of culture ............................................................................ 30. 2.5.3. Gender in negotiations ................................................................ 32. 2.5.4. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions............................................... 32. ‧. 2.5.1. Nat. 2.6. 學. ‧ 國. 2.5. 2.3.1. y. 2. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 6. Comparing Taiwan to the US and Belgium.................................... 38. sit. 1. 4. Case study ..................................................................................................................... 44 4.2. 6. al. v i n Company background ........................................................................... 44 Ch U i e h n c g The Case...................................................................................................... 45 n. 4.1 5. er. Methodology ................................................................................................................ 43. io. 3. Case Analysis ............................................................................................................... 48 5.1. Planning ...................................................................................................... 48. 5.2. Contact ........................................................................................................ 48. 5.3. Negotiation ................................................................................................ 49. 5.4. Contract ...................................................................................................... 49. 5.5. Research Limitations ............................................................................. 50. 5.6. Comparison with Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions .................... 52. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 54 6.1. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 54. 6.2. Consideration for Future Study ......................................................... 54. 6.3. Limitations ................................................................................................ 55 iii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(5) 6.4. Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 56. 立. 政治大. 學 ‧. ‧ 國 io. sit. y. Nat. n. al. er. 7. Implications for management ............................................................ 55. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iv. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(6) Figures Figure 1: The Negotiation Process ......................................................................................... 14 Figure 2: Three Levels of Uniqueness in Mental Programming (Hofstede, 2010, p. 6) ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 3: Country Comparison for the 6 Dimensions (Hofstede, 2018) .................. 39. Tables Table 1: Culture Comparison .................................................................................................... 28 Table 2: Different Levels in Culture (Hofstede, 2010, p. 18) ........................................ 31 Table 3: Key Differences between Small and Large Power Distance Societies: The. 政治大 Table 4: Key Differences between 立 Collectivist and Individualist Societies: School,. Workplace (Hofstede, 2010, p. 76) ............................................................................. 33. ‧ 國. 學. Workplace and ICT (Hofstede, 2010, p. 124) .......................................................... 34. Table 5: Key Differences between Feminine and Masculine Societies: The Workplace (Hofstede, 2010, p. 170) ........................................................................... 35. ‧. Table 6: Key Differences between Weak and Strong Uncertainty-Avoidance. y. Nat. Societies: Work, Organization and Motivation (Hofstede, 2010, p. 217) ..... 36. sit. Table 7: Key Differences between Short- and Long-Term Orientation Societies. er. io. Based on CVS Data: Business and Ways of Thinking (Hofstede, 2010, p. 251). al. ................................................................................................................................................... 37. n. v i n C hin the Case Study........................................................ Table 8: Negotiation Comparison 51 engchi U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(7) 1 Introduction 1.1. Research Background and Motivation. On one of my trips back to Belgium, I had an encounter with my uncle, who told me about the negotiations that he did all over the world. Knowing that I was studying in Taiwan, he was very happy to tell me about how his negotiations with Taiwan were. 治政大where they would imply that going. He said that there were often misunderstandings, 立 ‧ 國. 學. everything is going fine. But eventually the opposite appeared to be true. He also explained that it was one of the hardest places to partake in negotiations, because they. ‧. would always take so long, and you would never know what the opposite party was. sit. y. Nat. thinking.. n. al. er. io. At this time I’m also doing an internship in a wine importing company in Taiwan.. i n U. v. My first few months there I was in sales, which involved a lot of negotiating. Very fast,. Ch. engchi. I came to see that because of this difference in culture, a lot of problems occured. There were a few things which had happened that stood out for me. For one, the founder and CEO of Vinoza, the wine importing company where I am doing this internship, is originally from The Netherlands. Being a foreigner, he also had encountered a lot of issues in dealing negotiations, both inside the company, as outside of the company. A few of the behaviourisms in Taiwanese workers that I have worked with are very different from ours. One of the things I’ve gotten used to is that Vinoza has a lot of long 6. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(8) meetings, as I think it might be hard for our CEO to get his views across with the employees. Even though he encourages everyone’s individual views, and hopes to get a lot of feedback. I feel that the Taiwanese employees found hierarchy more important than their own views, so if they would have some issue, they would tell their superior, but it wouldn’t always get to the boss. These actions are in a way very much carved into this society. If someone has an issue with the way things are going, instead of challenging authority and saying what is wrong, or what they don’t like. They just rather quit instead of just saying what they don’t agree with. Other things that I have found in. 治政大 in covering for others. Like differences in behaviour, is that they put a lot of importance 立 ‧ 國. 學. when someone does something which would be hurtful for the company, in cases where it didn’t affect themselves, they’d still rather take the blame theirselves, or make the. ‧. problems prettier than they are. covering up the real issue. This because they don’t want. Nat. sit. y. to get their coworker in trouble, and because they are team. This is a perfect example. n. al. er. io. of how collectivism is favored here over individualism. But I feel that this kind of. i n U. v. behaviour is very hurtful to a company, because being truthful about errors could make. Ch. it better to correct the problems.. engchi. As for issues encountered with customers. one of the big issues that I dealt with was emotional. When one of our colleagues left, we divided her customers amongst us, but divided as seeing which customer would prefer which colleague best, rather than dividing by category. And also, for me personally, the word kimochi came up a lot.Kimochi is a japanese word, often also used in Taiwanese, to talk about someone’s feelings about something.I heard customers talk often about their kimochi for the company and for us. This could be good or bad. But it always played a big impact. 7. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(9) One of the things that will stay with me is often hearing “negoshit” instead of negotiate when the negotiations went bad, or took too long to be effective, but this might also been because of a few who had very limited vocabulary in English and just got the pronunciation wrong. It was a bit of a standing joke, but I found it very appropriate as a wordplay. Seeing all of these behavioural contrasts, I wanted to take negotiation as a topic. Because to be successful in negotiation, you need to know what both your and their behaviour is like, their norms and values, you need to know how to be able to act and. 治政 react in different situations without making mistakes. In大 this thesis the focus will be on 立 ‧ 國. 學. cross-cultural negotiation.. The purpose of this thesis is in a way a guide for me, and hopefully for those like. ‧. me, who want to do business in Taiwan, and want to do so successfully. I don’t dare to. Nat. sit. y. say that I currently am very successful in negotiations just yet, but after doing this. n. al. er. io. research, and learning from past mistakes, I hope to get a bit closer towards being successful.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 8. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(10) 1.2. Research Goals. The research in this thesis is conducted (1) to define what negotiations are about, and (2) to find out how the negotiation process works, so that it would be easier to (3) find out how Taiwan negotiations are different from US/ western negotiations, through comparing the differences in culture; (4)To find out how Taiwanese culture affects negotiations.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 9. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(11) 2 Literature Review 2.1. What is Negotiation?. According to the Cambridge dictionary (2017), to negotiate means: “to have formal discussions with someone in order to reach an agreement with them.” However, if you consider people from different countries interacting with each. 政治大. other, there are bound to be some cultural differences that could stand in the way of. 立. successfully coming to an agreement.. ‧ 國. 學. Essential for the negotiation to take place is the existence of two elements; common. ‧. interests and issues of conflict. Without common interests there is nothing to negotiate. sit. y. Nat. about as well as without conflicting issues”.. io. al. er. Globalization has significant impact on the world economy. It increased the. v. n. number as well as the importance of cross-cultural business negotiations.. Ch. engchi. i n U. Global negotiation is a process where each party from different countries tries to obtain an advantage. Cultural issues, language proficiency, business etiquette, politics and history have an impact on the success or failure of international business negotiations. In the case of Taiwan, guanxi and the aspect of face are equally of importance.” Culture is imbedded in the communication process. The aspects of culture that are vital for global negotiating are: attitudes and beliefs, religion, material culture and language (Gardašević & Vapa-Tankosić, 2015). 10. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(12) When two or more people do not share the same meanings and values, the communication process can become even more complex and challenging. Misunderstandings between cultures and between people lead to failures in the communication process, where the language barrier is a common issue.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 11. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(13) 2.2. Guanxi “A singular feature of Guanxi is that the exchanges tend to favor the weaker. member. Guanxi~ links two persons, often of unequal ranks, in such a way that the weaker partner can call for special favors for which he does not have to equally reciprocate.” (Alston, 1989, p. 26). Guanxi 關係 is a Chinese term, with many different defenitions. “relationship” and “networking” being two of them. The concept of guanxi is something that I have seen. 政治大. prominently present in negotiations and in the Taiwanese culture. Face value is a term. 立. that is associated with guanxi. “giving face” means that you care for another person. In. ‧ 國. 學. giving someone face, you would also be able to get guanxi with them.(Katz, 2006b) In. ‧. Taiwan they have a saying “沒有關係找關係,有關係就沒關係” loosely translated it. sit. y. Nat. means, if you don’t have guanxi, find guanxi; if you have guanxi, then you don’t have. io. al. n. related.. er. any problems. Taiwanese are known to depend on relations. Their culture is group-. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. For Americans, some sort of a working relation is required. This relationship could be established quickly. Proving that you are a valid business partner acting in good faith, can be enough.(Katz, 2006a) In Asia however, establishing relationships is something that can take a long time. Successful negotiations usually need time to first build a relationship (Peng, 2008), which is why Americans often think that international negotiations are very long winded. (Katz, 2006a). 12. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(14) Although western people would compare guanxi to their “networking”, networking is something quite different! Guanxi is built on “trust”, “acknowledgement” and “respect” for the other party involved. But often has a negative connotation with buying people off in order to gain favour(Leung, 2003). Negative or positive, having guanxi can help you gain an advantage in negotiations(Tung, 2012). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(15) 2.3. The Negotiation Process. The negotiation process can be divided in different steps. These steps are described differently by various authors. The steps selected below are selected through case studies in which these steps were crucial to the negotiation process.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 1: The Negotiation Process Modified framework on the research of (Chang, 2006a) and (Gardašević & VapaTankosić, 2015). 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(16) 2.3.1. Planning. The first part in negotiation should always start with planning. Without proper 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. 政治大 company wants to get involved in? What are the proper opportunities of this market? 立. an effective negotiation. Data must be analyzed. How is the market structuring your. ‧ 國. 學. 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. y. Nat. sit. of what will happen, assessing strengths and risks as well as the identification of the. n. al. er. io. interests, religion, business etiquette, macroeconomy of both parties involved.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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) 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(17) 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. 政治大. are, will help you in this next step for planning.. 立. 3. Identify a Settlement Range. ‧ 國. 學. 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. y. Nat. sit. Agreement. A BATNA describes the most advantageous alternative route for a. n. al. er. io. negotiator, in case an agreement cannot be reached. This normally is the minimum. Ch. i n U. v. outcome, required of the negotiation.(Fisher, Ury, & Patton, 1991). engchi. 