CymruAmByth Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Afternoon All, Having been here 3 years now, I was wondering about others amongst us "Farangs" that have been running a business involving selling to Thai's, on a Business-to-Business basis. We deal predominantly with other Farangs but have recently ventured in the Thai market place to suss out the demand. This has been a most intriguing - and exasperating - experience, due mostly to the ever-present demand for discount and the loss of a limb to make a sale. Just wondered if any of you out there in CyberWorld have managed to crack this elusive "code"? We have a product with little/no competition, that the Farangs we deal with deem as a 'necessity' for their business; not a luxury item. Therefore, one would think that it carries the same necessity for our Thai cousins. However, getting past the "we want discount" stage, which I refuse to give owing to the lack of competition, is becoming tedious to say the least! Any comments or experiences from our members with maybe more longevity here in LOS would be most welcome. I am not looking for help with this issue, just some members experiences would be interesting to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maestro Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Of course you have to give a discount, and probably also a kickback to the purchasing officer. You must include these factors in the price you quote. -------------- Maestro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nawtilus Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 So simply the answer is, put your price up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumballl Posted May 2, 2006 Share Posted May 2, 2006 Stick it to the Thai business. Charge them double what you would charge a Farang company, and when the Thai asks for a discount, give it to them. Tell them "... you very special customer, I make good deal for you". It works in the rest of the world, why not in Thailand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CymruAmByth Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Thanks Guys, If I have got this right, the expert advice from the readership is to: 1) Double the price - then discount it 2) Bribe the Purchasing Officer Wow....got some real captains of industry amongst us! Thanks for replying though, but I will stick to the ethical way. It might not make a global difference, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that I try to guide my staff correctly and that being ethical can actually work. Feel free to now pile in with equally sarcastic comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon43 Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 My only comment is that you will not be successful if you ignore the advice given to you You cannot change the way Thais see/do business, so if you want to sell to them you need to adapt to their way of thinking. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 Good advice. When in Thailand and all that rot... I run a retail businesss and something like 15% of my customers are Thais. We have a strict no bargaining, set price, policy but - every blue moon - if a Thai person or an Expat chooses an item that has been on the shelves for a long time and is over-priced and I believe would be hard to sell to someone else, I will give them a discount and tell them why without them asking for a price reduction. If a tourist is polite I might give them a discount in this case as well. However, if they choose something good and fairly priced - which is usually the case - I refuse to negotiate and I tell them that I can sell it easily for the price that is marked on it and I would be stupid to lower the price. Educating the natives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sing_Sling Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 (edited) Thanks Guys,If I have got this right, the expert advice from the readership is to: 1) Double the price - then discount it 2) Bribe the Purchasing Officer Wow....got some real captains of industry amongst us! Thanks for replying though, but I will stick to the ethical way. It might not make a global difference, but at least I can sleep at night knowing that I try to guide my staff correctly and that being ethical can actually work. Feel free to now pile in with equally sarcastic comments! I doubt you'll get many sarcstic comments as most posters here are not in the same position and couldn't comment. The advice here is not illogical, immoral or illegal. (Except bribing the PO) If you believe your pricing is just but you are having problems selling it to a certain segment of the market then raise the price and discount it down to your original required and fairly-valued price. Both parties benefit. You benefit because you have not comrpomised your principles and sold your goods at a fair price. The customer benefits because he believes he has received a good eal, which he has as you have sold it to him at what you believe to be a fair price. I doubt the customer would think that you are giving him a massive discount anyway - they know very well, and probably do it themselves, that this is the way it's done. Edited May 4, 2006 by Sing_Sling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfokevin Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 (edited) Discounts and kickbacks are not just Thai. Here in the US everywhere from Walmart to Macy's regularly have XX% off... And where do you think all those "Rebate Checks" at Staples go?... back to the Company?... It is human nature at work and it is the same for all nationalities. I understand your mixed emotions about this - you perceive your product to be above this technic - fearing discounts may reduce its perceived status... Then try another tactic to take advantage of human nature... offer a discount if the customer buys a bundle of products... give a discount for larger quantity or extended service... Discounts are a fact of life... unless you happen to be in the oil business... Edited May 4, 2006 by sfokevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaipwriter Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Thanks for replying though, but I will stick to the ethical way. Try not to fall asleep..... After a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of conflict resolution through negotiation, the main theme of the paper emerges: How non-Thais can negotiate successfully with business and government executives in Thailand. That country is the 21st nation whose favorite negotiating tactics have been written about by the author in various proceedings, books, and conferences. It is the latest in a continuing series of articles on negotiating styles of different nations. After giving an overview of Thailand’s geography, climate, population, religion, and business practices, important aspects of the socialcultural environment which have a significant effect on the way Thais negotiate are discussed. Then, body language, entertainment protocol, how to dress, and favorite negotiating tactics used by buyers and sellers are shown. At the end of the paper, conclusions and directions for future research are given. Theoretical Underpinnings of Conflict Resolution Through Negotiation In the natural and social sciences, scientists and practitioners tend to stereotype each other, with the scientist viewing the practitioner as unscientific and the practitioner viewing the scientist as impractical. However, Deutsch (2000) quotes Kurt Lewin as saying, “There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” The author of the present paper takes the position that negotiation is part of the broader field of conflict resolution, and so in order to understand negotiation better and to become a better negotiator, conflict theory must be understood. Firstly, 19th century scholars Darwin, Marx, and Freud dominated the intellectual atmosphere during the infancy of social psychology and influenced the writings of social psychologists on conflict. They emphasized the competitive, destructive aspect of conflict. In the 1930s, Lewin’s field theory (1935) emerged. He posited three types of psychological conflict: (1) approach-approach (two good alternatives), (2) approach-avoid (one good alternative, one bad alternative), and (3) avoid-avoid (two bad alternatives). In the 1940s, von Neumann and Morgenstern (1944) formulated in mathematical terms the problem of conflict of interest. While most emphasis since then has been on zero-sum games (pure competitive conflict), game theory recognizes that cooperative interested may be intertwined with competitive interests in conflict (non-zero-sum games). Its mathematical formulations facilitated precise definition of the reward structure encountered by both sides in a negotiation. Game matrices were developed, and experimental studies proliferated, because