Page 260 - DMGT547_INTERNATIONAL_MARKETING

Unit 14: Global E-Marketing and EDI

Notes
109 million U.S., but Rear Admiral Walker estimated them to be not greater than about 40
million U.S., a significant difference.
As negotiations progressed, the Americans began to hint that they were also interested in
the possibility of building an alternative canal in Nicaragua. The French countered with
the ploy by claiming that both Great Britain and Russia were looking at picking up the
financing to complete the canal’s construction. It was subsequently leaked to the U.S.
press, much to the French company’s pique that the Walker Commission concluded that
the cost to buy out the French company was too excessive and recommended the
Nicaraguan route.
A couple days later after this news, the president of Compagnie Nouvelle resigned. The
resulting furore caused the stockholders to demand that the company be sold to the U.S. at
any price they could get. The Americans became aware that they could now pick up all the
French holdings for 40 million dollars. However, the Walker Commission had not just
been a ploy by the Americans because the Nicaraguan route was actually a serious proposal
that had a lot of backing in the U.S. Senate. President Roosevelt had to engage in some
serious political manoeuvrings to get everybody on board of the Panama passage. The
Walker Commission changed its recommendation to favour Panama as the canal route.
But the story doesn’t end there. Next, the U.S. signed a new treaty with Colombia’s charge
d’affairs which gave the U.S. a six mile area across the Isthmus and agreed to financial
remuneration that was to be paid to Colombia. The Colombian charge d’affairs had signed
the treaty without communicating with his government. The treaty was rejected by
Colombia. In the meantime, revolution against Colombian authority was afoot in Panama.
Since they believed they had signed a legitimate treaty, Roosevelt sent warships to the
area to negate the Colombians, and thus secured U.S. interests, and offered aid to the
Panamanians in their quest to separate from Colombia. Panama succeeded in their revolt
and became a republic. In 1914, the Panama Canal was opened.
Question
Elaborate on the role of the Americans in The Panama Canal Negotiations
Source: http://www.negotiations.com/case/canal-route/

14.6 Summary

This unit attempts to give an overview of the functions in as simple manner as possible.

Because styles of business negotiations vary substantially around the world, it is important
to take cultural differences into account when meeting clients, customers, and business
partners across the international negotiation table.
In addition to cultural factors, negotiators’ personalities and backgrounds also influence
their behaviour. Great care should be taken to get to know the individuals who represent
client and customer companies. Cultural stereotypes can be quite misleading.

Four kinds of problems frequently arise during international business negotiations—
problems at the level of language, non-verbal behaviours, values, and thinking and
decision-making processes. Foreign language skills are an essential tool of the international
negotiator.
Non-verbal behaviours vary dramatically across cultures, and because their influence is
often below our level of awareness, problems at this level can be quite serious. Whereas
most Americans value objectivity, competitiveness, equality, and punctuality, many foreign
executives may not.

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