Americans lay their cards on the table and resolve disagreements quickly with one or both sides making concessions. 1/23

Canadians are inclined to seek harmony but are similar to Americans in their directness. 2/23

People in the UK tend to avoid confrontation in an understated, mannered, and humorous style that can be either powerful or inefficient. 3/23

Germans rely on logic but "tend to amass more evidence and labor their points more than either the British or the French." 4/23

15

When meeting with the French, be prepared for a vigorous, logical debate. 5/23

Italians "regard their languages as instruments of eloquence" and take a verbose, flexible approach to negotiations. 6/23

Like Italians, Spaniards will "pull out every stop if need be to achieve greater expressiveness." 7/23

Among the Nordic countries, Swedes often have the most wide-ranging discussions. 8/23

Finns tend to value concision. 9/23

15

Most Norwegians fall somewhere in between Swedes and Finns. 10/23

The Swiss tend to be straightforward, nonaggressive negotiators. They obtain concessions by expressing confidence in the quality and value of their goods and services. 11/23

Hungarians value eloquence over logic and are unafraid to talk over each other. 12/23

Bulgarians may take a circuitous approach to negotiations before seeking a mutually beneficial resolution, which will often get screwed up by bureaucracy. 13/23

Poles often have a communication style that is "enigmatic, ranging from a matter-of-fact pragmatic style to a wordy, sentimental, romantic approach to any given subject." 14/23

15

The Dutch are focused on facts and figures but "are also great talkers and rarely make final decisions without a long 'Dutch' debate, sometimes approaching the danger zone of over-analysis." 15/23

The Chinese tend to be more direct than the Japanese and some other East Asians. However, meetings are principally for information gathering, with the real decisions made elsewhere. 16/23

People in Hong Kong negotiate much more briskly to achieve quick results. 17/23

The Indian English "excel in ambiguity, and such things as truth and appearances are often subject to negotiation." 18/23

Australians tend to have a loose and frank conversational style. 19/23

15

Singaporeans generally take time to build a relationship, after which they can be shrewd negotiators. 20/23

Koreans tend to be energetic conversationalists who seek to close deals quickly, occasionally stretching the truth. 21/23

Indonesians tend to be very deferential conversationalists, sometimes to the point of ambiguity. 22/23