for the first time a convenient experimental format was readily available. APJML 41 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ Building on all this, Deutsch (1949) formulated his theory of cooperation and competition in the late 1940s and refined it over the next 51years. His theory relates to two types of interdependence among goals of the people involved in a given situation. It also relates to two types of action taken by the people involved. Interdependent goals: If you are positively linked with the other person (TOP), then both of you sink or swim together; and if you are negatively linked with each other, if TOP sinks, you swim, and viceversa. (It is also possible that independence occurs, that is, the activities and fates of the people involved do not affect one another. There is no conflict with complete independence. When there is some form of interdependence, conflict arises. Furthermore, the degree of interdependence may be asymmetrical. When this happens, one has greater power and influence in the relationship than the other). Actions taken: Effective actions improve one’s chances of obtaining a goal, while bungling actions worsen one’s chances. Deutsch’s theory combines interdependence and action to posit how these forces affect three social psychological processes—substitutability, inducibility, and attitudes. Substitutability: How one’s actions can satisfy TOP’s intentions. Positive substitutability permits one to accept TOP’s activities in fulfilling one’s needs, while negative substitutability involves active rejection and effort to counteract the effect of TOP’s activities. Positive inducibility is one’s readiness to accept TOP’s influence to do what TOP wants, while negative inducibility is one’s readiness to reject or obstruct the fulfillment of what TOP wants. Attitudes: These are favorable or unfavorable predispositions to respond evaluative to aspects of one’s environment or self. One cooperates when one has a positive attitude (we are for each other, we benefit one another), while one competes when one has a negative attitude (we are against one another, TOP is out to harm me). This theory of cooperation and competition predicts what happens when both parties are in different stages of dependent or independent relationships and take effective or bungling actions, as it concentrates on different aspects of interpersonal, intrapersonal, intragroup, and intergroup processes. Deutsch theorizes that cooperative relations (where the goals of both sides are positively interdependent for the most part) exhibit more of these six characteristics: (1) Effective communication. (2) Friendliness, helpfulness, and less obstructiveness. (3) Coordination of effort, division of labor, orientation to task achievement, orderliness in discussion, and high productivity. (4) High agreement with TOP’s ideas, a sense of basic similarity in beliefs and attitudes, and confidence that TOP values one’s own ideas in return. (5) Willingness to enhance TOP’s power. (6) Conflict viewed as a mutual problem to be solved by collaborative effort. On the other hand, competitive relationships are predicted to have the exact opposite effectspoor communication, unfriendliness, no coordination, disagreement, jealousy over power, and coercion instead of collaboration. The latter is a destructive process with a zero-sum-game mentality on both sides. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 42 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ While Deutsch’s theory cannot serve as a cookbook recipe for a practitioner in the field of resolving conflict through negotiation, it is a general intellectual framework for understanding what occurs in different kinds of conflict and how to intervene in them. The author feels that negotiators need to understand this framework in order to optimize their negotiating success. Some 51 years after developing his theory, Deutsch (2000) posed 21 questions pertinent to conflict. Two of those, numbers 16 and 21, are especially pertinent to this paper: Question 16 - Culture: How does the culture in which an individual group is embedded affect how conflicts develop and are managed? What problems are faced by negotiators from diverse cultural backgrounds? Question 21- Culture and conflict: Is conflict theory, largely developed in Western culture, applicable elsewhere? Can it be usefully applied in China, for example? What modifications, if any, are necessary? The main purpose of this and preceding papers in this series is to bridge the cultural gap and help negotiators from different nations to understand their foreign counterparts. Let us begin by learning more about the nation of Thailand and its inhabitants. This is especially important to North American negotiators, more so than to European negotiators. Many European nations do business with Thai firms, using Thailand as their steppingstone to the rest of southeast Asia, but nations in the western hemisphere do not use the Thailand steppingstone to such an extent. Therefore, Europeans have had more negotiating experience with Thai executives. As a result, many Thais feel more comfortable negotiating with Europeans than with North American executives. Therefore, the findings presented in this paper will probably be more valuable to North Americans who do not know much about negotiating with their Thai counterparts. Hopefully, the insights will make all readers of this paper better negotiators when dealing with Thai business and government executives. And, hopefully, the insights will help Thais learn more about themselves. Therefore, the main thrust of this paper managerial as opposed to theoretical. Introduction to Thailand Thais enjoy reminding foreigners (whom they call farangs) that Thailand means “land of the free.” Its citizens are proud of the fact that the kingdom has never been a colony of Western nations. However, citizens never discuss the fact that Thailand has been occupied many times over the centuries by invaders from Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and other parts of southeast Asia. These frequent invasions have occurred in part because the nation’s geographic location is strategic, at the crossroads of many different civilizations. In fact, an early Thai king deliberately chose Bangkok as the nation’s capital APJML 43 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ because it was below sea level. If an invading army appeared to be successful, the Thais planned to blow up the dikes and flood the city, thus making it of no value to an invader. Today, Thailand’s strategic location has positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, most European flights to southeast Asia make their first stopover in Bangkok, and so it has first access to the European tourist market. Also, the nation is an ideal base for regional business distribution in a dynamic part of the world. On the negative side, when its economy declines, other nations are affected. For example, the so-called Asian economic flu began in early May 1997 when the Thai currency, called the baht, was freed from its rigid exchange controls, and fell dramatically. From there, the flu spread throughout Asia and negatively affected economies as far away as Australia and South America. Geography, Climate, Population, Religion, Government, and Business Geography Thailand covers 513,000 square kilometers and is located in southeast Asia. It borders on Malaysia, Burma (Myannmar), Cambodia (Kampuchea), and Laos. It has a long seacoast. It is rich in natural resources. Its good climate and favorable soil conditions have kept the nation quite dependent on agriculture and forestry until the present day. These industries occupy about two-thirds of the nation’s territory. Its main exports are rice, rubber, tobacco, and peppers. Agriculture accounts for almost one-third of Thailand’s export earnings. Climate Although it is a hot tropical nation, male Thai business executives seem to always wear coats and ties. In Thailand, the better dressed one is, the higher social and business position one has. Therefore, farangs should also dress well. The business climate is very formal, even during the hottest time of the year (March to May). The best time to schedule a visit to Thailand is between November to March. Most business people take vacations during April and May. It is best to avoid the one week in April when Thailand’s water festival is held, because almost all businesses are closed. During this time, many city-dwellers visit their home province. Another time to avoid is the period just before and after Christmas. Population Most nations in southeast Asia have a rather high population growth rate, but Thailand is changing. Most Thais are young because of the 3.1 percent population growth rate in the 1980s. However, by the late 1990s, the growth rate fell to 1.7%. Changing demographic