Studies of cultural negotiating styles tend to divide into two basic
groups. The first describe and analyze the negotiating style of a particular
culture. Fascination with individual cultural negotiating practices has
spawned a distinct literary genre: the “Negotiating With. . .” literature.
Numerous books and articles bearing such titles as “Negotiating with the
Japanese,” “Negotiating with the Arabs,” and “Negotiating with the Chinese,”
seek to lead the novice through the intricacies of negotiating in specific
countries. (For a bibliography of such literature, see Salacuse 1991: 174-183.)
A second approach is cross-cultural and comparative. It seeks to identify
certain basic elements in negotiating style and to determine how they
are reflected in various cultures. The great diversity of the world’s cultures
makes it impossible for any negotiator, no matter how skilled and experienced,
to understand fully all the cultures that he or she may encounter.