Most contemporary university courses treat negotiation without considering cultural context. Yet, as business is ever more involved in the global economy, there is an ever greater role for cross-national and cross-cultural negotiations. The purpose of this course is to investigate how negotiation, as a process, differs across national contexts and cultures.

The course focuses on three core skills in the context of international and cross-cultural negotiations: research and planning; contextual and cultural self-awareness and self-monitoring; and cross-cultural communication skills. The course consists of two modules. The first module, working with both western-based and cross-cultural literatures, examines five core concepts applied in negotiating: interests and goals; strategies and tactics; the question of persuasion; relationships; and ethics. In particular, it stresses differential temporal perspectives towards negotiating and to the phasing of negotiations, with a view to implementation of agreements. The second module takes an East Asian focus. It examines the roots and principles of East Asian strategic thinking that have shaped the negotiation mindset underlying contemporary Asian business cultures.