Stephen E. Weiss

International Business Negotiation in a Globalizing World: Reflections on the Contributions and Future of a (Sub) Field

Research on international business negotiation has been underway for 35 years. It has developed within two major paradigms: the macro-strategic, which focuses on organizational wholes, and the micro-behavioral, which focuses on individuals. The former further divides into business-government relations and interfirm relationship streams, while the latter branches into comparative and intercultural studies. While this article summarizes these bodies of literature, its main purpose is to offer a critique of this research, consider its contribution to practice and to the field of international negotiation, and stimulate ideas for future research.

Teaching the cultural aspects of negotiation: A range of experiential techniques

This article presents 5 main experiential techniques for teaching about negotiation and culture. They are symmetric acting (prescribing negotiating styles for a role-play), interacting with “real Romans”, concentrating on implicit cultures in the class, multicultural negotiating, and culture in (complex) context. Interacting with Romans may involve featured guests, multiple cultural representatives, or negotiations in their language. The article illustrates and evaluates each technique, and closes with general pedagogical considerations such as participants’ backgrounds, deroling/debriefing, and the capacity to effect behavioral change.