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.. 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(18) 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:. 政治大. 1. Deception, False Demands, and False Concessions. 立. Deception, like acting as if you aren’t at all interested in the oppositions business. ‧ 國. 學. proposal. A false demand, like discovering something you want that they don’t really. ‧. value.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 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. n. al. Ch. without realizing the equivalent in value.. engchi. i n U. v. 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.. 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(19) 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. 政治大 was going bad, so they. tried negotiating in Asia. As the Asian company used many silences, the Americans. 立. thought that the negotiation. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. substantially.(Katz, 2006a). lowered their price. 5. Best Offer Pressure. sit. y. Nat. io. er. In American culture ‘This is my best offer’ usually means that the offer is to take or to. al. n. leave. However, in other cultures this might not always be the case. A few best offers. i n C h e nthan may be considered, each one a bit better i U c hprevious. g the. v. 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.. 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(20) 2.3.2. Contact. 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. 政治大. and maintaining guanxi you will often have to 應酬 yingchou, this is a very Asian. 立. cultural aspect of conducting business. When you partake in yingchou it means that you. ‧ 國. 學. 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.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 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.. n. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 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.. 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(21) 2.3.3. Negotiation. After each party states its offer, information continues to be exchanged, and the argumentation fase can begin.. Argumentation: In this stage, what usually happens is that both sides try to understand the opposite party’s position is, and start discussing the price, time durance of the contract, and applicable laws.. 立. 政治大. What goes on is persuasion of the other party to reach an agreement. To be able to. ‧ 國. 學. do so, often concessions will have to be made. Both sides try to understand the opposite. ‧. party’s position and want to persuade them to reach an agreement.. Nat. er. io. sit. y. The bargaining begins!. Bargaining is where the "give-and-take" happens. Issues related to the transactions. al. n. v i n Cgoods, are discussed, such as the price of of the contract and the law that h e ntheg durance chi U might be applicated.. Emotions can help or hinder this process. The behavioral skills and the communication skills of the negotiator matter greatly here in order to create value and execute trades to capture value.. Katz (2006) explains that Taiwanese business people are well skilled in bargaining and know to use a wide array of negotiation techniques. He explains that prices can move more than 40% between initial offers and final agreement, so you should leave sufficient 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(22) room for concessions at certain levels. This will also help them save face. He also advises to wait with the concessions until later in the negotiations, where the concessions can be reciprocated by the Taiwanese counterpart.. Emergence and Crisis: When concessions are being made, at one point you will see if an agreement can be reached. For example, if the boundaries originally set during the planning stage are. 政治大. about to be crossed and you cannot reconsider lowering those boundaries. Sometimes,. 立. to get to a conclusion, you should have to go back to planning, doing your research,. ‧ 國. 學. and re-examining your priorities in determining how far these concessions can go. Be. ‧. careful not to let the opposite party look into your cards. It might be used against you.. sit. y. Nat. io. n. al. er. Agreement or Breakdown:. i n U. v. In this stage, the negotiation can either reach an agreement or breakdown.. Ch. engchi. When solutions satisfy everyone’s needs, a lasting relationship and a fruitful outcome may be the result. If the negotiation has failed, you will have to start again from the planning stage and maybe, find a new party to cooperate with.. 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(23) 2.3.4. Contract. In the period after the agreement, often a contract is signed. In Asian cultures, the contract isn’t just a binding rule. It is more considered as a guideline to be looked at for guidance, and it may be changed after it is signed. A contract is often the start of a longterm relationship with both parties. Even though the actual negotiation is done, the work is just about to begin. You have to hold up your end of the bargain, and you have to put in an effort to maintain the business relations.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(24) 2.4. Comparison in Negotiation. Every step in the negotiation process includes the possibility of blowing up a future deal. When dealing with unfamiliar cultures, this is extra sensitive. Unintentionally, you could blow up a deal by doing something which might be considered normal in your culture. Jeswald W. Salacuse (2006) has suggested 10 ways in which culture can affect international negotiations.. 立. 政治大. 1. Negotiation Goals: Relationship or Contract. ‧ 國. 學. In America, most often a contract is persued. Where both parties write out strict rules. ‧. and guidelines that must be followed. In Asian countries, like in Taiwan, more often a. sit. y. Nat. relationship is pursued, and a contract is more often regarded as a guideline. The main. al. n. 2010; Katz, 2006b). er. io. purpose is often to get a strategic and positive relationship on the long term.(Hofstede,. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 2. Attitude: Win-Lose or Win-Win In approaching a negotiation situation, your attitude should match your opponent. You have different ways that you can approach a negotiation meeting. Asian countries have displayed to favor a Win-Win situation, in which a negotiation is viewed as a collaborative, problem-solving process (Drake, 1995). While western countries have more Win-lose negotiators, where one side wins and one side(Chang, 2006a) loses. I think that the majority in Win-win negotiators in Asia relates to that they like to have 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(25) long term commitments and connections. With a win-lose attitude, these connections wouldn't stay very long.. 3. Personal Style: Informal or Formal Personal style refers to the way you talk to others, dress, speaks, uses titles, interact and communicate with other persons. Personal style often has a strong connection to culture. Which personal style you will use in a negotiation is usually derivative of where. 政治大. you grew up. Salacuse (2006) talks about two clear differences in personal style, either. 立. formal or Informal. When you approach a negotiation informally, you might call the. ‧ 國. 學. other party by its first name, roll up your sleeves, sit on the desk, or just treat the other. ‧. party as a good friend instead of a business partner. For Formal behavior, you would. sit. y. Nat. speak to the other party using both title and last name to address him/her. It’s an. n. al. er. io. unspoken rule that it’s best to go start with a formal style, and then go to an informal stance if the situation allows it.