No extra effort, no deal

As a teacher of Cross-Cultural Understanding, I have read with interest Rob Goodfellow's article entitled Cross-cultural risks in business (April 28, 2001) and Donna Woodward's Cultural sensitivity or snobbery? letter of response (May 5, 2001). It seems to me that we are dealing with two different issues here.

First, anyone living or working in a cross-cultural situation obviously needs to be sensitive to the other culture. Under purely social circumstances, Donna Woodward's point is well taken. The Chinese should have understood the Australian way of doing things. In a business situation of this kind, however, other factors have to be taken into consideration. One of those is the bargaining position.

If the Chinese and Australians had had equal bargaining positions, both parties would have equally benefited or lost if the contract had gone through or had been canceled. In the situation Mr. Goodfellow described, however, that did not seem to be the case. The Australians were the ones who needed the contract and were therefore the ones who ought to have done more or sacrificed more to win it. As the party with the higher bargaining position, the Chinese would not have felt any need to try to gain the respect or graciousness of the Australians. They could have even afforded to play "hard to get".

If Mr. Goodfellow is right that the Australians needed the Chinese business and that they had been treated royally by the Chinese, the Australians should have bent over backwards to "court" the Chinese during their reciprocal visit to Sydney. A cappuccino on the run would hardly have fitted the bill!

ROSELLA M. KAMEO

Salatiga, Central Java