Negotiating with the Japanese

Companies in the United States tend to believe the Japanese don't honor a deal after it has been signed, and Japanese companies view U.S. businesspeople as pushy and out to take advantage of them.

Both are right...and both are wrong.

The difference is in the cultures and the way that each looks at the process of negotiating a deal and signing contracts.

From the Japanese point of view, the signing of a contract is not a final step in concluding all deal terms, but rather a first step in the relationship-building process. U.S. businesspeople tend to see contracts as the end of negotiation. They want to "carve this deal in stone" and then move onto the next.

Japanese firms are less concerned with signing long-term contracts and more interested in finding "partners" that they can work and grow with over the years. In fact, because these relationships often go back generations, it is often close to impossible to supplant distributors in Japan.

Here are a few tips to consider when negotiating with the Japanese:

1. Take your time negotiating. Don't expect to fly in on Sunday, meet Monday and sign the agreement Tuesday. The longer you have scheduled, the less the other side can use your timetable to force an uneven agreement.

However, if you do get a signature quickly, you may encounter problems later...