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Negotiating with people from countries with different culture can be difficult. What is normal pratice in one country might not be polite behover in another.

A swede felt that a apaniard was being aggressive and threatening durning a negatiation about the cost of renting office space in Madrid. When he was asked why he felt this, he said it was because the spaniard kept staring at him and making him feel uncomfortable. The Spaniard, on the other hand, felt that the Swede was not really interested in what he was proposing.

Some German businessmen left the negotiation early when they went to discuss a new contract in Saudi Arabia. They complained that the Saudis didn’t seem to want to negotiate. They said they seened more interested in lunch and dinner than in discussing business. In fact, the Germans felt the Saudis were trying to avoid direct talks.

A group of British financies went to China to look for suitable investment opportunities. Their goal was short-term profit, and they did not make any offers for longger-term investment. The Chinese found it diffucult to make any decisions.

A team from the United States went to china to negotiate a contract. The leader of the team did most of the talking and always spoke fisrt to the man who he had been introduced to first. The negotiations were held in English, but everyone on the American team was able to speak to their Chinese counterparts in Chinese over lunch beforehand.

Some Canadian negotiators felt their Italian counterparts were not interested in making a deal. The Italians arrives a quarter of an hours late, and the Canadians felt the meeting went on too long.

A French company inveted some Indonesians to France one year to discucc a contract. The French booked lunch and dinner at expensive reataurants during the two days of negariatioans and were offended when the Indonesian did not want any lunch. The French also felt the Indonesian lacked energy and enthusiasm. It was a stressful time for everyone.

A small team of Germans held talks in Berlin with a representative from their new American parent company. Althought the Germans spoke good English, both sides felt uncomfortible with each other.

A team of Autralians negotiating in English in Japan thought they were doing really well. Their Japanese counterparts nodded a lot, said “yes” often, and seemed to agree to all the proposals.

Thing did nit start well when representatives from a Brazilian company sat down to negotiate a sales contract with an Indian company. The Indian negotiators later complained that the Brazilians made them feel threatened and overpowered.

Teams of negotiators sent by one company from Sweden usually consisted of over 50% women. However, the same company only sent men to negotiate with a client in Dubai.

A small company from a town in the UK sent some representatives on their trip yo the United State to negotiate a new sales contract. When they returned to the UK, the representatives complained that the American didn’t listen to them, frequently interrupted, and wre genarally fairly aggressive.