Cultural Issues between Polish and Sino-Japanese Negotiators: Examples from China and Japan

Abstract

Culture is one of the most important factors in negotiations and has great influence on their outcome. The first two chapters of this thesis describe major aspects of negotiations and culture in general. Chapter 3 provides information about the culture of China today, details of business etiquette, and other issues that play a significant role in conducting negotiations there. Chapter 4 presents information about the Japanese negotiator, religion in Japan, and key factors of doing business in that country. Then comes a description of nonverbal communication, which is vital in negotiating in the Sino-Japanese culture. The theoretical part of this thesis ends with a brief presentation of Low-context and High-context cultures and a profile of the Polish negotiator. In Chapter 8, the empirical findings are presented, which are responses to interviews with Polish people who negotiated in China and Japan. These are analyzed, and the conclusions are presented in the last chapter.