商务英语考试

【单选题】Negotiation is a common and necessary process in concluding an international transaction.Businesspeople from different cultures may sometimes find themselves in an awkward position owing to the cultural conflict.As a matter of fact, when two parties of different cultures sit at the negotiation table, two cultures are conflicting.Cultural conflict may result in a failure of a deal or loss of opportunity or loss of profits. For example, foreigners with some knowledge aboutChinese culture will avoid making an appointment withChinese businesspeople to negotiate during the traditionalChinese Spring Festival, especially on the New Year’sEve and in the following three days, asChinese people think that it is not the time to make money during the Festival. On the other hand, they need relaxation after a whole year’s hard work.
Cultural elements influence the style, method, pace, and goals of the negotiators. The negotiators must remain alert to not only the culture of the society represented but the personal views and outlook of the negotiator across the negotiation table and even across wire (talking on the phone).
Negotiation between businesspeople is an activity of cross-cultural communication, and closely linked with communication is the accommodation of differences in negotiating styles. Some cultures are more formal than others, others more confrontational; some will be understated, others inclined to exaggeration; some more conscious of status and far less egalitarian thanAmericans, others so circumspect (to save face and preserve harmony as to leave a typical Western businessman baffled in trying to find out the intent).
Understanding manners and customs is especially important in negotiations because misunderstanding manners or customs of another culture may result in poor outcomes or even disasters.
To negotiate effectively in cross-culture negotiation, all types of communication should be read correctly. For example,Americans often interpret inaction and silence as negative sign. Japanese managers tend to expect that their silence can getAmericans to lower prices or sweeten a deal.Even a simple agreement may take days to negotiate in the MiddleEast because theArab party may want to talk about unrelated issues or do something else for a while. The aggressive style of Russian negotiators and their usual last-minute change requests may cause astonishment and concern on the part of ill-prepared negotiators. The following examples may further show how culture conflicts damage international trade transactions.
At the negotiation table, Western business negotiation group leader found the Japanese negotiation leader nodding his head after he made his offer to the Japanese negotiator, so he thought the Japanese business counterpart agreed to their offer, and he took out the contract, hoping to conclude the negotiation by signing the sales contract.But, to his great astonishment, the Japanese counterpart did not show any sign of signing the contract. The Western business negotiation group leader, however, felt offendeD、He thought the Japanese counterpart was not serious. The negotiation then ended resultless.
The process of decision making is varieD、The time taken to make one decision will depend on whether such authority is centralized, assigned to a committee of technical people, routed through a network within the organization, or entirely delegated to the negotiator. For example, again it is concerned with the negotiation between the Japanese businesspeople and anAmerican group.After being offered the price, The Japanese negotiators habitually remained silent for some time. TheAmerican negotiator, however. thought that the price he had offered might be not competitive. So he reduced the offered price, which surprised and very much pleased the Japanese negotiators.
Negotiators from Japan nod repeatedly means
A、that they agree to the ter
网考网参考答案：C
网考网解析：
[精析] 此题是对文章细节的考查。文章第六段提到了西方人和日本人在谈判时方式的不同,日本人点头并不是同意的意思．而是表明在听。故此处答案为C。 document.getElementById("warp").style.display="none"; document.getElementById("content").style.display="block"; 查看试题解析出处>>