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4. Communication: Direct or Indirect The methods of communication amongst diverse cultures can be very different. In Western communities, it’s often encouraged to be a little bit more direct. While in Asian countries, like in Taiwan, it is better to be a bit indirect. If you are coming from a western point of view however, it is easier to be confused when Taiwanese business people won’t give you a direct answer. Sometimes you might think that the negotiation might still be going on, or even that they agreed, when the opposite party had already 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(26) rejected the proposal. When picking to be direct or indirect, it is important to know that indirectness can make the opposite party impatient and can come over as insincere. While directness can also be perceived as insulting and aggressive.. 5. Sensitivity to Time: High or Low For most Asians, the goal is to create a longstanding relationship, so there is little sensitivity to time, which could get western negotiators very impatient. Also, when. 政治大 cover up or hide something. 立For Americans, time is money, so they will try to get as negotiations seem hasty, it could be that the opposite party tries to close a deal fast to. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. fast as possible to a signed contract in their hands.. sit. y. Nat. 6. Emotionalism: High or Low. n. al. er. io. In Taiwan, when negotiating business, even when the business offer is amazing for the. i n U. v. opposite side. They would not want to make a deal, because they don’t have good. Ch. engchi. kimochi with the opposite party. kimochi is a Japanese term used in Taiwanese Mandarin, meaning feeling, mood. This is directly correlated with their need to save face or mianzi And just to point out how often this term has been used points to how much importance Taiwanese businesses place on emotions they have towards businesses. In America however, even if feelings are important, it usually doesn’t stop them from making a deal with someone they don’t like, as long as they can get an advantage from it. Although even if they don’t have good kimochi, they will rarely show their emotions 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(27) at the negotiating table. For some cultures, being emotional is a strategy that is used in negotiations.. 7. Form of Agreement: General or Specific? Here the writer distinguishes two approaches. In the Building down approach, the negotiator starts with stating his maximum offer if all his demands are met. While in the Building-up approach, the negotiator begins with a minimum offer that can be. 政治大. broadened if the opposite party accepts different deals. The building down approach is. 立. preferred by Americans, whereas the building up is preferred by Taiwanese, this goes. ‧ 國. 學. together with the fact that they love bargaining, so they would like to get more for less,. Nat. sit. y. ‧. which could be achieved easier in the building up approach.. io. al. er. Americans usually prefer agreements that are very specific and straightforward, mostly. v. n. in the form of an elaborate contract, in which both sides hold themselves to all of the. Ch. engchi. i n U. rules agreed upon in the negotiation. While in Taiwan, negotiations tend to be set more in a general direction, as their goal is more likely to be a long-term relationship, the contract cannot be too detailed as they would like to have some leeway in the middle. A small general contract can be made up to proof that a deal is done, but the rules in the contract would more often than not be vague and not so specific. Should the rules be more specific, they might feel more tied down and could come over as a lack of confidence in the other party, which could lead them to back out of the deal.. 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(28) However, if you have a more general contract, they could still add their own details during the negotiation stage.. 8. Building an Agreement: Bottom-up or Top-down? With bottom up, they mean to start negotiating the details to get to an agreement. With top down negotiations starts with discussing the general framework or main ideas upon which the contract is built. In here , again Taiwanese generally prefer to come from. 政治大. top-down, where American negotiations are a series of discussing particulars.(Chang,. 立. 2006a). ‧ 國. 學. 9. Team Organization: One Leader or Group Consensus?. ‧ sit. y. Nat. It is obvious that in American culture, the individual is central and often decisions in. n. al. er. io. negotiations are made by an individual, while in Taiwanese culture, there is a collective. i n U. v. team that decides on the negotiation, which makes it hard to know who is the one. Ch. engchi. making the actual decisions. The first would be faster to make any decisions, as for the latter might take a while to decide, as it needs the time to discuss in group. Risk Taking: High or Low?. In negotiations, it is often a part of the culture that makes them want to take risks in negotiations or play it safe. Americans are known as “risk takers” whereas Taiwanese are not that outspokenly taken many risks, which might be due to the fact that the country has been overshadowed by China politically. 27. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(29) When facing counterparties who generally are averse to taking risks, you can help them make decisions by making sure that the counterparty has enough information about you, don’t move too fast in trying to close the deal, make sure that all the deciding rules are clear, build up a relationship with your counterparty to establish trust and maybe try to take the negotiation step by step instead of trying to negotiate everything at once. All of these steps would make it easier for someone to close a deal.(Gelfand et al., 2013). 政治大. Table 1: Culture Comparison. Taiwan. 學. ‧ 國. 立Western countries. Relationship. Attitute. Win-lose. Win win. Informal. Formal. Direct. Indirect. io Emotionalism. y. a l High Ch. n. Sensitivity to time. sit. Communication. er. Personal style. ‧. Contract. Nat. Negotiation goals. Low. v. Low. engchi. i n U. High. Form of agreement. Specific. General. Building an agreement. Bottom- up. Top-down. Team organization. One leader. Group consensus. Risk taking. High. Low. 28. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(30) 2.5. Culture of Taiwan 2.5.1. Culture as Mental programming. People make decisions according to who they are as a person, as culture influences how individuals perceive the world(Hinner, 2017). Although there is a vast variety in people’s minds, Hofstede (2010) has described a structure that can serve as the basis for mutual understanding. In the figure below, he defined three levels of Uniqueness in. 政治大. mental programming (see Figure below). 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 2: Three Levels of Uniqueness in Mental Programming (Hofstede, 2010, p. 6). Hofstede (2010) spoke of software of the mind. This is referring to the set of underlying experiences and values that make up the way someone thinks. The term for this kind of software of the mind is synonym for culture and is something that sticks with you from. 29. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(31) birth until death. Culture is usually learned from your environment and specific to a group or category. Human nature is what makes humans, humans. If culture is the software of the mind, then human nature operates as the operating system which would define our physical and basic psychological functioning. The human nature is what gives you the ability to feel fear, anger, love, joy and sadness. It is what makes you feel the need to associate with others. It makes you be able to observe nature and talk about it with others. However, what you do with these feelings is modified by culture. Human nature is inherited and universal.