patterns are bringing Thais closer to their western counterparts in terms of such things as declining birth rate, increase in life expectancy, etc. The nation’s population in 2000 was 50 mil- Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 44 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ lion. All are supposed to speak Thai, but this is not entirely true. Actually, Thai is the dialect of the Central Region of the nation, and although it is the national language, Chinese speak Teo Chew, Muslims speak Malay, and hill tribes speak various dialects. Therefore, speaking Thai does not guarantee good communication. Many executives in the larger cities and resort areas speak and understand English. Still, their level of English is not that good. Therefore, one should always use a local agent for complex negotiations. Besides the ethnic Thais, there are Malays, Chinese, Indians, and many hill tribes, especially near the Laos and Cambodia borders. The Chinese are the largest minority and are estimated to be 10 percent of the population. They follow the pattern of all overseas Chinese - they are successful business people and control a large percentage of the economy of the nations in which they reside. Religion Although 95 percent of Thais practice Buddhism, many of them practice it jointly with other beliefs. Buddhism is the greatest religious influence in Thai society, and its values pervade in every part of a Thai’s daily activities, both personal and business. Thais generally refrain from developing specific expectations whenever possible, because fate and luck play a major role in all events. Thais cannot plan too far ahead because they cannot predict, so they live with a great deal of uncertainty. Government Thailand’s government is a constitutional monarchy, similar to that of the UK. In fact, although Thais like to remind farangs that they have never been occupied by a western nation, in actuality, Thailand relied heavily on British help in the late 1800s to maintain its territorial integrity, and the British received special business concessions in return. Therefore, some British traditions, such as high tea and driving on the left, prevail in the kingdom. Since there have been so many coup attempts and threats of invasion since the middle 1800s, the government evolved from an absolute monarchy (such as in some of today’s Middle Eastern nations) to a constitutional monarchy, in which the King reigns but does not rule. Even so, the King heads every department of the government and wields much power, even though he lacks a legal mandate. The executive powers rest in the hands of the Prime Minister and his cabinet, and the legislative powers belong to the parliament (House of Representatives and Senate). Foreign executives need to know that the Thai administration is quite decentralized. There are 73 provinces (changwats), which are subdivided into 670 districts (amphoes). A governor and district officer heads each respectively. Governors should be cultivated, because they have powers that enable them to allocate funds and make recommendations for placement of provincial officers. Since the success of a business negotia- APJML 45 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ tion in Thailand depends so much on government approval, it is very important to have the governors on your side. Business Free enterprise prevails in Thailand, with not much government interference. A large share of Thailand’s population is self-employed. So there are many entrepreneurs involved in small businesses. The environment is attractive to foreign investment. However, there are many large corporations as well. The largest Thai firms have often diversified locally and abroad. Chinese families are key players, and so are foreign and government investors. As in many Southeast Asian nations, many Thai business executives are Chinese. However, Ethnic Thais predominate in the government. Titles are very important to Thais, and so farangs will impress them by including more than one title on business cards. (It is preferable to have one side in English and the other side in Thai.) Thai names are generally quite long. Since the adoption of surnames in the 1920s, ethnic Thais generally have two names - the first name is the given name, the second name is the surname. When writing to them, use Khun as the title, followed by the first name. Never use the surname. Since the first name is usually shorter than the surname, this makes it easier for a farang to communicate. Thais have a strong sense of hierarchy in business and in family matters. Decision-making revolves around the hierarchical centralized nature of authority and the dependence of the inferior upon the superior. Thus, the typical supervisor is authoritarian, and he or she makes the decision autonomously. Since Thais are generally unassertive, the inferior unquestioningly obeys. A benevolent superior and respectful inferior is the Thai ideal. Decision-making rests exclusively with top officials of firms, and delegation is rare. Top officials do not expect challenging ideas and initiation from subordinates. Management is autocratic and paternalistic. Therefore, very few Thai workers can imagine themselves moving up the ladder of success. They see themselves as generous, tolerant, and contented people, lacking in worldly ambition. They seem to be unhappy about entering into situations of direct competition. Please remember that because of the Thai deference to rank and authority, all requests and correspondence must pass through many layers before reaching top management. This means farang negotiators should be flexible and patient in their negotiations with Thais. Farangs should allow sufficient time to reach their goals. Finally, please remember that because of Thais’ strong sense of hierarchy, you need to appoint only one expatriate manager to serve as your spokesman (men are preferred to females) in Thailand. This person must not serve only a public relations rolethis person should be the top manager who actually is in charge of the business enterprise. Having several people in charge of important functions only confuse Thais. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 46 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ Thais are hard workers. Many people work long hours in that nation in order to earn as much money as possible. The more money one has, the higher one’s status. Quite often, Thais will ask for bribes. Money does not always go to the top person in an organization. A junior employee who holds an important role and has the chairman’s ear is an important person to cultivate, and quite often this person will ask for bribes. The act of accepting bribes in the Thai language is referred to as “eating,” and everybody has to eat. Gifts, of course, are perceived differently than bribes. Bribes are always in cash, while gifts are not. Some generally-accepted principles concerning gifts include: Never open a gift in the presence of the giver. When invited for a meal, bring flowers, cakes, or fruit. However, do not bring carnations, as they are associated with funerals. Other acceptable gifts include women’s cosmetics, perfume, brandy, neckties, tie clips, cigarettes, illustrated books from your nation, dolls in native dress, and stationery. The Social-Cultural Environment The extended family is the basic social unit, and often the village and the wat (temple) are also considered part of this basic social unit. The king is the primary provider of social cohesiveness. Thais are a pleasant and tolerant people. European travelers in the 19th century described Thais as respectful, mild-mannered, hospitable, and fun-loving. Since then, little has changed. Dealing with Thais can be a wonderful experience. In any given circumstance, Thais strive to keep their moods at bay and refrain from displaying emotions. Farangs should never lose control of their emotions, and they should not be overly assertive. This is considered poor manners. Because Thais avoid confrontation at all costs, they will usually try not to say “no.” (This is similar to the Japanese negotiating style.) Instead of saying “no,” they often make implausible excuses or pretend they do not understand English. They may tell you they must check with higher authorities, even when such precedent does not exist. Likewise, Thais find it difficult to accept a direct negative answer from you. So when you have to say “no,” say it indirectly whenever possible. The national airline and the Thai Tourist Promotion Board have long called Thailand the “land of smiles.” While anecdotal evidence suggests Filipinos have the brightest smiles in southeast Asia, Thais are very likable people. They use their smile as a communication device to convey both positive and negative messages, and so this can confuse a farang. For example, Thais will smile when they