The ‘Co-op–Comp’ Chinese Negotiation Strategy

One of the most formidable challenges in creating and managing business in China is cross-cultural negotiation with Chinese businesspeople (Ghauri and Fang, 2001; Stone, 2001). The Chinese are described as the world’s toughest negotiators (Mann, 1989). In the words of Lucian W. Pye (1986, p. 74), ‘for centuries they [the Chinese] have known few peers in the subtle art of negotiating. When measured against the effort and skill the Chinese bring to the bargaining table, American executives fall short.’ A survey in the late 1990s among 127 Western companies doing business with China shows that Western business executives considered knowledge and skills about negotiation in China to be the most important factor for success in trading relationships with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Martin and Larsen, 1999).