Negotiating Business & Decision-making Process in Hungary

Americans tend to concentrate earlier in a conversation on the "bottom line"
details of how to reduce costs and increase profits from the deal under
negotiation. Americans can find the more analytical approach of the Hungarians
unsettling. Increasing profits and market share is also important to Hungarians
but the "bottom line" approach will never gain the popularity in Hungary the same
way it does in US corporate settings. To be so straightforwardly concerned about
money and profits would be considered rude in Hungary. Intellectual wit (even
cleverness) is usually in high regard.

When entering a negotiation, keep in mind that Hungarians like to disagree for the
sake of discussion and new ideas. We do not hesitate to interrupt, argue and
criticize if we feel it is needed. An argument, even a heated one, is usually
considered a constructive thing that brings about conversation and inspires ideas.
Also, there is a strong likelihood that your Hungarian counterparts won't be in a
hurry to close the deal.

The high-context, less direct and subtle features of Hungarian communication
patterns accord with the way information is distributed or granted. Often it is
considered a power tool and is therefore sought out by people. In this respect,
take into accounts the importance of personal relationship networks which may
allow people to learn and achieve much more than what is theoretically possible.

Decision-making Process

In general, the Hungarian decision-making process is much longer than in the
US, with a greater need for information in this risk-averse culture.

We Hungarians need to explore every avenue intellectually and practically before
we can fill in the gaps. We try to gather as much information as possible before
taking an important decision. Compared to US practices, the process is much
more comprehensive and not so sequential.

While trying to solve a problem, Americans tend to look immediately for solutions,
while the Hungarian tries first to understand the causes of the problem. Only when
we feel sure we understand why and how the problem occurred do we feel
prepared to solve it.

You will often experience verbal indirectness
and polite evasions. Hungarians prefer to avoid
rude words such as 'no'.

Hungarian verbal indirectness is part of what U.
S. anthropologist Edward T. Hall calls 'high-
context' communication. Low-context people
tend to speak directly, frankly, even bluntly. The
meaning of what they are saying can be found
mostly in the words they are using.

In contrast, high-context people, like the majority
of Hungarians, prefer to use vague, indirect
language, where much of the meaning is found
in the context surrounding the words. High-
context Arab, Japanese or Chinese negotiators
phrase things indirectly in order not to offend
people, couching negative responses in vague,
roundabout language for the sake of being
polite or avoid direct confrontation.

Most Hungarian negotiators lean towards
indirectness - sometimes confusing their
counterparts from the low-context cultures of
northern Europe and North America.

Bargaining is not a typical behavior in Hungary,
but wise negotiators keep a few bargaining
chips in reserve until the endgame. Your
opening bid should be realistic but at the same
time should include room for maneuver.

The negotiating process usually takes longer
when dealing with the government, than when
doing business with the private sector.

Hungarians usually begin a business
negotiation with a series of general
considerations and statements before getting
down to the details. For example, we might want
discuss the general business climate,
economic trends, market conditions, competing
companies and their turnovers before
discussing the financial details of the sale or
profits to be made from the proposal.

The abundance of background information is
important to Hungarians, because we like to
map things out and therefore need to be well
aware of the context in which we find ourselves.

More on Negotiating & Business Culture in Hungary >>>

business negotiating techniques, verbal directness, communication techniques, negotiators, high-context communication, low-context
communication, bargaining, bidding, business climate, economic trends, market conditions, competing, turnover, profits, reduce costs
and increase profits, high-context culture, low-context culture, decision-making process, power tools, business solutions

Negotiating Business
in a moderately high-context culture