The divergence of Eastern and Western cultural and personality traits of entrepreneurs engaged in commercial negotiations

There are significant differences in negotiation aprroach depending on one's cultural and personality trait. Western negotiators are trained to focus on the content of their objectives and skilled in putting cogent proposals across the negotiating table in order to get a result. They generally don't, however, put enough thought into evaluating the underlying culture and personality of the person they are dealing with and how they could negotiate more effectively. On the other hand, Eastern negotiators consider the negotiation process as a long courtship potentially leading to a long and trusted relationship. They engage in a multi-layered approach and often send 'hot' or 'cold' signals to draw out the underlying personality of their counterpart. This paper reviews the divergent approaches to negotiation from the Western perspective and proposes that a larger research be undertaken to consider the Eastern perspective by looking at the cultural and personality traits of entrepreneurs engaged in commercial negotiations, and proposes the development of a convergent model of principles applicable to such a cultural mix.