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Someone’s Personality is unique to every individual. It could come from both your genes, and a part is also learned. Learned means that they were modified from culture. ‧. as well as one’s own culture.. Nat. sit. y. Differences in international negotiation are usually from a difference in culture, as. n. al. er. io. Human nature is Universal. So, we could study the culture in different groups or nationalities.. 2.5.2. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Layers of culture. In the part of culture, Hofstede (2010) Also describes a difference in groups. Where we identify one’s self in groups or categories which each carries a set of common mental programs that constitutes its culture. Since we belong to diverse groups and categories at the same time, we have several layers of mental programming in us, all corresponding. 30. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(32) to distinct levels in culture(Hofstede, 2010). The various levels Hofstede (2010) describes are:. Table 2: Different Levels in Culture (Hofstede, 2010, p. 18). ■ A national level according to one’s country (or countries, for people who migrated during their lifetimes) ■ A regional and/or ethnic and/or religious and/or linguistic affiliation level ■ A gender level, according to whether one was born as a girl or as a boy ■ A generation level, separating grandparents from parents from children ■ A social class level associated with educational opportunities and with a person’s occupation or profession. 政治大. ■ For those who are employed, organizational, departmental, and/or corporate. 立. levels according to the way employees have been socialized by their work. ‧ 國. 學. organization. In comparing different cultures, these different levels should also be taken into. ‧. account. In my case, being someone from a different ethic, relegious, and linguistic. Nat. sit. y. affiliation level. As well as a gender and generation level, would make it more difficult. n. al. er. io. for me to work in Taiwan, unless prepared to tackle these up front. Also to take into. i n U. v. consideration is that these mental programs are not always in harmony. Religious. Ch. engchi. values could conflict with generation values, and gender values may conflict with organizational practices. Which is why it’s hard to anticipate one’s behavior in a new situation. In these various levels, we will feel a ‘We’ and a 'They’. Where 'We’ is the ingroup’ and the ‘They’ are the out-group. Since Foreigners are already in different nationality groups, and also have different cultural backgrounds, it’s hard for Taiwanese to consider them as someone in their group.. 31. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(33) 2.5.3. Gender in negotiations. Even Though Taiwan is known as one of the countries with the least bias towards women on the work floor, as one of the few countries who has a female President at the lead. But for some more traditional minded people, having a woman in the interrogations is still not-done. (Katz, 2006b) advices that if there would be a woman on the negotiation team, it would be best to let them know beforehand, so that the opposite party could be mentally prepared. And to maybe prepare a letter of recommendation from a higher-up.. 2.5.4. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. ‧. Geert Hofstede has done one of the largest dimensional approach researches with IBM.. sit. y. Nat. For his research he conducted a large-scale survey with IBM employees from seventy-. io. n. al. er. six countries and regions. He had created four core dimensions, a fifth dimension was. v. added after a survey with Chinese employees, and lastly in 2010 a sixth dimension was added, Indulgence. Ch. engchi. i n U. 32. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(34) The Power Distance Index PDI measures dependence relationship in each country or region. Countries which scored higher in power distance have a more hierarchical relationship between people whereas people low in the power distance scale are more equal.. Table 3: Key Differences between Small and Large Power Distance Societies: The Workplace (Hofstede, 2010, p. 76). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 33. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(35) Individualism vs Collectivism There are some differences in language structure and behaviors and societies which makes them favor individualism or collectivism. People from countries or regions that score high on individualism are more independent whereas people that score low on individualism tends to act more towards collectivism which means that they would act according to what their peers think.. Table 4: Key Differences between Collectivist and Individualist Societies: School,. 政治大. Workplace and ICT (Hofstede, 2010, p. 124). 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 34. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(36) Masculinity vs Femininity This scale measures the amount of masculinity or femininity of a country or region. A high score would indicate this country or region to be more masculine where is a low score indicates a more feminine country or region. Masculine and feminine qualities and behaviorisms are explained in the table below. Table 5: Key Differences between Feminine and Masculine Societies: The Workplace (Hofstede, 2010, p. 170). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 35. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(37) Uncertainty Avoidance vs Risk Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which people feel threatened by unknown situations countries or regions that score high in uncertainty avoidance index they tend to minimize the uncertainty. where countries or regions that scored high in uncertainty avoidance index prefer rules and structure.. Table 6: Key Differences between Weak and Strong Uncertainty-Avoidance Societies: Work, Organization and Motivation (Hofstede, 2010, p. 217). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 36. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(38) Long term orientation vs Short term Countries or regions who tend to long term orientation takes a more pragmatic approach, encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as to prepare for the future. Countries or regions who score low on this prefer to maintain time-honored traditions and norms and dislike societal change.. Table 7: Key Differences between Short- and Long-Term Orientation Societies Based on CVS Data: Business and Ways of Thinking (Hofstede, 2010, p. 251). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 37. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(39) Indulgence vs Restraint This last one measures the amount of happiness, life control and leisure in the nation. Countries or regions to score high on indulgence have a tendency to allow relatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun. it’s opposite poles restraints reflects a conviction that such gratification needs to be curved and regulated by strict social norms.. 學. ‧ 國. 2.6. 