商务谈判Case.doc

1Case 3A Canadian team of two men representing Canwall, a wallpaper printing equipment manufacturer, went to a town north of Shanghai in the province of Jiangsu, China, to negotiate a sale to a new wallpaper production company. Charlie Burton, president of Canwall, traveled with his marketing director, Phil Raines. The company had never before sold its equipment outside Canada, and the two Canadians were delighted with the warm reception they enjoyed in China. This wasn’t the first meeting between the Canadian company and the Chinese wallpaper factory. The manager of the Chinese company, Mr. Li, had been a member of a delegation to Canada. He had met with one of Canwall’s senior salespersons and the director of manufacturing. Subsequently a trade representative from Canada had been in China representing Canwall’s interests to the Chinese manager. After these meetings and numerous letters and faxes, Canwall’s top people were now ready to negotiate the sale. The day they arrived they were met at the airport in Shanghai by Manager Li himself and transported in a chauffeur-driven car 90 miles to the town. Their accommodation was in a newly built hotel, and while it was not luxurious, it was certainly comfortable. A few hours after their arrival they were treated to a 12- course banquet given by their host, with several high-level municipal officials present. This red-carpet treatment made them feel optimistic about the sale. The next day they were taken to see the sights nearby: a large, new port for container ships and several factories that indicated the prosperity of the region. They were eager to begin discussing the sale, but after lunch they were given time to rest. In the late afternoon one of the manager’s English-speaking employees came by with the news that they would be taken to see a local dance company’s performance that night. The third day they finally sat down to meetings. Progress seemed very slow— each side giving generalizations about itself that seemed unrelated to the sale. The Canadians used an interpreter supplied by the Chinese who was eager to please them, so the Canadians felt comfortable with her, but translation slowed down communication. After listening to various apparently unrelated points, the Canadians thought, “So what?” The Chinese also spent a lot of time talking about the Canadian trade agent who had been in their town earlier. Burton wasn’t able to tell them much about that person, since he had never met him personally. When the Canadians at last were able to make the presentation they had prepared, they were surprised at the number of people who showed up. There were two of them, but there were 10 Chinese facing them across the table. Still, the Chinese frequently nodded and smiled, and said “yes”. Burton and Raines had prepared sales data and showed, effectively they thought, that within five years the factory could double its present production. At the end of the day, the jubilant Canadians returned to their hotel rooms confident they had sold the equipment. The next day they were asked to explain once again things they thought had been 2covered already to a Chinese team with four new faces in it. They were confused about who their negotiating counterparts really were. Their jubilation began to evaporate. They were asked to explain the technology in minute detail. Neither Burton nor Raines had been involved in the engineering of the high-tech component that was the heart of the equipment. After doing the best they could, they returned to the hotel exhausted. Their interpreter also seemed to be unfamiliar with technological terms, since she and the interpreter for the factory spent some time discussing them between themselves. Because the Canadian side’s interpreter was a woman, the Canadians had to meet with her in the hotel lobby to discuss their plan for the next day. The two tired men would have preferred to sit in their room while they talked with her, rather than in the noisy lobby where they were the object of curiosity, but she requested they remain in a public place because as a woman she could not meet with them in their room. The next day the Canwall negotiators were asked again about the technological details of the equipment. This time one member of the first-day team pointed out discrepancies between what they had said and what the manufacturing director, an engineer, had told them in Canada. Burton and Raines were chagrined. The Chinese were reproachful about the discrepancies, as if the Canadians had been caught in a shameful act. At lunch the two Canadians quickly faxed Canada for specifications and explanations. The afternoon session was uncomfortable, although everyone was polite. Burton and Raines were a bit unsettled when a middle-aged woman suddenly burst into the negotiating room and whispered in the ear of one the key Chinese speakers, who immediately got up and le。