Current Status of Direct Negotiation Activities Between Vietnamese Enterprises and Japanese Partners

"Negotiation?" , up to 90.09% of respondents answered yes, but when asked "What is negotiation strategy?" , most of the answers were that it is enough to just set out the main goals to be achieved such as price, payment, delivery time. Also according to the results of this survey, most of the Vietnamese enterprises interviewed answered that they did not develop many contingency plans for negotiations in advance, which shows that Vietnamese enterprises are still weak in negotiation planning, vague awareness, so the plan is not specific and therefore it is very difficult to gain the initiative in the negotiation process.

Finally, the issue of preparing time and location for direct negotiations, currently most direct negotiations take place in Vietnam, so the Vietnamese side is often the one who takes the initiative to arrange the location and schedule meetings with foreign partners. Like the Japanese, the Vietnamese also prefer clean, tidy, formal and polite spaces because they believe that this is a manifestation of the minimum respect that the "host" has for the "foreign guests". Direct negotiations often take place in the morning from Monday to Friday because Vietnamese people are less productive in the afternoon, Saturday and Sunday are weekends. In addition, Vietnamese people often avoid organizing negotiations on the days immediately before major holidays of the year (National Day September 2, Liberation of the South April 30, Lunar New Year from the 1st to the 3rd of the first lunar month...) because on these days, agencies, organizations and businesses are closed.

2.2.2. Characteristics in the direct negotiation phase

• “Getting acquainted” phase

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Like the Japanese, the Vietnamese often start meetings with side stories to create a comfortable atmosphere, a happy mood and intimacy between members of each side's negotiating team. When first sitting at the negotiating table, the Vietnamese side often asks the partner a few questions about family, current job situation, marital status, if the person is married, the Vietnamese side can ask some "private" questions such as "how many children do you have?"

already?”,… This can easily cause foreign partners, especially Western traders to misunderstand, and even feel uncomfortable because of being “involved in private life”. However, it is necessary to understand that this is completely normal in Vietnam because it is just a product of the rice civilization with relationships revolving around the family and village of the Vietnamese people.

Unlike the Japanese, who are famous for their etiquette and manners in communication, the Vietnamese are more open-minded and easy-going, so they can easily overlook some communication mistakes that foreign partners make unintentionally or are not familiar with Vietnamese customs and practices. As a country located in Asia, the Vietnamese also attach great importance to relationships, taking reputation and mutual trust as the basis for long-term success in business transactions and cooperation. Therefore, Vietnamese traders also spend a lot of time on the introduction stage, not only to learn more about their partners but also to build trust in the early stages of the negotiation process, especially with important partners. This process even lasts throughout the later stages of the negotiation because through it, the parties build and strengthen good business cooperation relationships, which is the key point that has a great impact on the success of the negotiation process. Therefore, the process of direct negotiation with Vietnamese people, especially when taking place in Vietnam, is rarely limited to just one meeting, and large value contracts are rarely signed immediately after just a few hours of negotiation, but often have to be extended over many meetings, interspersed with receptions, visits, gift-giving, etc., and through that, trust between the parties is firmly established and consolidated. Therefore, when coming to Vietnam to negotiate, foreign traders need to prepare mentally and practice patience because they may not be able to reach a contract after just one trip. Indeed, the issue of reputation and trust plays a very important role for many Asian traders in general, and for Vietnamese traders in particular, it is even more important. This is clearly demonstrated through the reality of import-export and international investment activities in Vietnam in recent years, when there have been many cases of import-export fraud causing damage.

For the Vietnamese side, ambitious investment projects are not feasible, or even impossible to implement because foreign investors do not have enough financial capacity. This situation has created a very common suspicion of foreigners among Vietnamese businessmen today. Therefore, for Vietnamese enterprises, when there is enough basis to affirm that the partner is truly trustworthy, has high prestige, and is really interested in conducting transactions with the Vietnamese side, the negotiation process with Vietnamese enterprises will become much more favorable, and the possibility of success will also be higher.

• Direct negotiation stage (exchanging information, persuading, making concessions and reaching an agreement)

At this stage, the attitude and way of handling situations of Vietnamese people are quite similar to those of Japanese people. First of all, in the stage of exchanging information, Vietnamese people are similar to Japanese people in that they also value polite and gentle speech, avoid offending partners, and try to limit fierce conflicts in case of conflicts in interests, positions, and views between parties. Vietnamese people prefer tactful speech to save face for the parties and sometimes they also choose to speak "beyond words" like Japanese people on sensitive issues. Because they do not want to offend anyone, Vietnamese negotiators often avoid outrightly rejecting their partners' opinions and choose to speak indirectly such as: "I really want to, but that's too difficult", "Sorry, I am not allowed to decide on this issue", "I will think about it and report back to you later", etc.