政治大 Comparing 立 Taiwan to the US and Belgium. The comparison is taken from data from Hofstede, 2010 from their website Hofstede-. ‧. insights. I compared with both the US and Belgium, I chose Belgium because I am. y. Nat. io. sit. Belgian, and it would help explain my reaction to some of the observations in my case,. n. al. er. and because Belgium is in the center of Europe, making it an excellent choice for. Ch. i n U. v. comparing European standards. Although not every European country is the same. I. engchi. also wanted to give the contrast with the US. I feel closer to the American way of negotiating, since I watched a lot of TV shows depicting the American negotiation style not only because it is one of the countries known for its Business culture and negotiations. I also wanted to show how different the US is from Europe.. 38. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(40) Country Comparison Hofstede's Culture Dimensions Taiwan. Belgium. United States 94. 91. 82. 75 58. 93. 65. 62. 69. 68 57. 54 46. 45. 40. 49. 26 17. Power Distance Individualism. 立. 政治大. Masculinity. Uncertainty Avoidance. Long Term Orientation. Indulgence. Figure 3: Country Comparison for the 6 Dimensions (Hofstede, 2018). ‧ 國. 學. Power Distance:. ‧. Taiwan scores relatively high in Power distance. Having a high score on Power distance. y. Nat. io. sit. means there is generally no justification needed for accepting hierarchy.. er. It’s not surprising that the US has less power distance. But it is quite interesting. al. n. v i n how Belgium has a higher senseCofhhierarchy then Taiwan. e n g c h i U Belgium has a score of 65, which means that it is a society in which inequalities are accepted. The attitude towards managers is more formal. Hierarchy is needed if not existential. For the US however, with a score of 40, their hierarchy is more for convenience. Communication is informal and direct.(Hofstede, 2018). 39. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(41) Individualism: With a score of 17 it’s very obvious that Taiwan is a collectivistic society, in these kinds of societies, strong relationships are created, where everyone responsibility takes for fellow members in their group. Offence leads to shame and loss of face (Hofstede,2010), whereas Belgium and the US both are clearly individualistic countries. Belgium has a score of 75, this is obvious that is a more individual society, which means it favors individual and private opinions, they would rather take care of. 政治大. themselves and their immediate family rather than belonging to a group. Contradictory. 立. to their individualism, Belgians need hierarchy too, which creates a weird tension in. ‧ 國. 學. the culture. The US with a score of 91 is not shy to seek their prospective counterpart in order to gather information. Employees are expected to be self-reliant and need to. ‧. show initiative. Most of the business rewards come based off previous merits or. y. Nat. n. er. io. al. sit. accomplishments. (Hofstede, 2018). Masculinity:. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. With a score of 45, Taiwan is a slightly feminine country, in these countries, people generally work in order to live. Conflicts are resolved by compromise and negotiation Belgium has a score of 54, which agrees that Belgians long for a mutual agreement in conflicts. The US scored relatively higher at 62 , which shows that Americans are much more likely to brag about their performances, and move along with every promotion, to be able to show others of their success.(Hofstede, 2018). 40. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(42) Uncertainty Avoidance: Taiwan scores 69, thus having a high preference for avoiding uncertainty. Countries like these are intolerant of unorthodox behavior and ideas, security plays a major part in individual motivation. With a score of 94, Belgium has an even higher score, which would mean that Belgians require certainty and don’t deal well in unknown situations. This makes it hard to negotiate new rules. The US has a relatively low score on uncertainty avoidance as they are more likely to try out new things and allow freedom. 政治大. of expression. They do not require a lot of rules and are less emotionally. 立. 學. ‧ 國. expressive.(Hofstede, 2018). Long term Orientation:. ‧. Taiwan scores 93, making it a very clear long-term orientation culture. They are prone. y. Nat. sit. to save and invest, persevere in achieving results and have an overriding concern for. n. al. er. io. respecting the demands of virtue. With a score of 82, Belgium is only a bit behind. Ch. i n U. v. Taiwan. This means that they believe that truth depends on context and time. The US. engchi. has a very low score on long term orientation, with a score of only 26, they are likely to verify whether all new given information is true. They also measure business performance with profit and loss statements (Hofstede, 2018). Indulgence: Taiwan has a very intermediate score of 49 which does not indicate a strong side to this dimension. Belgium has a score of 57, making it a slightly indulgent country, which makes them able to have a positive attitude towards life and enjoy leisure activities. 41. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(43) The US scores higher on indulgence than Belgium, where it is clear that Americans love spending money, and even more so, love spending time with their friends, and have many leisure activities.(Hofstede, 2018). Conclusion What is most remarkable here is that Taiwan is very collectivistic in comparison to Belgium and the US, which are very individualistic. In the negotiations, this could play. 政治大 they put on maintaining face towards others. 立. a large part. That they are collectivistic shows in their use of guanxi and the importance. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 42. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(44) 3 Methodology For the methodology in this research I will use a secondary source and a case study from my personal observations. For the secondary source I will use Hofstede’s culture dimensions to compare Taiwanese and American culture and see how they come into use during my observations. I will also use my observations to see if there are any discrepancies with the original resources.. 政治大. Hofstede (2010) used questionnaires (Values Survey Modules) from International. 立. Business Machines (IBM) employees to compare data from 66 countries. In total there. ‧ 國. 學. were 2 different questionnaires. The questionnaires were in the beginning only given to managers, later also to employees. The questionnaires were taken from 76 different. ‧. countries and regions. y. Nat. er. io. sit. This particular case speaks to cross-cultural negotiations, as I’m a foreigner trying to do business in Taiwan. My view in the negotiations is coming from a foreign point. al. n. v i n C h and he was also of view, also, my boss is also a foreigner, e n g c h i U closely involved in this case. This case might not be a successful case, but I still chose this case as I feel that there is more to be learned from cases where something goes wrong, as opposed of cases where everything goes right.. 43. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(45) 4 Case study 4.1. Company background. Vinoza is a Hong-Kong holding, wine importing company based in Taiwan. The company, founded in 2014 by Maarten Dehaas currently has two shops in Taipei, and a branch in Taizhong. The wines are mostly imported from Europe, the main part from. 政治大. Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany. Recently there have also been some wines. 立. imported from New Zealand, and there has been addition to the wines with European. ‧ 國. 