Cross-cultural business negotiations : how cultural intelligence influences the business negotiation process

Abstract: Over the last 30 years, technology has made it possible for people to travel to other cultures in a cheaper and more efficient way. The increased traveling has made it possible for an increase in trade and as the trade flourishes the need for people that can handle the differences between the cultures in the world increase. Some people handle cross-cultural negotiations better than others; we want to know how Cultural Intelligence influences The Business Negotiation Process. To find out how Cultural Intelligence influences The Business Negotiation Process we choose to conduct qualitative interviews with a few Swedish companies that have experiences of cross-cultural negotiations with China. The findings indicate that Cultural Intelligence influences The Business Negotiation Process by different factors such as engagement, communication and understanding. The greater engagement and understanding the negotiator has of the different parts the more likely it is that the business negotiation process will have a positive outcome. We studied as much literature as we could find about cultural intelligence and the business negotiation process. Out of our findings, we build a model, and this gave the opportunity to test the different parts of the model in our research. Our contributions to the field are foremost the discovery of the two new dimensions: Structure and Power Dependency that can be added to both Cultural intelligence and The Business Negotiation Process. In future research, these two dimensions can be further researched and developed. In our research, statements from our respondents create a small practical guideline for cross-cultural business negotiations with China. The negotiators might have use for this guideline when negotiating with Chinese companies.