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Comparison of Negotiation Behavior of Croatian Negotiators in Relation to Selected EU Trade Partners

Advancing trends in globalization and liberalization of markets all over the world in the last few decades have created an increasing need for research on the impact which different cultures have on the course and success of various business processes. The results of such studies indicate that the business success of companies operating in today’s increasingly open markets is highly correlated with adaptability and openness to opinions, attitudes, beliefs, behavioral norms, and cultural differences of the involved parties. In addition to the specific adjustments made in every variable of the marketing mix according to the preferences of the local market, those cross- cultural differences or specifics are particularly important during the negotiation process as a vital part of successful business development in the foreign markets. EU countries are the most important trade partners of the Croatian companies since the year 2010. Among them, Slovenia, Italy, and Germany lead with the largest foreign trade share. Croatian managers who communicate on a daily basis with their partners from these countries must be skilled and resourceful not only in business and general socio-political issues, but also in sophisticated cross-cultural adaptation to national and social norms of individual member states. Detailed preparation is “conditio sine qua non” of the successful negotiation, regardless of where and with whom it takes place. However, in international negotiations, special attention and effort should be undertaken in order to achieve mutual cultural coherence through adaptability. Although the influence of culture on the negotiation process is the subject of numerous scientific papers, the analysis of published papers shows a limited or almost non-existent focus on the Croatian negotiating style and consideration of the cultural differences in negotiations between Croatian negotiators and negotiators from other EU countries. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to explore and research the influence of cross-cultural negotiating differences on the negotiation outcomes of Croatian managers with their main foreign trade partners from the European Union. For the purpose of this research, a primary survey was conducted on a sample of 45 respondents, Croatian managers who do business and negotiate with business partners from Germany, Italy, and Slovenia. The survey found, among other things, that there are significant cultural differences between Croatian negotiators and negotiators of other targeted countries. Thus, Croatian and Slovenian negotiators differ in the level of avoiding uncertainty, while Croatian negotiators differ from German ones in emphasizing reliability and safe fulfillment of all agreed items, but also in focus on the task and direct communication. As far as the relationship between Italian and Croatian negotiators is concerned, it turned out that non-verbal communication is more important with Italians than it is with Croatian negotiators. The managerial implication of these findings should help improve the negotiation skills of the Croatian managers by enabling them to better understand how to prepare and conduct negotiations with foreign trade partners from the different EU countries.

negotiation, cultural negotiating differences, foreign trade, marketing, Croatia

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