學. Gins, vodka, rum and Tonic. The concept of the stores is that every drink has been. ‧. divided in one of 4 categories: Jade, Topaz, Ruby and Sapphire. Because beginning. sit. y. Nat. alcohol drinkers usually don’t know what they would like to drink, they can go to the. io. al. er. Vinoza website and take a quiz with five easy questions to find which Jewel would be. v. n. more likely to fit their taste. Both in the store and on the website, customers can find. Ch. engchi. i n U. out which wines belong to which jewel. Although it might not always be a direct hit. But that is why it is possible to try all the wines at the store, to find out which ones you like for yourself. This way, you can explore new wines, and maybe have an easy indication as to which wines you like. Besides the stores, Vinoza also dealt with customers on a B2B level, filling businesses needs for wines across the country.. 44. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(46) 4.2. The Case. My part in this case is that I acted as a sales account manager in my internship. Since there was a nondisclosure form with the contract, I will not disclose the name and go to much into detail about the contract that was signed. The main part of negotiations I had participated in, usually took place between Sales and customers. Because customers always want the lowest price, and we always. 政治大. want to sell as much for as high a price as possible. It is an everlasting conflict.. 立. However, when trying to sell as much as possible. We could get a lower price as long. ‧ 國. 學. as they can buy a large enough quantity, so this would be included in our strategy. I was acting as a salesperson for this company, and at the time of arrival they didn’t. ‧. really have a clear plan of approach to sell wine. There were a few promotions, but. y. Nat. er. io. own customers.. sit. there was no clear direction as to who our customer should be. So, we had to find our. al. n. v i n For my plan, I thought ofC wine as they would probably often need large h ebars, ngchi U. quantities of wine and would be able to order wines more frequently. Considering how this was one of the first times that I had actually done something like this, I decided to just go to a wine bar, and ask if they were in need of any wine. A waitress sat me down and I waited with a glass of wine for the owner. This I did thoughtfully, as I didn’t want to come over as rude, and came with the intention of just finding out who the boss was, if he had a need for wine, and if we could deliver this wine. By ordering a glass of wine, they could also see that I’m not in a hurry, which would make them feel less pressured.. 45. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(47) When the owner sat down and talked with me, he fired many questions at me, quizzing me about my knowledge of wines. After he asked enough, he was willing to immediately try out some wines. He even bought a few by the box to try them out without having a taste first. In afterview, I think this was a strategy to get me to think he was very serious and was willing to buy in large quantities. During our first meeting, he boasted a few times over how much wines he can move. This would make me think that he would probably need a lot of wines, and that maybe we can get a lower price to give him. The next few. 治政大he was satisfied of the wine, weeks, I would go over there regularly, making sure that 立 ‧ 國. 學. and tried to get him a lower price, so he could buy larger quantities. In the end, after a few meetings in which I also had my manager around, we could agree to give him a. ‧. distributor discount, which was the highest discount we could offer. However, the. Nat. sit. y. quantities he ordered were never big enough.. n. al. er. io. There seemed to be a misunderstanding as to what kind of percentage could be. i n U. v. allocated to this wine shop. When Maarten came back from overseas, he declared that. Ch. engchi. the discount would be five percent less than originally agreed. Considering that this customer had already been ordering wines for a month at this discount, it would be something that would be hard to change without getting the customer to be unhappy. Eventually I happened to think of a way to get him to keep the discount, which was having this customer to sign a contract in which he would agree to a yearly turnover of a certain amount. During these negotiations, the customer had lost some of his faith in our company, so he talked about kimochi a lot. These negotiations went on for about two months. I’d have weekly visits to the wine shop, and we had invited the owner over 46. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(48) as well to come and see our company, try to get him to put his trust in us again. When he saw the original very general contract, which would fit about just one page. He asked for a more detailed version. After we came over to the shop with the manager and Maarten. The stamps were placed on the documents, and a deal was sealed. But this is not how the story ends. After a few weeks of still ordering in small quantities, the owner said he could not find a suitable product to sell as fast as his other products. Even though a contract was signed, he did not buy in as large a quantity as previously agreed in the contract. Using the contract more as a guideline than a rule.. 治政大 that we don't trust him by He often spoke of the kimochi not being right, about feeling 立 ‧. ‧ 國. 學. asking him to pay on time.. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 47. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(49) 5 Case Analysis 5.1. Planning. In this case, the planning part wasn’t that elaborate. I looked for suitable wine shops and wine bars in the area and went over there to check it out. For the wine bar mentioned in the case, I went to drink there for a while before having the internship in. 政治大 staked out the place beforehand. 立 I would a more general idea of what they do there, Vinoza. This was also a strategy as I knew I would probably be working there so I. sit. y. Nat. Contact. io. 5.2. er. me.. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. what kind of wine they serve, at what kind of price and they’d be more familiar with. al. n. v i n For the first contact I just talked if they had a need for wine. C h to the waitress, asking engchi U. She set me down at a table for two and I ordered some wine. I did this to create the. impression that I am not in a hurry, that I won’t go anywhere fast and if I came at an inconvenient time they could just take their time, finish what they were doing and then see me. When the bar owner came in he came to me directly, so he sat in front of me and then asked me about my knowledge of wines. I tried to answer all his questions and when he was satisfied he immediately ordered some wine by the box as a test run. This strategy was to make it appear that he could order enormous quantities without having to try something first, which meant that he was very confident of his selling skills. 48. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(50) 5.3. Negotiation. The part of the negotiation happened when we had to cut back the discount or sign a contract so that was when we really started discussing on how to get the best for both sides, so we went for a win-win strategy. When talking in the in the negotiations there was often silence this could’ve been both part of the strategy or it could be because there was a barrier in language as the bar owner didn’t have a good control in English. 政治大. and our boss is a foreigner who only speaks English.. 立. Luckily both myself and the manager were there to help translate for our boss and. ‧ 國. 