The Effect of Email on International Business Negotiations among the Finns
Keva, Birit (2008)
2008
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
Nowadays business is more and more international and international negotiations occur more frequently than before via email. There is lack of research concerning the Finnish using email as a negotiation tool. Many Finnish businesses are using email as the main negotiation mode. Therefore it is important to gather information about the topic. The main objective of this master’s thesis is to understand the nature of the email as negotiation tool in the international negotiations among the Finnish.
The theoretical framework of the study consists of three main parts. Firstly the international business negotiations are presented and discussed. The main importance relies on Ghauri’s (1996) negotiation process model. Secondly the relevant theories of culture are presented and discussed as they always affect the international negotiations. Hall’s (1983) and Hofstede (1980) are presented. Last but not at least the theories on email as a negotiation tool are discussed. Email has special implications to the negotiation process and outcome.
Qualitative field studies were used in the empirical part of the methodology. There were ten in-depth semi-structured interviews done on Finnish business people who had at least negotiated internationally over five years. They all have had experience in international email negotiations.
The findings were continuously monitored against the theoretical framework in order to make comparisons and accomplish some new knowledge about the Finnish negotiator using negotiation via email. The results of this study showed that there are some culture bound factors which affect the negotiation. According to this research, email seems to change the negotiation process. Some cultural differences do come over in the email negotiations. Finally, email should always be considered carefully, as it does not deliver any social cues to the negotiation process.
The theoretical framework of the study consists of three main parts. Firstly the international business negotiations are presented and discussed. The main importance relies on Ghauri’s (1996) negotiation process model. Secondly the relevant theories of culture are presented and discussed as they always affect the international negotiations. Hall’s (1983) and Hofstede (1980) are presented. Last but not at least the theories on email as a negotiation tool are discussed. Email has special implications to the negotiation process and outcome.
Qualitative field studies were used in the empirical part of the methodology. There were ten in-depth semi-structured interviews done on Finnish business people who had at least negotiated internationally over five years. They all have had experience in international email negotiations.
The findings were continuously monitored against the theoretical framework in order to make comparisons and accomplish some new knowledge about the Finnish negotiator using negotiation via email. The results of this study showed that there are some culture bound factors which affect the negotiation. According to this research, email seems to change the negotiation process. Some cultural differences do come over in the email negotiations. Finally, email should always be considered carefully, as it does not deliver any social cues to the negotiation process.