The negotiation process is slow and advancements are made in an unhurried rhythm. The Chinese people are non-confrontational individuals and they will avoid saying "No." They will, instead, promise to think about the proposition, see about it and so on. In China, the negotiations do not focus on specific and measurable goals, but their emphasis falls on assessing the negotiation partner and seeing whether the relationship can be further developed. Since the Chinese are calculated people, decision making will often take a lot of time, until the locals are convinced of their future actions. The American counterparts are advised to always remain calm, or they will lose "face" and irremediably damage the relationship. The foreigners are also advised to not use pressure techniques (they might find themselves outmaneuvered), to remember that the Chinese are shrewd negotiators and to always leave room for concessions (Kwintessential).

Part 4. Strategic alliances

The selection of a strategic partner in China is based on the ability of the respective company to support the American organization to attain its overall objectives. At this specific level, the United States-based firm seeks to capitalize on the partnership with China by accessing skilled and cost effective labor force, which will provide high levels of manufacturing volumes, at competitive prices.

Based on these requests, the firm has selected a medium size sewing company in China. The institution employs 101 employees, out of which 90 are women sewing at machines; six are men and women in charge of creating patterns of the materials to be sewn and five are managerial staffs. The managerial staffs are three sewing managers, one accountant and one executive leader. The company is structured into three equal shifts, all working 8 hours a day, six days a week. The shifts are equal in size and number of participants, being formed from 30 sewing women and two pattern creators. The accountant and the executive leader have flexible working schedules, so that they meet the needs of the company across the three different shifts.

At the level of the actual terms of the partnership, this will be represented by a partnership between the American and the Chinese firms. Both institutions will preserve their leadership, ownership and structures and the collaboration between the two firms will be regulated by a signed contract.

At this stage, emphasis will have to be placed on the negotiation of an attractive contract...

Furthermore, the negation techniques have to be used in line with the previously made observations and recommendations. For instance, the American firm will have to delegate a team to China and this team would be represented by its senior members, who would engage in conversations with the Chinese leaders in the firm, namely the executive leader and the three shift managers. The Americans will have to grant enough time for decision making, be respectful and calm and build solid relationships with their counterparts. The strong points to be used by the U.S. based firm include the ability to honor the financial obligations assumed, within the imposed time lines and to also provide additional work contracts for the Chinese firm.
As it has been previously mentioned, the collaboration between the two firms will be based on a partnership and each firm will preserve its own structure and ownership. Still, in order to ensure that its interests are best promoted, the American firm would select and send some delegates to China. The scope of this team of delegates would be that of ensuring a successful transition from the firm's previous manufacturing operations to the new production efforts for the U.S. company. The delegates would as such directly interact with the Chinese employees, would strive to modify the organizational culture in the Chinese firm in order to align it with the organizational culture and goals in the United States, and would also seek to ensure the high quality of production (Feenstra and Hanson, 2003).