學. for him but I feel that maybe sometimes there might’ve still been some misunderstandings between the both sides due to miscommunication. Our first offer. ‧. was a very general contract but after seeing the contracts the owner wanted to change. y. Nat. er. io. sit. the contract to a more detailed one with more clauses, he didn’t even mind that more of the clauses would be negative for him, because he wanted to make us trust him in. al. n. v i n that he will sell enough as long C as we a good relationship. h emaintain ngchi U 5.4. Contract. According to his wishes the contract was a more specific one instead of the general one that we had in the beginning giving more details about how and when the wine should be delivered and about how long it would take to get there, what was most important. 49. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(51) for us was that he agreed to a certain number of sales per year. What was most important for him was knowing that we wouldn’t change the price. As for the follow up I don’t think it was well implemented as after the contract was signed not much orders were taken. I felt that this was mostly due to that the owner was reluctant of buying too much. During this time I would go over there once a week, usually on Friday afternoon, to bring sample wines. At a few occasions, I even brought a winery representative to show the wines. The bar owner was however not swayed and held off on the orders. The relationship itself went quite bad as some of the wines in. 治政大 our store went on sales without him knowing. 立 Research Limitations. Nat. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 5.5. er. io. sit. Since this case is based on my personal views, there might be a bias based on my own feelings. Also, these few cases cannot be represented as representative for the entire. al. n. v i n Cfeelings Taiwan. People all have their own ways ofU handling things. So even though h e nand i h gc we can sometimes find similarities, not every case can be held to the same standards.. 50. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(52) Table 8: Negotiation Comparison in the Case Study. Vinoza. Bar Owner. Negotiation goals. Contract. Relationship. Attitude. Win-win. Win win. Personal style. Informal. Informal. Communication. Indirect. Indirect. Sensitivity to time. High. Low. Emotionalism. Low. High. Form of agreement. General. 立. Top-down. Team organization. Group. One leader. Risk taking. High. High. 學. Top-down. ‧. ‧ 國. Building an agreement. 政治大 Specific. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 51. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(53) 5.6. Comparison with Hofstede’s Cultural. Dimensions. 1. Power distance: For Hofstede’s result on Power distance, we see that Taiwan scores relatively high (>50%) Which would mean that it should be easier to accept authority.. 政治大. In the case, I felt that this was true as the owner of the bar had a very different. 立. attitude when speaking to our boss or someone higher in position.. ‧ 國. 學. 2. Individualism. ‧. From Hofstede’s score on individualism, we can see that Taiwan scored very low,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. which means that Taiwan is a very collectivistic country, which means that face is a very important part of everyday life. Losing face can be something that will be very. n. al. Ch. influential in someone’s decisions.. engchi. i n U. v. In the case we see a similar thing happening. When the discount changed, and when one of the products sold to the bar owner were cheaper in our own bar, someone said it loudly in his bar. Which made him lose face, following the loss of face, his kimochi made it unable for him to continue our contract.. 52. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(54) 3. Masculinity Taiwan is more neutral country with a slightly feminine side. This concrete means that differences are only slight in this category. In this case I feel that there are no very apparent masculine or feminine actions, which is coherent with the neutrality Taiwan has.. 4. Uncertainty Avoidance What is most typical of uncertainty avoidance, is the unwillingness to take risks.. 政治大. Taiwan in Hofstede’s result scores high on this category.. 立. But in the case we see a stronger sense of risk that the bar owner wants to take.. ‧ 國. 學. Which is contrary to what is normal. This could be because of the risk not being high. ‧. enough.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. 5. Long term Orientation. al. Long term Orientation is linked to the importance of guanxi as well, since guanxi needs. n. v i n time to build, so any individualC who h would i Uany guanxi, would not do this e n gtryctohmake just for short term negotiations.. In the case of the bar owner, seeing how he sad he had bad kimochi, meant that he was thinking ahead on the long run, which coincides with Hofstede’s research.. 6. Indulgence Indulgence is the rate of happiness in a country. Seeing how Taiwan is very neutral in this area, and this dimension is not clear from the case. I have decided that this doesnt need to be added in. 53. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(55) 6 Conclusion 6.1. Conclusion. Negotiations in Taiwan can be long, and be hard to read(Katz, 2006a). To get into negotiations it would be best to have a team, to support their way of collectivism(Chang, 2006a), which this research showed that the Taiwanese culture. 政治大. very distinct in is, This is shown also by their use of guanxi, and their consideration for. 立. giving face, and preserving ones honor. Along with other Asian countries, Taiwan. ‧ 國. 學. focusses on long term cooperation, which would be why negotiations are often also. ‧. long and numerous. In order to keep face, even if something goes wrong, in order to. sit. y. Nat. preserve their or your face, they will often keep visible problems to a minimum, which. io. n. al. er. is why it would be best to focus on details, since they might not be very direct.. 6.2. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Consideration for Future Study. In negotiations, there are a lot of different sides. For future study it might be best to also consider a psychological aspect. I’d like to see more comparisons in real cases. Besides the psychology aspect it would also be interesting to look behind negotiations and different techniques which are successful in business settings. It would also be good to re-do the Hofstede’s Values Survey, with updated questions, as culture is something. 54. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

(56) that is changing, and isn’t constant. With a growing international influence, culture has been intertwining with other cultures.. 6.3. Limitations. In this study, I mostly considered my own viewpoint based on cultural research, comparing my own observations with the cultural dimensions of Hofstede. Which. 政治大. means that there is no subjectivity in my observation. Hofstede’s part about indulgence. 立. is very new and therefore not complete. Also, the information that I used is from 2010,. ‧ 國. 學. in this fast-growing society, this information needs an update. Also, I’d like to have explored more of the aspects into negotiation. ‧. n. al. er. io. Implications for Management. sit. y. Nat. 6.4. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. For managing people with other cultures, it would be better to be constantly communicate, also in negotiations, unless silence is one of your negotiation tactics. Constant communication can help remove any misunderstandings that might occur. Also you could get a better picture of each others’ personalities, which could make it easier to know how someone would react in a certain situation.. 55. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.MBA.080.2018.F08.

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