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Purpose: This paper aims to offer a new theory of “inventive negotiation” as a useful alternative to the outdated thinking of the past century. Design/methodology/approach: The literature is reviewed, and a series of stories is used to bolster a new understanding. Findings: The paper is a critique of the theory of integrative bargaining, arguing that it often limits the creative processes that produce long-term relationships with customers. This paper introduces a third theory of negotiation, something the author calls inventive negotiation. Originality/value: The primary lesson of negotiation courses in American business and law schools suggests a narrow focus on reaching agreements while paying little attention to implementation and the paramount importance of maintaining ongoing commercial relationships. This paper introduces a third theory of negotiation, something the authors call inventive negotiation. It places emphasis on long-term, trusting commercial relationships as the key outcome of negotiation. The theory also posits negotiation as a creative process wherein innovations processes can play a central role. For example, both group diversity and facilitators can aid in producing creative agreements along the way toward mutually profitable business relationships.

The limitations of the knowledge production system in international marketing are considered, and dissertations in international marketing are analyzed. The findings suggest that research in the area is driven by standards of rigor and a distinct "methods basis," which are often inappropriate for the study of important problems in international marketing. (Author/MLW)

We examine the cultural dimensions of participation in a debt management program (DMP). Archival data from Consumer Credit Counseling Service provide insights into the behavior of consumers in a DMP. Latino clients differ from Anglo clients, and are ultimately less successful in resolving debt problems. A key difference appears to be the expected monthly payment established for clients. While only debt level determines Latinos' expected payment, Anglos appear to better negotiate an expected payment from creditors, increasing their success. Importantly, homophily increases compliance for Latino debtor-counselor dyads. Overall, this study contributes to the transformative service research (TSR) literature by suggesting ways culture influences adherence to and completion of a DMP, leading to financial freedom for consumers in distress.

This study explores the general problems associated with marketing across international markets and focuses specifically on the role of corruption in deterring international marketing success. The authors do this by introducing a broader conceptualization of corruption. The dimensions of corruption and their importance in explaining the exporters' successes in international markets are developed empirically. Partial Least Squares formative indicators are used in a comprehensive model including consumer resources (wealth and information resources), physical distance (kilometers and time zones), and cultural distance (linguistic and values differences) as alternative explanatory variables. Finally, differences in the model's performance across data from three exporting countries (France, Japan, and the US) are delineated and discussed. For example, the successes of French and Japanese exporters in international markets are in part determined by the levels of corruption in target countries. Alternatively, corruption in target countries does not appear to affect the successes of American exporters in global markets. The conceptualization of corruption in this study extends the more narrow view of corruption solely as bribery.

This research provides and empirically tests a conceptualization of health care services in which customer compliance outside of the service organization is necessary for successful health outcomes. Using data from service providers and customers in a weight-loss clinic, the authors examine the provider's role in gaining customer compliance. They find that provider expertise and attitudinal homophily play a role in bringing about customer role clarity, ability, and motivation. This study demonstrates that compliance leads to goal attainment, which results in satisfaction. More important, compliance also leads to satisfaction directly; consumers who comply with program requirements have greater satisfaction with the program.

Most Westerners preparing for a business trip to China like to arm themselves with a list of etiquette how-tos. "Carry a boatload of business cards," tipsters say. "Bring your own interpreter." "Speak in short sentences." "Wear a conservative suit." Such advice can help get companies in the door and even through the first series of business transactions. But it won't sustain the prolonged, year-in, year-out associations Chinese and Western businesses can now achieve. The authors' work with dozens of companies and thousands of American and Chinese executives over the past 20 years has demonstrated that a superficial adherence to etiquette rules gets executives only so far. They have witnessed communication breakdowns between American and Chinese businesspeople time and time again. The root cause: the American side's failure to understand the much broader context of Chinese culture and values, a problem that too often leaves Western negotiators flummoxed and flailing. American and Chinese approaches often appear incompatible. Americans see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest, while the Chinese see American negotiators as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Such perceptions have deep cultural origins. Yet those who know how to navigate these differences can develop thriving, mutually profitable, and satisfying business relationships. Four cultural threads have bound the Chinese people together for some 5,000 years, and these show through in Chinese business negotiations. They are agrarianism, morality, the Chinese pictographic language, and wariness of strangers. Most Western businesspeople often find those elements mysterious and confusing. But ignore them at any time during the negotiation process, and the deal can easily fall apart.

Crucial to every business alliance are the face‐to‐face negotiations that occur during the formulation and maintenance of the commercial relationship. Our study of American and Chinese businesspeople in simulated intracultural negotiations suggests both similarities and differences in style. For example, negotiators in both cultures were more successful when taking a problem‐solving approach. Alternatively, the Chinese negotiators tended to ask many more questions and to interrupt one another more frequently than their American counterparts. Such subtle differences in style may cause problems in Sino‐American negotiations, which may, in turn, sour otherwise fruitful commercial alliances. Copyright © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In their eagerness to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities there, American businesses are venturing into the Soviet Union with little or no knowledge of Soviet culture or negotiation processes and style. In addition to encouraging unrealistic expectations, this lack of awareness not only increases the frustrations of negotiating with officials from a non-market economy such as the Soviet Union, but also severely impedes decisions about doing business there. It is imperative that U.S. business executives understand Soviet commercial negotiation processes and style if they are to be successful in garnering the huge potential of the Soviet market. © 1991, The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

The determinants of business negotiations in three countries are investigated in a laboratory simulation. One hundred thirty-eight businesspeople from the United States, 68 from Mexico, and 148 from Canada (74 Anglophones and 74 Francophones) participated in a two-person, buyer-seller negotiation simulation. The negotiation styles of the Francophone Canadian and the Mexican businesspeople were found to be significantly different from both the American and Anglophone Canadian styles. © 1987.

Influenced by their frontier past, many American business people come to the negotiating table with a do-or-die attitude that often defeats their purpose. They tend to ‘shoot first; ask questions later.’ But with the growing role of the United States in international trade, this naive attitude may cause them, instead of their adversaries, to bite the dust. By recognizing their own shortcomings and by learning more about other cultures and negotiating styles, Americans can improve their image and enhance their chances for success.

The determinants of marketing negotiations in four cultures are investigated in a laboratory simulation. One hundred thirty-eight businesspeople from the United States, 48 from France, 44 from West Germany, and 44 from the United Kingdom participated in two-person, buyer-seller negotiation simulations. The American process of negotiation is found to be different from that of the Europeans in several respects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]