Negotiating International Business - Saudi Arabia

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1、NegotiatingInternationalBusiness-SaudiArabiaThissectionisanexcerptfromthebook“NegotiatingInternationalBusiness-TheNegotiator’sReferenceGuideto50CountriesAroundtheWorld”byLotharKatz.Ithasbeenupdatedwithinputsfromreadersandothers,mostrecentlyinApril2010.Thoughthecountry’scultureisquitehomog

2、eneous,Saudibusinesspeople,especiallythoseamongyoungergenerations,areusuallyexperiencedininteractinganddoingbusinesswithvisitorsfromothercultures.Untilthediscoveryofoil,theKingdomofSaudiArabiaproducedverylittle,andtheprimarybusinessactivitywastrading.Thismerchantculturehelpedthembecomeshr

3、ewdandhighlyskilledbargainers.However,thatdoesnotnecessarilymeanthattheyareopen-minded.Whennegotiatingbusinesshere,realizethatpeoplemayexpectthingstobedone‘theirway.’AlwayskeepinmindthatthisisanIslamiccountry.Showinganydisrespectforthereligioncouldhavedisastrousconsequences.Relationshipsa

4、ndRespectSaudiArabia’scultureexpectsitsmemberstohaveastrongsenseofloyaltytotheirgroup.Atthesametime,itleavesroomforindividualpreferences.Buildinglastingandtrustingpersonalrelation-shipsisveryimportanttomostSaudis,whooftenexpecttoestablishstrongbondspriortoclosinganydeals.Peopleinthiscount

5、ryprefertodobusinesswiththosetheyknowandlike.Establishingproductivebusinesscooperationrequiresalong-termperspectiveandcommitment.Socialinterac-tionsarejustasimportantasbusinesscontacts,ifnotmore.Consequently,proceedwithseriousbusinessdiscussionsonlyafteryourcounterpartshavebecomeverycomfo

6、rtablewithyou.Thisisusuallyaslowprocess.Businessrelationshipsinthiscountryexistbetweenpeople,notnecessarilybetweencompanies.Evenwhenyouhavewonyourlocalbusinesspartners’friendshipandtrust,theywillnotnecessar-ilytrustothersfromyourcompany.Thatmakesitveryimportanttokeepcompanyinterfacesun-ch

7、anged.Changingakeycontactmayrequiretherelationshipbuildingprocesstostartover.Worstcase,suchachangemaybringnegotiationstoacompletehalt.EstablishingrelationshipswithothersinSaudiArabiacancreatepowerfulnetworks,especiallyiftheyreachintotheextensiveroyalfamily.Whomyoukn