Tips for negotiation with Japanese

Wayne carshaw, an American scholar, studied the negotiation methods of Japanese industrial and commercial enterprises and provided the following negotiation tips to foreign negotiators

(1) As long as it is a formal negotiation, women cannot be allowed to participate. Japanese women are not allowed to participate in the management of large companies. In some important social occasions, Japanese people don't take women with them (which is hard to be accepted by professional women in Europe and America).

(2) Try not to send people under 35 to negotiate with the Japanese. Sending a young man to negotiate with a 65 year old Japanese manager means disrespect for his Japanese counterpart.

(3) Don't mistake Japanese courtesy for agreement. During the negotiation, the Japanese representative may keep nodding and saying, "Hi!" (yes). But when Japanese say this, they often don't agree, but remind each other that they are listening. This kind of expression is the same as that of "aha" or "I understand" in English. In short, the word "Shi" does not always mean "agree", especially in Japan.

(4) When the day's negotiators deliberate on a certain issue, they always become silent. This is often called some foreigners "Zhang Er Kong is confused". The funny thing is that whenever the Japanese representatives are silent, Westerners are easy to fall into a trap. When they wake up, they are too late to repent. For example, at & T and a Japanese company have entered into a commercial negotiation, and after everything has been settled, at & T signs a contract that has been accepted by both parties. But when the contract was sent to the president of the Japanese company for his signature, the president sat there motionless and meditated. Seeing this, the manager of ITT thought that the president of the Japanese company would not sign, so he quickly agreed to pay another 250000 US dollars to the Japanese side. In fact, the manager of at & T can save a lot of money for his company by just waiting a few minutes.

If you want to succeed in the negotiation with the Japanese, foreign scholars summarize the key points as follows: never tell the other party what you think in your heart, keep quiet, be patient, and be polite. In a word, we should be like the Japanese.