While the Westerners consider the business content as the most important factor in the negotiation process, Chinese people believe that providing personal favors is the cornerstone of the business. The dynamics of face play a role in the interpersonal relationships, which determine people’s willingness to bargain or cooperate in business. During communications, Chinese businessmen use indirectness, praising, intermediaries, shaming, and requests to save face and give face (Cardon & Scott, 2003).
Honeywell-Bull offers a good example of the importance of saving face. As a hardware company, it had won a chance to negotiate for an order of 100 ATMs from the Bank of China. Near the end of the negotiation, the bank …show more content…
In order to reach reciprocity, the Chinese will possibly be sincere toward the foreign company. In this process, trust can be created. Fang (2006) mentioned that the Chinese negotiator will become “Confucian gentleman” by following cooperation strategy, emphasizing long-term relation, and taking a “win–win” approach when trust level is high. In contrast, the same Chinese negotiator will trade like a “Sun-Tzu-like strategist” by adopting competitive strategy, seeking short-term benefit, and taking the “win-lose” approach when trust is …show more content…
Studying the cultural influence on Chinese business ethics can help people better understand what the Chinese businessmen want in a negotiation process. The dynamics of face which serves as the fundamental measure scale of prestige and reputation in Chinese society is critically important. To specifically understand the role of personal relations and how face involved in Chinese business, it is necessary to know how the current interpersonal relations formed from the long history of China. There are two major time periods that shape the Chinese business ethics. One is during the social turmoil (such as the Cultural Revolution) in contemporary Chinese history, and the other one is during the prevalence of Confucianism in ancient Chinese history. This research paper focuses on the latter one. Learning about the origins of Chinese business ethics, people can understand why Chinese businessmen carry the ideas that are different from those of the