Is Geely interested in Opel Antwerp?

The Chinese car manufacturer Geely would consider to take over the production site of Opel Antwerp. Geely had previously acquired Volvo Cars from the American Ford Motor Company for 1.8 billion U.S. dollars. The trade unions react positive but they are cautious. This could be only one of many stories in the recent history of Opel Antwerp.

Geely is growing in his own country but exports are still a problem. Geely is  looking for better technology to develop its own cars. With the takeover of Volvo Cars, Geely has not only acquired two factories in Sweden and Ghent, but also a lot of technological expertise. The purchase of Volvo might be a great leap forward for Chinese car exports. Volvo’s knowhow can also improve the quality of Chinese cars. The production site of Opel Antwerp is logistically very interesting.

Some people are still sceptical about these takeovers by Chinese car manufacturers. Such a takeover is a cheap way to gain precious knowhow they could use for their own cars. This could be the reason why General Motors is not quite enthusiastic about selling Opel Antwerp to Geely. Chinese acquisitions of European car manufacturers may also herald the end of shamelessly copying the design, technology and even the emblem of our cars. 

(Source: De redactie/ Trends)

Stefaan Mels   

Your first cross-cultural negotiation...

Every businessman who works for international companies has to have his first cross-cultural negotation. This will probably make him verry nervous because he doesn't know what to expect. Here are some guidelines.

First off all: Prepare like a normal negotiation:

• What do you want to reach, what are your goals?
• What is already on the table?
• ...

(source)

This preparation is a must for every negotiation, cross-cultural or not. Not preparing at all will mostly lead to a poor outcome for yourself.

But when the negotiation gets a cross-cultural character (for example with Chinese businessmen), some extra preparation is needed, it's even harder when it takes place in an environment where you don't know. 

• Do some research on what the others will expect from you (what to wear, what to bring with you, how to act,...)
• Hire a local who knows the ettiquete, all the 'do's and dont's'. He can tell you what to do, and prevent you from maken bluders
• explain that it's your firs negotiation, you don't mean to do something awkward when you say, do something stupid
• apologize.
• ...

(source)


Hannes Ryheul

Learn young, learn fair!

In Japan, students can follow a course of cross cultural negotiations in order to develop skills for dealing with countries abroad.

The course "East-West Negotiations" is based on actual business negotiations and teaches students some general rules about how to trade with foreigners. After graduating, students will posses about more business experience and more knowledge about other cultures .

I am convinced that some training at university level would be a big advantage over competitors. Further on, a trainee is not only more competitive against other cultures, but also against his own nationals. That’s why I believe it is a good idea to integrate such a course at the University of Ghent, because  I don’t think I will be familiar with difficulties in cross cultural negotiations within 3 years.

 If I would be the prime minister of Belgium, I would already introduce this course from secondary school. Learn young, learn fair!

Ken Merckaert

Source :

http://www2.gol.com/users/cpwells/Negot.html

The consequences of “cross cultural globalization”.

 Cross cultural negotiations are a hot topic in a world of booming globalization, because a rising number of people are employed by multinationals  and outsourcing becomes more popular than ever in times of economic crisis. Is this a good thing?

On one hand, we get closer to other cultures. On the other hand, globalization includes capitalism, which means that the gap between rich and poor will become bigger.  Can you accept the fact that a company established in Belgium decides to stop their production here in order to restart in China, where it’s possible to produce at lower costs? Will you still negotiate with these more attractive countries, when you realize your job can be in danger?  

Moreover, I belief it is advisable to remind the importance of corporate culture.  I am convinced that a company won’t work when the ideas and beliefs shared by the shareholders aren’t the same anymore.  Finally, culture also contains national background, religion and ethnic. Do you think you are still talking about the company you remember?

Ken Merckaert

Source :

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_07.htm

Cultural differences between East and West in cross-cultural business negotiations

Cross-cultural business negotiations are influenced by four main aspects. The first one is the difference in language and non-language behaviours. The meaning of a word can be very different in several languages. This has already been motivated in one of our previous blogs. An example of the differences in non-language behaviours is the appreciation of staring at someone. Americans don’t like it because it is impolite but at the same time, the Chinese use it to show curiosity or surprise.

The second aspect is the difference in customs. Americans are more egocentric and direct while Chinese people pay a lot of attention to what other people think of them.

Another aspect is the way of thinking. Chinese prefer overall thinking, while the people in America are more interested in the individual way.

Fourth and last aspect is the difference in values. Collectivism is preferred in the East while the central value in the West is the individual person.

All these differences are very important when you want to negotiate with foreign people. Knowing the other person’s culture can be very decisive in business talks.(Source)

Nils Meul

Comment on ‘Culture and business, related or not?’ (Ken Merckaert)

When you negotiate with other cultured people, training could be very useful. I agree with that but what type of training do you need and what if cross-cultural negotiations fail? Is this failure always a consequence of poor knowledge of the other culture? I don’t think so. There are so many aspects that can lead to misunderstandings, poor relationships, etc. I would like to give an example. When a person doesn’t succeed in arranging agreements in his own country, he probably won’t be capable of settling international contracts either. It would be better to teach him some negotiation skills first. As you can see, so many factors have their influence on cross-cultural negotiations. That’s why it isn’t always easy to see where negotiations went wrong.

Nils Meul

Why should we negotiate

The other blogs were mainly focussed on the 'cross- cultural' part of cross-cultural negotiation. In this blog I will talk about the second part, 'negotiation'.

Actually we negotiate all the time, not only for bussines purposes. We do it when we discuss a time and place to meet, what movie we're going to watch when we're going to the kinepolis with your friends, and their are a thousand other examples I can give.

When we negotiate we want to reach a compromise in wich we benefit as much as possible. To do so we use arguments.

We can distinguish 2 different types of negotiation, based on the goal the different parties want to reach:

1) 'distributive negotiation' : the main purpose is beating the opposition. In this kind of negotiation  the different negotiation  partners aren't searching for a compromise, they are aiming on a different outcome. This can lead to a failure or an outcome in wich non op the negotiaters benefit

 2)'friendly negotiation': the negotiatiors want to reach a compromise. This can make sure there is an outcome of wich the different parties benefit. (source)

Hannes Ryheul