groundwork, referred to in Japanese as nemawashi, before reaching final agreement’’ (Davies and Osumo, 2002, p 159). In this process, ‘‘much time is spent getting to know one another. Since the Japanese would prefer not to depend on a legal system to iron out conflicts, a strong relationship of trust must be established before business can begin’’ (Hodgson, Sano, and Graham, 2000, p. 28).