Please answer questions at end of case study. Thank you!! MINI-CASE: Arab-style
ID: 326650 • Letter: P
Question
Please answer questions at end of case study. Thank you!! MINI-CASE: Arab-style negotiation Working in small groups, study the following situation and answer the question that follows. Each group may then make a brief presentation of its answer to the other groups for their comments. The focus of much research has been on examining the negotiating behav- iour of a few countries, notably the US, China and Japan. Only limited research has been done on how buying/selling negotiations are conducted in the Arab world (Weir, 2000). This is in spite of the fact that the Middle East is an impor- tant economic region due to its natural resources and its strategic importance. The World Investment Report (UNCTAD, 2011) ranks one country in the region, Saudi Arabia, twelfth in the top 20 host economies for FDI inflows. International business people need to have a good understanding of how culture affects the way in which negotiations are conducted and business deci- sions taken in such an important economic region. Khakhar & Rammal (2013) address this need by exploring key cultural and socioeconomic factors that influence the negotiation process between Arab negotiators and foreign coun- terparts. The researchers interviewed 30 Arab managers in Lebanon with expe- rience in conducting international business negotiations. As English is widely spoken in the Lebanese business community, there was no need to conduct the interviews in Arabic At the time of the interviews, political conflict and uncertainty was influ- encing business activities in Lebanon, and the managers said that sometim they had to hold important commercial negotiations with foreign firms in another country in the Arab world, such as the United Arab Emirates, whereExplanation / Answer
Answers:
Wasta is a concept where there will be an intervention of patron in favor of his client to obtain the benefits of resources from a third party.
It is a network of various individuals and business connections and businesses generally use them to strengthen the relationships. Arab managers consider wasta as highly influential connection and a firm with good wasta connections will succeed in securing the business deals.
Advantage is that the business negotiations are conducted simultaneously and the one which has strongest wasta connection secures the deal.
Steps to be taken by foreign sales team:
By securing more deals and by engaging in multiple activities, all this approaches will make the business to be counter productive