Unlike the Japanese who often enter the negotiation table with a very cold face, polite and humble gestures but hidden inside are many calculations, the Vietnamese are more straightforward, during the negotiation process, the Vietnamese side often shows a happier and more open attitude than the Japanese. One notable point is that the Vietnamese side often smiles during negotiations, however, not all of their smiles mean agreement and satisfaction, because many times the Vietnamese side smiles back because they do not understand what their partners want to say or want to hide the tension and anxiety inside. This makes many foreign partners misunderstand and think that their proposal is completely reasonable and has won the approval of the Vietnamese side.

Vietnamese negotiators can be said to be very diligent in listening and carefully absorbing information from their partners. While listening, they often nod continuously and add the filler word “ Yes”. However, foreigners should not translate the word “Yes” into its literal meaning of agreement and acceptance or equivalent to a commitment because Vietnamese people say “Yes” while listening only to show their goodwill to listen and encourage their partners to continue presenting.

It can be said that Vietnamese businessmen are very risk-averse, so they are often hesitant when they have to make an important decision whose consequences they cannot foresee. Therefore, in order to make a concession, the Vietnamese side often has to spend a long time researching and discussing internally. The same is true in the direct negotiation process. When faced with a proposal, Vietnamese people often do not immediately refuse or accept it, but often postpone the decision until the next meeting. In Vietnamese terms, this is the " think today, speak tomorrow" style, which is still very popular in the Vietnamese business community. This often causes the direct negotiation process to be prolonged.

According to the survey results of the research team of the Foreign Trade University, a weakness of many Vietnamese negotiators today is that they often lose the initiative in negotiations. In response to the question "When you gain the initiative, which of the following ways will you choose to behave?" , 42.34% of respondents wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to exploit more information, 38.74% wanted to seize the opportunity to quickly end the problem, and 20% still wanted to be polite and give the decision-making power to the other party. This situation shows that Vietnamese businesses are not really decisive enough to turn the initiative into concessions that are beneficial to them from their partners. When asked " When you are in a passive position, which of the following ways will you choose to behave?" 85.59% of respondents answered that they would try to postpone, only 5.4% outrightly rejected the partner's opinion, and 9% agreed with the other side to reduce tension. The reason for choosing to postpone was mostly to discuss a better solution. This shows that Vietnamese negotiators have a more tactful and reasonable way of behaving. Especially when asked "In your opinion, a negotiation is considered

When asked if a negotiation is successful when only one company makes a profit or both parties achieve their goals, 100% of respondents answered “only when both parties achieve their goals” . This shows that Vietnamese negotiators have a very positive and modern view of international trade negotiations, in which the success of negotiations must be based on satisfying the minimum benefits for both buyers and sellers, or it must be a “win-win” negotiation, instead of the “win-lose” negotiation style as before.

Thus, through observing the results of the above survey, it can be seen that most Vietnamese traders use the principled negotiation strategy. Although the application of this strategy is not yet perfect, it is also a good sign because principled negotiation is a fairly modern negotiation strategy and is suitable for the current trend of international trade negotiations in the world.

2.2.3. Characteristics in the post-negotiation stage

A notable point in the international trade negotiations of Vietnamese enterprises at this stage is that most Vietnamese businessmen have a relatively flexible and supple view of international goods sales contracts. That is, during the contract implementation process, if one of the parties realizes that the market situation has changed a lot, making a certain clause in the contract no longer suitable, they can request the parties to renegotiate. In this point, Vietnamese people are quite similar to the Japanese. However, Vietnamese people are more afraid of risks than Japanese people. If Japanese people value keeping their word in business, and take reputation and mutual trust as the primary basis for strictly implementing the contract, then Vietnamese people also want to rely on the contract itself made on paper as the basis for strictly complying with commitments, in addition to the factors of reputation and trust that they also highly value. This is partly due to the provisions of Vietnamese law, according to which the 2005 Commercial Law as well as all other legal and sub-law documents regulating commercial activities stipulate that international sales contracts must be in writing, and oral contracts are not recognized.