play down embarrassing situations, present requests, turn down requests, etc. Asoft-spoken people, they dislike impulsiveness and displays of anger, and so frank arguments are often counterproductive, since they embarrass Thais. They are quite polite and expect you to be polite in return. Because of their gentle demeanor and smiling countenances, Thais are generally well-liked by other Asian nationalities, as Hendon (1999a) re- APJML 47 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ ported. Primary data was gathered in seminars given by the author to 2,648 business executives in seven Asian nations during the time period 1979- 1998. The seven nations are: Hong Kong (N = 216, all Chinese), Indonesia (471, all Indonesians, no Chinese), Malaysia (349, all Chinese), Philippines (903, all Filipinos), Singapore (160, all Chinese), Taiwan (395, all Chinese), and Thailand (154, all Thai.) (Expatriates were excluded when constructing these tables. On the average, expatriates make up about 5 percent of the audience in most of the author’s seminars). Respondents were asked how much they liked, trusted, and respected/admired 15 ethnic groups: Chinese in China, Chinese in Hong Kong, Chinese in Malaysia, Chinese in Singapore, Chinese in Taiwan, Indians in India, Indians in Malaysia, Indians in Singapore, Indonesians, Japanese, South Koreans, Malays in Malaysia, Malays in Singapore, Filipinos, and Thais. While Thais were liked the most, they ranked fifth in being trusted and seventh in being respected/admired. It is important to note that enjoying life is the major goal of many Thais. Jobs should have some element of fun, and so Thais generally do not like jobs that are difficult, monotonous, or high-pressured. On the other hand, almost all Thais are Buddhist. Buddhism’s major tenet is that all life is suffering. This contradicts the modern Thai’s view of life-life should be fun, and people should enjoy it to the fullest extent. Furthermore, Thais’ attitude toward spirits is very similar to their attitude toward people. Some spirits can be trusted and respected, but others cannot and must be feared. So the best way of dealing with an unfamiliar spirit is exactly the same way they deal with an unfamiliar farang. Negotiating with Thai Executives: Body Language, Entertainment Protocol, and Manner of Dress Body Language Negotiating is both a social and business function in Thailand. To function effectively, then, the farang must know more than social do’s and don’ts. For example, Thais will show the “wai” sign often. This involves placing the hands together in what westerners may interpret as a prayer-like gesture, with the tips of the fingers under the chin. Similar to the Japanese practice of bowing and the Indian practice of “namaste,” farangs should also offer the “wai” sign in return, and they should initiate the “wai” sign when meeting Thais who are older and/or who hold higher positions (business, social, etc.). Other important information about body language includes the smile, the head, the feet, the hands, pointing, and the eyes. The smile is a used to thank somebody, but it also serves as an excuse of an intended inconvenience. One should smile back, which indicates to the Thai that you are granting a pardon for the inconvenience. It is also used to shield Thais from embarrassment as well as a show of amusement that does not involve ridicule. However, if a Thai begins laughing for no apparent reason in a business meeting, the farang should change the subject. The Thai is embarrassed. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 48 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ Most farangs have heard that one should never touch the top of a Thai’s head nor show the soles of the foot to a Thai. This is because Thais believe that the top of the head is inhabited by the “spirit essence,” connected to heaven by a “silver cord.” While the most important spirit inhabits the top of the head, the least important and most dirty spirit inhabits the feet. So never point your feet toward a person, nor should you cross your legs in front of an older person. It is appropriate to cross your legs at the ankles, but not so that one leg rests on the opposite knee. Farangs should try to keep their hands hanging down inoffensively by their sides. They should never be used to slap a person on the back. A polite touch at the elbow is usually done to draw attention. Quite often, however, a male Thai will take the hand of another and hold it. It is not a sign of homosexuality, but rather a sign of friendship and helpfulness. On the other hand, public displays of affection between men and women are not condoned. Never wave your hands about in an attempt to make yourself understood, for such action will create confusion and often will be interpreted as anger. To get attention, beckon with the palm down, moving your fingers inward in a sweeping manner. Never call somebody using the index finger with the palm up. This insinuates that the person to whom you are beckoning is a dog. Pointing with a finger, while less offensive than pointing with a foot, is acceptable only for objects and not for people, even those of inferior rank. Farangs will note that Thais seem to hold eye contact longer than most westerners do. Thais use their eyes and eyebrows often in their daily communication. While farangs should not fear prolonged eye contact, Thais will become offended if they think you are staring at them. Entertainment protocol Thai negotiators expect to entertain you and to be entertained by you in return. In fact, quite often your initial meeting with your Thai negotiating counterparts may be over lunch or drinks, so that they can get to know you. However, do not expect to discuss business over lunch. To entertain a small group, it is best to take them to a western restaurant in a five-star hotel. Arrange a buffet supper for a large group. Unlike in the Middle East, always include Thai wives in your invitation. Expect to eat with western-style forks and spoons - but not often with knives. It is quite important to keep the fork in the left hand and the spoon in the right hand. (Reverse the process if you are left-handed.) Cut with the side of the spoon, not with the fork. Use the fork to push food into the spoon. Never take the last bit of food in a serving dish. Wait until it is offered to you and then refuse politely the first time. When it is offered again, accept it. It is considered an honor to have the last bit of food. Drink tea or beer with your meals. Drink water only if you have seen it being poured from a glass of mineral water. Although many Thais smoke after dinner, do not be the first one to light your cigarette. Always pass APJML 49 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ cigarettes around to the men at the table. Although traditional Thai women do not smoke or drink in public, it is acceptable for western women to do so. Manner of dress in a negotiating setting As stated above, Thai business and government executives are very formal in their dress. The better dressed one is, the more successful one is - that is how Thais think. For business functions, farang men should wear lightweight suits with white shirts and ties. Slacks and jackets are not as acceptable. Farang women should not wear black dresses, however, for Thais reserve this color for funerals or mourning. However, black is acceptable to wear at formal events if it is accented with other colors. Favorite Negotiating Tactics Used by Thai Business and Government Executives Before discussing these tactics, please note that this part of the paper is based on information gathered at seminars given by the author. The seven advantages outweigh the four limitations. Advantage seven is the most important one. Seven advantages of gathering data from seminar participants (1) High quality of the sample. For the most part, seminar participants are successful executives who are prime prospects for promotion. Demographically, their ages range from the late 20s to the very early 40s. Most have a bachelor’s degree. Although their prior level of knowledge of the subject matter of the seminar varies, most seem to be very interested in the subject matter of the seminar, especially when they have to make a report to their boss afterward. (2) A sample of business executives, not students. (3) Pre-selection. The executives pre-select themselves, based on the topic of the seminar and so are already interested in and probably involved in the topic. (4) High response rate. The response rate is usually 100 percent if the seminar participants have to turn in written responses personally to the instructor. However, if data is gathered by counting raised hands, about 20 percent of the participants usually do not raise their hands. (5) Seminar audiences can be compared by geographic region. Cross-cultural studies result. (6) Seminar audiences can be compared over time to observe changes in managerial styles as the years go by. