Cross-cultural and Multilingual Negotiations
A luxury fashion retailer in France wants to negotiate a new business deal in Japan. They start the conversation by email in English, but they quickly realise that they’d rather speak their own languages, as the lingua franca brings disadvantages to them and there are frequent misunderstandings. They agree for the French delegation to fly to Tokyo and negotiate with the help of interpreters. The French manager, Delphine, calls for a meeting and she is informed by the Finance team that hiring a professional French<> Japanese interpreter for three days together with flights, accommodation, expenses and their fee would cost EUR 4,000 in total. Gabriel, one of the French employees, completed a Japanese elective course during his final year at university, and offers to interpret during the negotiation. Delphine, agrees to use Gabriel as the interpreter to lower the cost and they fly to Tokyo. When they meet the Japanese delegation, Delphine gives her hand to the Japanese manager, Mr Nakamura, for a handshake. Mr Nakamura bows instead and gives Delphine his business card with both hands. Delphine takes it and gives it to Gabriel. Mr Nakamura looks offended. During the negotiation process, Gabriel is unfamiliar with some of the business terminology and has to ask for clarifications constantly. Mr Nakamura’s interpreter has to step in and clarify important information. Gabriel is confused and feels out of his depth. Delphine points to some charts and graphs that show the company’s performance, hoping to save the deal, but Mr Nakamura ignores it. Delphine is also frustrated because Mr Nakamura is mostly silent and it is not clear to her whether he is interested in the deal at all. Mr Nakamura is not impressed with the French delegation and their lack of respect, and does not sign the deal.
What went wrong in this scenario? Identify and analyse the problem(s) with references to relevant academic literature. What advice would you give Delphine for future cross-cultural and multilingual negotiations?
