Question 1

Which of the following factors often gets in the way of American team negotiations?

Accepted Answer

Compensation schemes that overly emphasize individual performance can also get in the way of team negotiating-a negotiation team requires a split commission, which many Americans naturally eschew.

Question 2

In studies conducted at Ford Motor Company and AT&T, three additional traits were found to be important predictors of negotiator success with international clients and partners. One of these was:

Accepted Answer

In studies conducted at Ford Motor Company and AT&T, three additional traits were found to be important predictors of negotiator success with international clients and partners: willingness to use team assistance, listening skills, and influence at headquarters.

Question 3

Which of the following statements reflects the American decision-making style in business negotiations?

Accepted Answer

To Americans, a business negotiation is a problem-solving activity, the best deal for both parties being the solution. To a Japanese businessperson, a business negotiation is a time to develop a business relationship with the goal of long-term mutual benefit. The economic issues are the context, not the content, of the talks.

Question 4

Which of the following is the first step towards initiating efficient and effective international business negotiations?

Accepted Answer

Four steps lead to more efficient and effective international business negotiations. They are: (1) selection of the appropriate negotiation team; (2) management of preliminaries, including training, preparations, and manipulation of negotiation settings; (3) management of the process of negotiations, that is, what happens at the negotiation table; and (4) appropriate follow-up procedures and practices.

Question 5

Which of the following statements about buyer-seller relationships is true?

Accepted Answer

By nature, Americans have little understanding of the Japanese practice of giving complete deference to the needs and wishes of buyers. That is not the way things work in America. American sellers tend to treat American buyers more as equals, and the egalitarian values of American society support this behavior.

Question 6

According to the text, even though American sellers make lower profits than the Japanese, many American managers apparently prefer lower profits if those profits are yielded from a more equal split of the joint profits. This demonstrates that Americans and Japanese have different views about ____.

Accepted Answer

Not only do Japanese buyers achieve better results than American buyers, but compared with American sellers, Japanese sellers also get more of the commercial pie as well. Interestingly, when shown these results, Americans in executive seminars still often prefer the American seller's role, thus confirming that Americans and Japanese have differing views of fairness.

Question 7

The single most important activity of negotiations is ____.

Accepted Answer

The single most important activity of negotiations is listening. The negotiator's primary job is collecting information with the goal of enhancing creativity. The importance of listening skills in international business negotiations cannot be overstated.

Question 8

Which of the following can be considered as a signal of progress in a business negotiation with foreigners?

Accepted Answer

Important signals of progress in business negotiations can be (1) higher-level foreigners being included in the discussions; (2) questions beginning to focus on specific areas of the deal; (3) a softening of attitudes and positions on some of the issues; (4) at the negotiation table, increased talk among themselves in their own language, which may often mean they are trying to decide something; and (5) increased bargaining and use of the lower-level, informal, and other channels of communication.

Question 9

Which negotiation tactic, according to foreign negotiators, is the most useful with Americans?

Accepted Answer

"Just make them wait." Everyone else in the world knows that no negotiation tactic is more useful with Americans, because no one places more value on time, no one has less patience when things slow down, and no one looks at their wristwatches more than Americans do.

Question 10

Phil, a buyer for a chain of departmental stores in the U.S., and his team are engaged in negotiations with a Brazilian supplier. Which of the following signals would indicate that Phil's team has been making progress in the negotiations with the Brazilians?

Accepted Answer

Important signals of progress in business negotiations can be (1) higher-level foreigners being included in the discussions; (2) questions beginning to focus on specific areas of the deal; (3) a softening of attitudes and positions on some of the issues; (4) at the negotiation table, increased talk among themselves in their own language, which may often mean they are trying to decide something; and (5) increased bargaining and use of the lower-level, informal, and other channels of communication.

Question 11

In Japanese business organizations, subordinates are often hesitant to pass along bad news to their superiors. This lack of internal communications can be attributed to:

Accepted Answer

The Japanese emphasis on hierarchical relationships seems to hamper internal communications; subordinates don't pass along bad news, for example. This reticence seems to have been a major problem during the Toyota product quality issues, when the secretive corporate culture in Japan clashed with the U.S. requirements that auto makers disclose safety threats.

Question 12

Which of the following factors is responsible for global business successes?

Accepted Answer

One reason for global business successes is the large numbers of skillful international negotiators. These are the managers who have lived in foreign countries and speak foreign languages. In many cases, they are immigrants to the United States or those who have been immersed in foreign cultures in other capacities (Peace Corps volunteers and Mormon missionaries are common examples).

Question 13

In relationship-oriented cultures, ____ speaks quite loudly in both persuasion and the demonstration of interest in the business relationship.

Accepted Answer

Negotiators may have to request the accompaniment of senior executives to better match up with client's and partner's negotiation teams. Particularly in relationship-oriented cultures, rank speaks quite loudly in both persuasion and the demonstration of interest in the business relationship.

Question 14

Which of the following is one of the offshoots of the sequential approach of Westerners to complex negotiation tasks?

Accepted Answer

The Western sequential approach and the Eastern holistic approach do not mix well. That is, American managers often report great difficulties in measuring progress in Japan. In America, you are half done when half the issues are settled. Often Americans make unnecessary concessions right before agreements are announced by the Japanese.

Question 15

Which of the following statements is true regarding decision-making processes in international business negotiations?

Accepted Answer

When faced with a complex negotiation task, most Westerners divide the large task up into a series of smaller tasks. Issues such as prices, delivery, warranty, and service contracts may be settled one issue at a time, with the final agreement being the sum or the sequence of smaller agreements.

Question 16

Which of the following statements reflect American notions of the importance of objectivity?

Accepted Answer

"Americans make decisions based upon the bottom line and on cold, hard facts." "Americans don't play favorites." "Economics and performance count, not people." "Business is business." Such statements well reflect American notions of the importance of objectivity.

Question 17

Which of the following forms the basis of commercial interactions in countries such as China, Spain, Mexico, and the Philippines?

Accepted Answer

Guanxi, the Chinese word for personal connections, is key for negotiators working in China. Long-term reciprocity is the basis of commercial interactions there, and Western concepts like objectivity almost always take a back seat. What happens to them at the negotiation table will affect the business relationship, regardless of the economics involved.

Question 18

Americans often make the mistake of going it alone against a greater number of foreigners in business negotiations. What cultural heritage of Americans can this behavior be attributed to?

Accepted Answer

Willingness to use team assistance is particularly important for American negotiators. Because of a cultural heritage of independence and individualism, Americans often make the mistake of going it alone against greater numbers of foreigners.

Question 19

What approach is adopted by Westerners when faced with a complex negotiation task?

Accepted Answer