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The influence of Culture on Business-Negotiations: Analyzing the Microsoft-Nokia Acquisition
ANALYZING THE MICROSOFT-NOKIA ACQUISITION
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B Y W I L M E R E S P I N O
are inevitable. The expansion and strengthening of international trade and business between countries make it necessary for the societies of the world to increase their knowledge of other cultures. An internationalization strategy enables them to compete successfully with other countries.
Culture is powerful: affecting the way people perceive the world, make sense of it, act in it, and do business. Since culture is an inherent element of the lives of the individuals who make up a society, as it dictates how to behave and what is socially acceptable, ensuring a good relationship with others will consequently determine how well we might perform in the international market and what benefits we can get to achieve successful international business.
The phenomenon of globalization encompasses all countries and societies of the world, forcing individuals and organizations to acquire the necessary knowledge about the relevant aspects of other countries in order to situate themselves in an international context that allows them to compete and establish themselves strategically. The intercultural encounters associated with this process No matter how you see it, the importance of culture in international negotiations goes beyond the visible aspects such as food, clothing, and greetings, but often includes the way of thinking, different opinions, and sometimes the way of facing the same reality. In addition, the literature affirms that culture plays an important role in international business. Cross-cultural studies on negotiation show the importance of language, thoughts, feelings, and behavioral patterns in negotiation style, and a lack of knowledge of culture can negatively affect our desired negotiation or business goals.
Decisions made by negotiators can be based on their cultural values. Cultural differences are thus key in the negotiation process: if not managed well, they can lead to obstacles. From a holistic point of view, negotiations should always foresee results of cooperation between parties who understand each other ' s reasoning and decide whether it is more favorable to convince the other or to accept the terms based on cultural understanding. Hence, the negotiators should establish strategies to develop during the process with cultural underpinnings. In many cultures, key aspects are determined in the negotiation process and social interaction; in other words, the cultural behavior of the negotiators will be critical to the outcome of the process. People of different cultures have different forms of confrontation and dialogue, and the use of business language also differs in terms of expression and communication.
From the case of the Microsoft and Nokia acquisition, we can learn that it is important to acknowledge cultural differences as they can give you clues to improve performance, especially since it is not just a company acquisition, but a cultural acquisition. Nokia represents an entire country made up of unique values, design, traditions, and different ways of looking at things. Both companies come from different continents with two different cultures which makes it a cross-cultural acquisition. Nokia is the best-known part of Finnish pride and has had a strong market position and a solid brand image for years. Nokia wasn 't the exception with a complicated business culture, it was clear that the new administration couldn 't keep up with Nokia' s already indoctrinated culture, causing employees to find themselves lost, with a lack of leadership, incurring in job cuts, and smartphone market losses due to rapid decline of innovation. Microsoft was heavily criticized for not reviewing and improving the compatibility of cultures, which led to massive losses of talent, vision, and even business practices that had made Nokia successful over the years. Based on the analysis of successful acquisitions, a company needs to retain the talent, have good business practices, and a sense of cultural identity to improve what is good and get rid of what can potentially stunt the business from being successful.