Vietnamese people often prefer contracts that are short, clear, easy to understand, and in accordance with the law. They do not like contracts that are drafted in too much detail and specificity because it makes the content of the contract confusing, difficult to remember and difficult to understand. On the other hand, due to their gentle nature and dislike of confrontation, Vietnamese people are similar to the Japanese in that they always prioritize resolving disputes during the contract implementation process through negotiation between the parties, then conciliation, and only when the dispute is too serious, the partner does not have the goodwill to cooperate, will they bring the dispute to court or arbitration. However, in reality today, it is regrettable that many commercial disputes occur due to the Vietnamese party violating the contract. Currently, there is still a large number of Vietnamese enterprises that do business in a haphazard manner, do not strictly implement contracts, leading to damage to the reputation of the enterprise, in which violations such as delivering the wrong goods, delivering late, delivering mixed goods of poor quality, etc. occur quite commonly. This has a significant impact on the reputation of the enterprise, reduces the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the international market and hinders the success of negotiations for future deals.

2.2. Current status of direct negotiations between Vietnamese enterprises and Japanese partners

Since 1990, with the great efforts of the people of the two countries, the Vietnam-Japan economic relationship in general and the Vietnam-Japan economic and trade relationship in particular have gone through a very vibrant development period. The beginning of the prosperous development period of the Vietnam-Japan economic and trade relationship was the event in November 1992, when the Japanese government decided to provide official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam with a preferential credit in goods worth 45.5 billion Yen. Then, in October 1993, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) opened a representative office in Hanoi with the purpose of promoting Japan's trade and investment activities with Vietnam. Since its presence in Vietnam, JETRO has coordinated with associations, departments, and organizations of Vietnam and Japan to organize trade fairs, seminars, and investment conferences.

consultation, forums between Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises, as well as organizing market research trips to Japan for Vietnamese enterprises and market research trips to Vietnam for Japanese enterprises. Since 1990, Japan has become one of Vietnam's major trading partners alongside the US and Western Europe, and is also the number one direct investor in Vietnam and the leading ODA donor to Vietnam. In terms of import-export business activities, as of 2005, Japan remained stable in its position as Vietnam's number one market in the Asia region with a total two-way trade turnover reaching 8.5 billion USD in 2005, with exports to Japan accounting for 13.69% of Vietnam's total exports and imports from Japan accounting for 11.10% of Vietnam's total imports in 2005 (source: Ministry of Trade) . During the period from 1996 to 2005, two-way trade between the two countries had positive fluctuations, especially increasing strongly in the two most recent years, 2004 and 2005.

VIETNAM-JAPAN TRADE RELATIONS ( 1996-2005 period)

8503

7054

5890

4875

4940

4692

3184

3404

2806

2995

9000

8000

7000

6000

value (million USD)

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

year

Export Import Total turnover

Source: www.mot.gov.vn

www.gso.gov.vn

It can be seen that the Vietnam-Japan trade relationship in recent years has been complementary and suitable to the capabilities and comparative advantages of each country, not competitive. Vietnam has abundant and cheap human resources along with rich resources. We have export products that exploit these factors that Japan has high demand for, such as: crude oil, coal, seafood, garments, footwear, agricultural products, tea, coffee, wooden furniture, household plastics, electric wires, electric cables and mechanical products. In return, Japan provides modern machinery and equipment, invests in advanced technology that Vietnam is in great need of for the country's modernization process. Currently, Vietnam's main imported products from Japan are very diverse in types such as: pharmaceuticals, computer components, machinery and equipment, spare parts, textile raw materials, gasoline, coal, fertilizer, CKD_SKD_IKD motorbikes, etc.

Because the potential for developing Vietnam-Japan trade relations is still very large, trading activities, contacts, and finding partners between businesses of the two sides are still very active. Japanese import-export businesses pay great attention to the Vietnamese market as a potential market for supplying raw and semi-processed products, exploiting the country's comparative advantages, so they regularly organize many visits to survey the market, looking for partners and sources of high-quality goods. To facilitate trading activities of traders of the two countries, every year JETRO organizes Japanese industrial goods exhibitions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and Vietnamese industrial goods exhibitions in Tokyo. The regularly held fairs and exhibitions have contributed to further promoting contact, exchange and negotiation activities between businesses of the two countries as well as creating conditions for building business relationships between Vietnamese and Japanese businesses. As a result, over the past 10 years, more and more Vietnamese enterprises have participated in direct import and export activities with the Japanese market and the number of Vietnamese enterprises that have established good trading relationships and signed long-term and stable contracts with Japanese partners has also increased. Although the period of more than 10 years of developing bilateral trade relations between Vietnam and Japan is not long,

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