Business negotiations with the Chinese: the Swedish
perspective

Abstract: The Chinese market is rapidly increasing and yet its full potential is, by
far, not reached. Foreign companies are competing for the opportunity to be
a part of the development of China and Swedish companies are no exception.
Sweden is a country that, to a large extent, is dependent on international
trade and due to this fact China is a very important emerging market. We
believe that its size and potential will attract more and more Swedish
companies in the coming years. A crucial success factor when doing business
internationally is the art of negotiation. According to Graham and Lam
(2003) negotiating business deals in China will be one of the most daunting
and interesting challenges facing Western executives during the next few
decades.

In this thesis we study Chinese business negotiations from Swedish managers’
perspective and we analyze their experience within this area. We have chosen
to focus on the Chinese negotiation process, the influence of Chinese
culture on negotiations and Chinese negotiation tactics.

This study shows that a Chinese negotiation is a time-consuming process that
requires patience and trust on a personal level between the parties.
Furthermore, the study points out the importance of the concept of face and
that one of the most commonly used Chinese negotiation tactics is to
constantly claim that the price is too high.