<p>Negotiations are a frequent part of international business. Parties involved in a negotiation face different problems in reaching a successful outcome. When the parties have different cultural backgrounds the faced problems become more complex.</p><p>The study provides for an understanding of the negotiation and influencing factors in head office subsidiary relationship. The relationship is complex since the head office and the regional subsidiaries have different cultural backgrounds. One case study is performed between a global Dutch company and two of their local subsidiaries in Japan and Korea. A framework for the analysis is developed and the factors that influence the negotiation are identified. The data were compiled from interviews from the Dutch side.</p><p>The study reveals that the negotiation between the head office and their subsidiaries is complex. Culture is not the only barrier but the cultural awareness becomes critical. Other major influences between the head office and the subsidiaries are the organisation itself, status of the atmosphere and the relationship.</p>

Negotiations are a frequent part of international business. Parties involved in a negotiation face different problems in reaching a successful outcome. When the parties have different cultural backgrounds the faced problems become more complex. The study provides for an understanding of the negotiation and influencing factors in head office subsidiary relationship. The relationship is complex since the head office and the regional subsidiaries have different cultural backgrounds. One case study is performed between a global Dutch company and two of their local subsidiaries in Japan and Korea. A framework for the analysis is developed and the factors that influence the negotiation are identified. The data were compiled from interviews from the Dutch side. The study reveals that the negotiation between the head office and their subsidiaries is complex. Culture is not the only barrier but the cultural awareness becomes critical. Other major influences between the head office and the subsidiaries are the organisation itself, status of the atmosphere and the relationship.

This cumulative dissertation covers three studies on the research subject of Cross-Cultural-Negotiations. The first study provides a systematic literature review of the research field. It categorizes and synthesizes the literature based on the cultural dimensions used in negotiation research and sorts it along the four negotiation stages of Adair and Brett (2005). It shows controversial findings, research gaps, highlights potential impasses in methodological approaches, and provides recommendations for future research. The second study investigates the potential cultural influence on First Offer anchors in negotiations. No support for a direct cultural influence could be found. Instead, the participants' age and concerns that the opposite may take advantage of a too low First Offer has been found to influence First Offers. Additionally, the latter finding shows significant differences across cultures. The third study investigates whether the implicitly understood universality of ‘Getting to yes’ (Fisher, Ury, and Patton 2012) holds in a Cross-Cultural-Context. The study finds that the implicitly understood universality of principled negotiations is not supported by findings in Cross-Cultural-Negotiation research. Instead, a dichotomic applicability of the authors’ advice of ‘Getting to yes’ along the bipolar cultural construct of Hofstede’s Individuality dimension was found. This dissertation underlines that culture has a high impact on negotiations. It provides research, practice, and teaching additional knowledge to address and deal with the phenomenon of culture in Cross-Border-Negotiations.