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 50 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ (7) Data gathered at seminars is often more accurate than data gathered by traditional survey research methods because of a built-in consultant-client relationship between the speaker and the audience. This is a matter of trust. Hendon (2000) performed this experiment: His MBA students surveyed 96 brand managers in a large Asian metropolitan area. In these one-on-one personal interviews, each respondent had to determine where his/her brand was located on the product life cycle (PLC), using a 30-point scale. Afterward, Hendon visited and interviewed each of the 96 brand managers over a period of six months in 1998 and 1999. The follow-up in-depth interviews revealed that almost all brand managers (79 of 96, or 82.2 percent) lied about their location on the PLC because they did not trust the original interviewers to keep the information confidential. All 79 told Hendon they would not lie if the questionnaire was given to them in a seminar, because they were then acting out the role of a client to the seminar leader’s role of a consultant. Trust usually occurs in a seminar but often does not occur in traditional surveys. Four disadvantages of gathering data from seminar participants (1) Only a very limited amount of information can be obtained at a seminar because participants attend expensive seminars to learn, not to become part of a research study. They will tolerate data gathering under these four circumstances: (a) Data gathering should be part of a learning experience. For example, when sales managers are asked what percentage of their total time they estimate they spend performing five different job activities, they should be told that the results will be tabulated and placed on the whiteboard and compared to percentages revealed by different groups of sales managers in other parts of the nation or world (or at different time periods). ( Exercises designed to reveal to participants something about themselves they did not already know are best. © Exercises should take a very short time to complete. (d) The results of the entire audience should be revealed to them within a very short time after the exercise has been completed. (2) It is difficult to read many people’s handwriting at times, especially numbers. (3) The sample sizes at most seminars are rather small, and so it is difficult to get statistically significant results. However, when the results of several seminars are aggregated, this problem is resolved. (4) Demographic breakdowns are extremely difficult to obtain, especially if hand-counting is the methodology employed. APJML 51 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ Hendon (2000) discusses in depth these advantages and limitations of collecting primary data at seminars and offers 11 suggestions on how to collect primary data at seminars. Data gathered during 15 seminars in Thailand During the period 1981-1989, the author gave 15 seminars in Thailand. During several of these seminars, the participants mastered a list of 186 specific negotiating tactics he had developed over the years. Hiam (1990) and Kotler (1997) list some of them. Toward the end of the seminars, he gave them 11 specific negotiating situations and learned their favorite tactics for each of these situations. He grouped these tactics into five overall strategic areas: assertive, defensive, cooperative, accommodation, and dirty tricks. Using Deutsch’s framework given at the beginning of this paper, both assertive and defensive strategies exhibit more of the characteristics of competition, not cooperation. Cooperative tactics, of course, exhibit most of the characteristics of Deutsch’s cooperative ideal. Dirty tricks are extremely destructive, while accommodation occurs when one sacrifices something extremely important in order to achieve other goals in the process of resolving conflict by negotiation. While the author has given more than 600 seminars in 33 nations on six continents, mostly outside the USA during his summer holiday periods with a cumulative size of approximately 12,000 executives, he has only 154 in his Thai sample. See Hendon and Hendon (1991) for an in-depth discussion about how data on negotiating has been collected. The situations are: (1) Seller: Get buyer to pay more. (2) Buyer: Get seller to lower the price. (3) Ask the boss for a raise. (4) Ask the boss for a promotion. (5) Ask the boss to change already-scheduled vacation date at the last minute. (6) Dealing with a hostile attorney. (7) Buy a house. (8) Sell your car. (9) Get out of paying a traffic ticket. (10) Get your children to pick up their clothes. (11) Sexual favors (from a friend, not a prostitute). Situations (3), (4), and (5) were discussed elsewhere (Hendon and Hendon, 1997). Furthermore, since tactics (7) through (11) do not deal with business negotiations, only findings from situations (1) and (2) are presented here. Tactics (3) through (11) were presented at the 1999 Cross Cultural Research Conference. (Hendon, 1999b) Seller: Get buyer to pay more (Thailand) General strategy: 38.5% assertive 31.7% defensive 10.6% accommodation 10.6% dirty tricks 8.7% cooperative Specific tactics: These 13 favorite tactics accounted for 48.6% of all tactics picked. (43 others were also picked.) In descending order, they are: Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 52 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ 6.7% Turn tables on buyer 5.7% Big pot (asking for much more than you expect to get) 4.8% Funny money (using percentages or unit numbers instead of total dollars or baht) 3.8% Let us look at the record 3.8% Do not give in 3.8% Be patient 2.9% Take it or leave it 2.9% Remind the other person (TOP) of competition 2.9% Shill: Inventory is in short supply and subject to prior orders 2.9% Two-step fall-back 2.9% High-balling (making unreasonably attractive first offer so that buyer will not deal with any other vendor) 2.9% Limited authority 2.9% Whipsaw-auction Buyer: Get seller to lower the price (Thailand) General strategy: 43.0% defensive 32.7% assertive 16.8% dirty tricks 4.7% cooperative 2.8% accommodation Specific tactics: These 13 favorite tactics accounted for 53.7% of all tactics picked. (38 others were also picked.) In descending order, they are: 11.1% Remind TOP of competition 7.4% Big pot 4.6% Take it or leave it 4.6% Limited authority 3.7% Faking 2.8% Keep the pressure on TOP 2.8% Destroy a straw man 2.8% Doomsday 2.8% Funny money 2.8% My well is dry 2.8% Low-balling 2.8% Lying with statistics 2.8% Whipsaw-auction What can a farang do with this list? Fore-warned is fore-armed. It is highly probable that Thai negotiators will use these specific tactics when they negotiate with farangs and with other Thais. Anticipate the use of these tactics and develop countermeasures in advance to use when your Thai counterparts use them. Specific countermeasures which executives have found to be APJML 53 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ valuable to use in response to these tactics can be found in Hendon and Hendon (1989). However, please look at the “big picture” - the overall strategies usednot just the individual tactics preferred. First note that Thai sellers are generally aggressive, while Thai buyers are generally defensive. On the other hand, for example, Americans sellers and buyers are equally aggressive, as you see here: Seller: Get buyer to pay more (U.S.A.) 46.6% assertive 30.2% defensive 10.7% cooperative 7.9% accommodation 4.6% dirty tricks Buyer: Get Seller to Lower the Price (U.S.A.) 46.3% assertive 33.3% defensive 8.0% cooperative 6.2% accommodation 6.1% dirty tricks Thai sellers are significantly less aggressive than American sellers (p = .05), but there was no significant difference between American and Thai buyers. Note also that Thai sellers use dirty tricks 10.6% of the time, while Thai buyers use them 16.8% of the time. The author has given this “favorite tactics used in 11 situation” exercise in 26 nations, and only Indonesians, Filipinos, and Malaysians use dirty tricks more often than Thais. Australians, Kiwis, and Canadians use dirty tricks the least. Both Thai sellers and buyers use a significantly greater amount of dirty tricks than do American sellers and buyers (p = .05). And while Thai buyers are significantly less accommodating and cooperative than American buyers (p = .05), there is no significant difference between American and Thai sellers in their choice of accommodation and cooperative tactics. Neither was there a significant difference between Americans and Thais in defensive tactics (both sellers and buyers). Exhibit 1 compares the strategies used by sellers to get buyers to pay more in Thailand, the United