Crockett: Ok, well, I'm just going to focus on the situations where people speak English in international business situations Interviewer: I see. Now not everyone speaks English to the same degree of proficiency. So may be that affects the situation? Crockett: Yes, perhaps. But thats not always so significant. Well, because, I mean, negotiations between business partners from different countries normally mean that we have negotiations between individuals who belong to distinct cultural traditions Interviewer: Oh, I see Crockett: Well, every individual has a different way of performing various tasks in everyday life Interviewer: Yes, but, but isnt it the case that in a business negotiation they must come together and work together, to a certain extent? Doesn't that level out the style of.. the style differences somewhat? Crockett: Oh, I'm not so sure. I mean, there are people in the so-called Western world who say that in the countries of the past 30 or 40 years that a lot of things have changed a great deal globally. And that as a consequence national differences have diminished or have got fewer, giving way to some sort of international Americanized style Interiewer: Yeah, I,ve heard that. Now some people say that this Americanized style has acted a model for local patterns Crockett: Maybe it has, maybe it hasnt. Because, on the one hand, there does appear to be a fairly unified, even uniform style of doing business, with certain basic principles and eferences you know, like time is me But at the same time its very important to remember that we all retain aspects of our national characteristics----but it is actually behavior that we're talking about here. We shouldnt be too quick to generalize that to national characteristics and stereotypes. It doesnt help much Interviewer: Yeah, you mentioned Americanized style. What is particular about the American style of business bargaining or negotiating? Crockett: Well, Ive noticed that, for example, when Americans negotiate with people from Brazil he American negotiators make their points in a direct self-explanatory way. While the Brazilians make points in a more indirect way. Brazilian importers, for example, look the people they're talking to straight in the eyes a lot. They spend time on what for some people seems to be background information. They seem to be more indirect. An American conversation style, on the other hand, is far more like that of point-making first point, second point, third point, and so on. Now of course, this isn't the only way in which one can negotiate. And there's absolutely no reason why this should be considered the best way to negotiate Interviewer: Right. Americans seem to have a different style, say, even from the British, dont Crockett: Exactly. Which just shows how careful you must be about generalizing. I mean, how else can you explain how American negotiators are perceived as informal and sometimes much too open? For in British eyes Americans are direct -- even blun And at the same time, for the British too, German negotiators can appear direct and uncompromising in negotiations, And yet if you experience Germans and Americans negotiating together it's often the americans who are being too blunt for the german negotiators.7 Crockett: Ok, well, I’m just going to focus on the situations where people speak English in international business situations. Interviewer: I see. Now not everyone speaks English to the same degree of proficiency. So may be that affects the situation? Crockett: Yes, perhaps. But that’s not always so significant. Well, because, I mean, negotiations between business partners from different countries normally mean that we have negotiations between individuals who belong to distinct cultural traditions. Interviewer: Oh, I see. Crockett: Well, every individual has a different way of performing various tasks in everyday life. Interviewer: Yes, but, but isn’t it the case that in a business negotiation they must come together and work together, to a certain extent? Doesn’t that level out the style of … the style differences somewhat? Crockett: Oh, I’m not so sure. I mean, there are people in the so-called Western world who say that in the countries of the past 30 or 40 years that a lot of things have changed a great deal globally. And that as a consequence national differences have diminished or have got fewer, giving way to some sort of international Americanized style. Interviewer: Yeah, I’ve heard that. Now some people say that this Americanized style has acted as a model for local patterns. Crockett: Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. Because, on the one hand, there does appear to be a fairly unified, even uniform style of doing business, with certain basic principles and preferences ---- you know, like “time is money”. But at the same time it’s very important to remember that we all retain aspects of our national characteristics ---- but it is actually behavior that we’re talking about here. We shouldn’t be too quick to generalize that to national characteristics and stereotypes. It doesn’t help much. Interviewer: Yeah, you mentioned Americanized style. What is particular about the American style of business bargaining or negotiating? Crockett: Well, I’ve noticed that, for example, when Americans negotiate with people from Brazil, the American negotiators make their points in a direct self-explanatory way. While the Brazilians make points in a more indirect way. Brazilian importers, for example, look the people they’re talking to straight in the eyes a lot. They spend time on what for some people seems to be background information. They seem to be more indirect. An American conversation style, on the other hand, is far more like that of point-making: first point, second point, third point, and so on. Now of course, this isn’t the only way in which one can negotiate. And there’s absolutely no reason why this should be considered the best way to negotiate. Interviewer: Right. Americans seem to have a different style, say, even from the British, don’t they? Crockett: Exactly. Which just shows how careful you must be about generalizing. I mean, how else can you explain how American negotiators are perceived as informal and sometimes much too open? For in British eyes Americans are direct ---- even blunt. And at the same time, for the British too, German negotiators can appear direct and uncompromising in negotiations. And yet if you experience Germans and Americans negotiating together it’s often the Americans who are being too blunt for the German negotiators