Negotiating Skills in India and China

It is often said that negotiation is more of an art than a science. And nowhere is this more true than in the cases of India and China. As we have outlined in the earlier chapters the institutional environments of India and China are not only distinct from those that prevail in Western societies, but in addition, they are also distinct from each other. This requires that foreign investors seeking to do business in these countries make the necessary adaptation. Such adaptation may not always be easy, either for individuals or organizations, but it is essential if the firms wish to be recognized as good corporate citizens, which is an essential prerequisite for obtaining the necessary legitimacy. The starting point of our discussion here is the recognition that the relevant negotiating skills must be tailored to the requirements of attaining and maintaining legitimacy, a point that we have articulated many times over in the book. We begin by first discussing the nature of negotiating skills that might be most relevant for India and follow it up by a discussion of the skills most critical in the Chinese context.