States, and seven more nations in the Asia- Pacific region-Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. Exhibit 2 compares the strategies used by buyers to get sellers to lower their prices in these same nine nations. Future articles will present hypotheses which would account for similarities and differences among these nine nations and several other nations. (For example, patterns in New Zealand and Uruguay are quite similar, while patterns in the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 54 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ United States and Brazil are also quite similar. Looking at the two exhibits, an important finding is that buyers use dirty tricks more than sellers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States, while sellers use dirty tricks more than buyers in the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. Kiwi sellers and buyers use dirty tricks very seldom.) Conclusion and Future Research This is the latest in a series of articles in proceedings of academic conferences by the author on how foreigners can negotiate with executives in different nations. Nations previously written about include Australia, Canada (abstract only), China (People’s Republic), Indonesia, Korea (South), Malay- APJML 55 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives Exhibit 1: Favorite strategies used by sellers to get buyers to pay more in nine nations (%) _____________ Strat- egy Hong Kong Singa- pore Malay- sia Indo- nesia Philip- pines Thai- land Aust- ralia New Zealand United States Assert- ive 38.6 55.2 43.7 43.1 48.9 38.5 53.7 39.7 46.6 Defens- ive 44.3 25.8 28.2 27.0 37.8 31.7 26.9 35.6 30.2 Cooper- ative 5.7 11.0 12.6 12.4 5.6 8.7 8.2 19.2 10.7 Accom- modate 7.1 4.3 7.8 8.8 2.2 10.6 5.2 2.7 7.9 Dirty Tricks 4.3 3.7 7.8 8.8 5.6 10.6 6.0 2.7 4.6 Exhibit 2: Favorite strategies used by buyers to get sellers to lower their price in nine nations (%) Strat- egy Hong Kong Singa- pore Malay- sia Indo- nesia Philip- pines Thai- land Aust- ralia New Zealand United States Assert- ive 38.0 57.4 41.6 46.4 38.5 43.0 50.0 38.4 46.3 Defens- ive 42.3 25.9 29.7 26.1 49.4 32.7 29.0 41.1 33.3 Cooper- ative 4.2 3.7 8.9 8.0 5.5 16.8 11.6 11.0 8.0 Accom- modate 7.0 4.9 5.9 3.6 4.4 4.7 8.0 8.2 6.2 Dirty Tricks 8.5 8.0 13.9 15.9 2.2 2.8 1.4 1.4 6.1 sia, New Zealand (abstract only), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, and Taiwan. The author has also written articles comparing nations (Australia and New Zealand, Brazil-Chile-Uruguay, Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore, and Thailand-UK-USA). The Thailand-UK-USA article was about subordinates negotiating with supervisors only. He presented articles about Hong Kong and Japan at academic conferences with no proceedings, while his article about Germany appeared in a book. He has also written two articles on how executives in 12 nations make price concessions while negotiating, as well as two books on international negotiating. (These were published in eight nations.) Five general articles about negotiation appeared in academic journals, while six general articles appeared in trade journals. Exhibits 3, 4, and 5 present this bibliography. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 56 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ APJML 57 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ Exhibit 3: Bibliography of articles in academic journals on international negotiating by author, using the methodology of gathering data during seminars 1 Thailand: Hendon, Donald W. (1999b), How to Negotiate with Thai Executives, pre- sented at 7th Cross Cultural Research Conference, organized by Association for Consumer Research and American Psychological Association (Section 23), December 12-15, 1999, Cancun, Yucatan, Mexico. Paper available on CD-ROM only. 2 South Korea: Hendon, Donald W. (1999a), How to Negotiate with South Korean Ex- ecutives, in Luis Maria R. Calingo, Erdener Kaynak, Harvey Arbelaez, Victor V. Cordell, and Gary N. McLean, Global Business in the Age of Technology: Proceedings of Eighth World Business Congress. Monterey, California: Monterey Institute of International Stud- ies and International Management Development Association, pp. 168-176. 3 United States, United Kingdom, and Thailand: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca An- geles Hendon, (1997), How Business Executives Negotiate with Their Bosses for Raises, Promotions, and Changing Already-Scheduled Holiday (Vacation) Dates: USA, UK, and Thailand, in Mohamed Sulaiman, Daing Nasir Ibrahim, Zainal Ariffin Ahmad, and Mohd. Shafie Ariffin, editors, Toward Management Excellence in the 21st Century Asia: Proceedings of the Second Asian Academy of Management Conference, December 12-13, 1997, Langkawi, Malaysia. Penang: Universiti Sains Malaysia, pp. 305-309. 4 Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Business Executives in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, in Kip Becker and Dana-Nicoleta Lascu, editors, The Structure and Process of Globalization in Business and Education: Proceedings of the International Management Development Association (IMDA), November 8-11, 1995, Hyatt Orlando, Orlando, Florida (Hummel- stown, Pennsylvania: IMDA, 1995), pp. 125-134 5 Indonesia: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Indo- nesian Business Executives, in Chang-Soo Kim, editor, Proceedings of the Asian Busi- ness and Economics Conference: Asian Focus on Business, Economics, and Education in the Global Environment (New York: St. Johns University, 1994), pp. 69-76 6 Mexico: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Mexican Business Executives, in Facing North/Facing South Conference on NAFTA (East Lans- ing: Michigan State University, May, 1994). (Abstract only) 7 South Africa: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with South African Business Executives, in Erdener Kaynak, editor, Proceedings (Penang, Malaysia: International Management Development Association, 1994), pp. 233-243 8 Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How Busi- ness Executives in Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay Negotiate, in Gerald Albaum, editor, Fourth Symposium on Cross-Cultural and Business Studies (Honolulu: Society for Con- sumer Psychology of American Psychological Association, Association for Consumer Re- search, and Pacific Basin Region of Academy of International Business, 1993) 9 New Zealand: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with New Zealand Business Executives," in Thomas Irby Kindel, editor, Association for Global Business: Proceedings of the 1992 Conference, New Orleans, November 5-7, 1992 (Charleston, South Carolina: Center for International and Regional Development, The Citadel, 1992), p. 409. (Abstract only) 10 Taiwan-R.O.C.: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Taiwan-R.O.C. Business Executives, in Proceedings: Fifth International Conference on Comparative Management, June 7-9, 1992, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China (Kaoh- siung: College of Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 1992), pp. 127-131 Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 58 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ Exhibit 3: Bibliography of articles in academic journals on international negotiating by author, using the methodology of gathering data during seminars (continued) 11 Australia: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Aus- tralian Business Executives, in Khosrow Fatemi, editor, International Trade and Fi- nance in a Rapidly Changing Environment, Volume 4 (Laredo, Texas: Laredo State University and International Trade and Finance Association), pp. 1087-1101 12 Singapore: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Sin- gaporean Business Executives, in S. Kerry Cooper, editor, Southwest Review of Inter- national Business Research: Proceedings of the 1992 Academy of International Business, Southwest Regional Meeting, March 4-7, 1992, San Antonio, Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University, 1992), pp. 85-91 13 Malaysia: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Ma- laysian Business Executives, in S. Kerry Cooper, editor, Southwest Review of Interna- tional Business Research: Proceedings of the 1992 Academy of International Business, Southwest Regional Meeting, march 4-7, 1992, San Antonio, Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University, 1992), pp. 205-211 14 China-P.R.C.: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with the Peoples Republic of China, in La Gerencia para el Desarrollo: Talleres de Tra- bajo, Ponencias, XXVI Asemblea de CLADEA, Lima, 23-26 de Septiembre de 1991 (Lima, Peru: ESAN-Escuela de Administracion de Negocios para Graduados, y CLADEA-Consejo Latinoamericano de Escuelas de Adminstracion), pp. 751-767 15 Saudi