International Business Negotiations : A study analyzing Swedish SME:s on the Chinese market

Abstract: iAbstractThe purpose of this thesis was to describe and analyzehow cross-cultural differences affect the outcome of thenegotiation process between Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SME)and Chinese companies. The cultural differences are to be seen as the underlying factor of complications in negotiations. Therefore,do the cultural differences have a central role inthis research. Furthermore,we formulatedour main research question as: how can cross-cultural differences affect thenegotiation process between Swedish SMEs and Chinese companies.This thesishas been conducted with andeductiveapproach, i.e.we started our researchfrom already existingtheories, anda qualitative researchmethod.The primary data was collected through semi-structuredinterviews with corporatemanagers from four different Swedish SMEs. The theoretical framework for this thesis has its foundation in theories related to cross-cultural differences, negotiationsstyles and communication and business behavior. The data for the empirical part describesthe case companies and their experience when negotiating with Chinese companies. In the analysis,wehavepresenteda discussion of the empirical findings together with a comparison of how they correlateto the theoreticalframework.The conclusion indicates that future research regarding cross-cultural differencesisto regardas a necessity, because of its increasing importance in today ́s business world. Furthermore,our conclusion providesa description of the most important factors that affectinternational business negotiations. We believe this will be beneficial for negotiators at Swedish SMEs to use as guidance in order to be successful in their negotiations.