Arabia: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Saudi Arabian Business Executives, in John Thanopoulos, editor, Southwestern Review of International Business Research: Proceedings of the 1991 Academy of International Business Southwest Regional Meeting, March 13-16, 1991, Houston, Texas (Akron, Ohio: University of Akron, 1991), pp. 139-147 16 Japan: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, The Japanese Negotiating Style, Association of Japanese Business Conference, sponsored by Japanese-American Institute of Management Studies and University of Hawaii. Special invitation to appear on panel, International Business Negotiation: Give and Take in a Cross-Cultural Set- ting. Presented at Honolulu conference, January 5, 1991. (No Proceedings) 17 Canada: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Cana- dian Buyers and Sellers: Speculations in the Light of the Trade Pact Between Canada and the United States, in John Thanopoulos, editor, Southwest Review of International Business Research: Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of International Business South- west Regional Meeting, February 28-March 3, 1990 (Akron Ohio: University of Akron, 1990), p. 261. (Abstract only) 18 Hong Kong: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Hong Kong Business Executives, Association for Global Business. Presented at Or- lando, Florida, conference, November 9, 1990. (No Proceedings) 19 Australia and New Zealand: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How Australian and New Zealand Business Executives Negotiate, in Sang M. Lee, Robert J. Coombes, and Kenneth J. Doyle, editors, 1989 Papers and Proceedings of the Pan- Pacific Conference VI: A Business, Economic, and Technological Exchange (Sydney, Australia: Pan-Pacific Business Association and Kuring-gai College of Advanced Edu- cation, 1989), pp. 377-379 20 Several nations: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, Price Concession Pat- terns in 12 Nations on 4 Continents, in Robert L. King, editor, Marketing in an Envi- ronment of Change: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Southern Marketing Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November 12-15, 1986 (Charleston, South Carolina: The Citadel), pp. 148-151 APJML 59 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ Exhibit 3: Bibliography of articles in academic journals on international negotiating by author, using the methodology of gathering data during seminars (continued) 21 Several nations: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How Negotiators in 12 Nations Make Concessions, in Chin Tiong Tan, William Lazer, and V. H. Kirpalani, edi- tors, Emerging International Strategic Frontiers (Chicago: International Marketing Asso- ciation, 1987), pp. 178-182 22 General: Hendon, Donald W., Eight Characteristics of the Skillful International Nego- tiator: An Ideal Toward Which to Aspire, in Robert D. Goddard, III, editor, Proceedings of the 1999 Conference of the Association for Global Business, Volume 11 (Boone, North Carolina: Association for Global Business and Appalachian State University, 1999), p. 386 (Abstract only) 23 General: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, How to Negotiate with Foreign- ers, in David H. Hold, Mee Kau Nyaw, Carolyn R. Dexter, and John N. Yanouzas, edi- tors, Managing in a Global Economy III: Proceedings of the Third International Conference (Hong Kong: Eastern Academy of Management and Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989), pp. 131-133 24 General: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, Negotiating and Marketing, in Thomas D. Jensen, editor, 1986 Proceedings: Southwestern Marketing Association Con- ference (Fayetteville: Southwestern Marketing Association and University of Arkansas, March 1986), pp. 164-168 25 General: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, A Brief Survey of International Negotiating Styles, in Charles F. Keown and Arch J. Woodside, editors, Comparative Consumer Psychology: Proceedings of the 1984 Conference, Division 23, Consumer Psy- chology, American Psychological association, December 19-23, 1984 (Honolulu: Ameri- can Psychological Association and University of Hawaii, 1984), pp. 64-67 26 General: Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, A Brief Survey of International Negotiating Styles, in Duane Kujawa and Tan Chin Tiong, editors, Proceedings of the Academy of International Business International Meeting in Singapore, June 14-16, 1984 (Singapore: Academy of International Business and National University of Singapore, 1984), pp. 1035-1047 27 Negotiating in a specific industry: Hendon, Donald W., How to Negotiate with a Book Publisher, in John C. Crawford and James R. Lumpkin, editors, 1983 Proceedings: Southwestern Marketing Association Conference (Denton: Southwestern Marketing As- sociation and North Texas State University, March 1983), pp. 101-104 Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 60 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives ____________ Exhibit 4: Bibliography of articles in trade journals on international negotiating by author, using the methodology of gathering data during seminars 1 General: Hendon, Donald W., Negotiating Tactics of Overseas Chinese, New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: August 6, 1997), Appointments Section, p. 12 2 General: Hendon, Donald W., The Great Professors Business Negotiating Tech- niques, Strategic Productivity (Taipei: China Productivity Center, September 1993, no. 415), pp. 23-30. (Chinese language only) 3 General: Hendon, Donald W., How to Negotiate with Foreigners, PODfolio (Singa- pore: POD Group of Companies, Second Quarter, 1993), pp. 25-28 4 General: Hendon, Donald W., Managing Across Cultures: Negotiating Price with Asian Executives, World Executives Digest, vol. 10, no. 3 (Manila and Hong Kong: March 1989), pp. 56-57 5 General: Hendon, Donald W. Negotiating to Win, Hong Kong Productivity News, vol. 8, no. 2 (August 1985), pp. 11-13 6 General: Hendon, Donald W., Twenty-Five Ways to Make Anyone See It Your Way, Sales and Marketing Management, vol. 131, no. 4 (September 12, 1983), pp. 72, 74, 76 Exhibit 5: Bibliography of books on international negotiating by author, using the meth- odology of gathering data during seminars 1 General plus Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Philippines: Hendon, Donald W., Rebecca A. Hendon, and Paul Herbig, Cross- Cultural Business Negotiations (Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 1996), 257 pages. 6 specific chapters on how to negotiate with executives in Germany, Saudi Ara- bia, Australia, Hong Kong/China, Indonesia, and Philippines 2 General plus USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan-R.O.C., Singapore, Malaysia, In- donesia, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa: Hendon, Donald W., Rebecca A. Hendon, and Paul Herbig, How to Negotiate Worldwide: A Practical Hand- book (London: Gower Publishing, 1989 hard cover, 1996 soft cover), 270 pages. Ap- pendix gives favorite business negotiating tactics in these 11 nations. Gower licensed the book for publication in the following 6 nations-USA, Norway, Italy, Taiwan-R.O.C., Indonesia, Sweden, and Mexico 3 World Class Negotiating: Dealmaking in the Global Marketplace (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990), 270 pages 4 Internasionale Forhandlinger: Kulturforstaelse for Ledere (Oslo, Norway: Dagens Naeringsliv Forlag, 1990), 258 pages. (Name of publisher changed in 1992 to Univer- siteforlaget) 5 LArte di Negoziare in Qualsiasi Paese del Mondo: Guida Pratica (Milan, Italy: Franco Angelli, 1991), 296 pages 6 Zong Heng Tian Sia: Kua Guo Sang Tan (Taipei, Taiwan: Commonwealth Publishing, 1992), 307 pages 7 Negosiasi Berskala Global (Jakarta, Indonesia: Binarupa Aksara, 1993), 267 pages 8 Lar Dig Forhandla Over Hela Varlden Nen Handbok (Malmo, Sweden: Richters Forlag AB, 1996), 294 pages 9 Spanish-language version to be published shortly by Editorial Limusa Noriega, Mexico City References Deutsch, Morton, “Cooperation and Competition,” in Morton Deutsch and Peter T. Coleman, editors, The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), pp. 7-9, 31 Deutsch, Morton, “An Experimental Study of the Effects of Cooperation and Competition Upon Group Processes,” Human Relations, vol. 2 (1949), pp. 199-321; Morton Deutsch, “A Theory of Cooperation and Competition,” Human Relations, vol. 2 (1949), pp. 129-151 Hiam, Alexander (1990), The Vest-Pocket CEO: Decision-Making Tools for Executives, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, pp. 448-450. (Chapter is entitled “Hendon’s Negotiating Tactics.”) Hendon, Donald W., “Data Gathering During Seminars from Participants: A Valid Alternative Survey Research Method,” in Dawn R. Deeter-Schmelz and Timothy P. Hartman, eds., Marketing Advances in the New Millennium (Athens, Ohio: Society for Marketing Advances), pp. 158-162. Presented at Orlando, Florida, conference in November 2000. Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca Angeles Hendon, (1997), “How Business Executives Negotiate with Their Bosses for Raises, Promotions, and Changing Already-Scheduled Holiday (Vacation) Dates: USA, UK, and Thailand,” in Mohamed Sulaiman, Daing Nasir Ibrahim, Zainal Ariffin Ahmad, and Mohd. Shafie Ariffin, editors, Toward Management Excellence in the 21st Century Asia: Proceedings of the Second Asian Academy of Management Conference, December 12-13, 1997, Langkawi, Malaysia. Penang: Universiti Sains Malaysia, pp. 305-309. Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca A. Hendon, “How to Negotiate with Foreigners,” in David H. Hold, Mee Kau Nyaw, Carolyn R. Dexter, and John N. Yanouzas, editors, Managing in a Global Economy III: Proceedings of the Third International Conference (Hong Kong: Eastern Academy of Management and Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1989), pp. 131-133 Hendon, Donald W. (1999a), “How to Negotiate with South Korean Executives,” in Luis Maria R. Calingo, Erdener Kaynak, Harvey Arbelaez, Victor V. Cordell, and Gary N. McLean, Global Business in the Age of Technology: Proceedings of Eighth World Business Congress. Monterey, California: Monterey Institute of International Studies and International Management Development Association, pp. 168-176. Hendon, Donald W. (1999b), “How to Negotiate with Thai Executives,” presented at 7th Cross Cultural Research Conference, organized by Association for Consumer Research and American Psychological Association (Section 23), December 12-15, 1999, Cancun, Yucatan, Mexico. Paper available on CD-ROM only. APJML 61 __________________________________________________________________________ How to Negotiate with Thai Executives _____________ Hendon, Donald W., and Rebecca Angeles Hendon, (1989), How to Negotiate Worldwide: A Practical Handbook London: Gower Publishing. Hendon, Donald W., an Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tippaporn Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Actually, quite good, Thaipwriter. I'm not asleep yet. Where did you dig this up, BTW? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CymruAmByth Posted May 5, 2006 Author Share Posted May 5, 2006 Many thanks guys. Some good stuff there, most appreciated. Of course...another thing I could do - and am contemplating - is take myself out of the selling-loop altogether and employ a full time Thai sales exec (female of course). That way I can hide behind the scenes and be produced as and when it is 'good' to have a Farang boss at the scene. Anyhoo...once again, thanks for your help, especially the novel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanchao Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 > Of course...another thing I could do - and am contemplating - is take myself out of the > selling-loop altogether and employ a full time Thai sales exec (female of course). She'll want to do the same thing: Be able to offer a discount, either to the purchasing company, or to the person buying personally, or both. I fail to see how that is unethical from YOUR point of view. I guess it represents an accounting challenge to account for the part to the buyer directly. "Sales Costs" I suppose. It's not that different from taking a person to dinner to discuss options. Cheers, Chanchao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chang_paarp Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 You could try the prompt payment discount method. Put your prices up 11% Offer a prompt payment discount of 10% if paid within x days/weeks. If they pay promptly, you get your original price (111-10%=100 or very close) and good cash flow. If they take too long to pay you have an invoice with the cost of recovery built in to the price. I hope this helps your ethical challenges. Just remember that if you want to offer a discount the mark up must be a larger % than the discount. eg. 100+50%=150 150-33.3%=100. Your customer will happily take 50%, but you might not like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlRedEyes Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Many thanks guys. Some good stuff there, most appreciated.Of course...another thing I could do - and am contemplating - is take myself out of the selling-loop altogether and employ a full time Thai sales exec (female of course). That way I can hide behind the scenes and be produced as and when it is 'good' to have a Farang boss at the scene. Anyhoo...once again, thanks for your help, especially the novel! I'd stay with the original dealing directly, sharply increasing the price and discounting deeply. You'd probably make a lot more sales. Business dealings with farang still carries a certain status here. Western business morals? (if they exist in the west). Heard of Don Quiote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CymruAmByth Posted May 5, 2006 Author Share Posted May 5, 2006 Many thanks guys. Some good stuff there, most appreciated. Of course...another thing I could do - and am contemplating - is take myself out of the selling-loop altogether and employ a full time Thai sales exec (female of course). That way I can hide behind the scenes and be produced as and when it is 'good' to have a Farang boss at the scene. Anyhoo...once again, thanks for your help, especially the novel! I'd stay with the original dealing directly, sharply increasing the price and discounting deeply. You'd probably make a lot more sales. Business dealings with farang still carries a certain status here. Western business morals? (if they exist in the west). Heard of Don Quiote? Thanks once again for going to the effort of throwing some good advice up here for me guys. Greatly appreciated! As for Western Business Morals...well, I am just an honest old fashioned type, trying to do it right; however, your advice has been taken on board and let's see if we can devise an 'amended' price list for our Thai cousins that reflects the above advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfokevin Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Can we have a hint of what product you sell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Skipper Posted May 5, 2006 Share Posted May 5, 2006 Everybody expects a price break in Thailand. If you want to sell, you have to work with the customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CymruAmByth Posted May 6, 2006 Author Share Posted May 6, 2006 Can we have a hint of what product you sell? The product is an innovative piece of high-powered electrical equipment that rids hotel rooms of smoke (and all other) odours in about 15 minutes. Clears damp and musty smells too. As an aside - and we have documented proof - it also clears e-coli, salmonella AND the H5N1 virus in a very short period of time. Sorry if that sounded like an advertisement, and I hope it helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkangorito Posted May 6, 2006 Share Posted May 6, 2006 Can we have a hint of what product you sell? The product is an innovative piece of high-powered electrical equipment that rids hotel rooms of smoke (and all other) odours in about 15 minutes. Clears damp and musty smells too. As an aside - and we have documented proof - it also clears e-coli, salmonella AND the H5N1 virus in a very short period of time. Sorry if that sounded like an advertisement, and I hope it helps! I'd love to see the documentation. I remember back in 1998 when I tried to use water ionisation as a disinfection technique for cooling towers, I had documentation...but from Hong Kong, which was NOT recognised in Australia (but was in HK). Consequently, the process was not approved until the TESTING methodology was validated in Australia, which is still NOT validated (for good reasons). As a result, I tend to ignore 'proof' from certain areas of the globe with regard to marvellous new products. One question...can e-Coli be removed by air filtration/treatment? Can air ionisation kill it? Can e-coli exist in air? What is the difference between 'contagious' & 'infectious'? BTW, there is nothing like 'old school' honesty. So many salesmen rely upon 'lipservice' to clinch a sale. These lies are easily seen through by most & if not, are eventually realised by the ones 'cheated' by them. An old saying, "The cost of a bad sale is long remembered compared to that of the cost of a good sale". If the product is real & affective, stick with the reality of it...including cost. Education is the key here. I would never forego my scruples to make a sale. Honesty guarantees future sales. The 'fast buck' attitude' will work for a while but is never a 'stayer'. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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