The Solid Building Blocks of an International Agreement

 Western business people are often in too much of a hurry, and rush into making a deal. In international partnerships, we should spend more time thinking about how 'haste makes waste' rather than succumbing to the belief that 'time is money'. We've all seen psycho-thrillers and what happens when two strangers jump into bed before getting to know each other. Usually, it doesn't end very well, and after watching the carnage unfold on the screen, you swear you'll never do that again.

Any solid relationship should begin with a period of introduction, or courtship. It's the same when we enter into the initial stages of a global negotiation venture with a prospective foreign nation business partner. We need to know something about their culture, and the company's background, structure and goals. Likewise, they will want to know the same about us. If we don't have the expertise to investigate a prospective partner, it might be wise to spend a little cash to hire an experienced consultant or professional third party to carry out some snooping and to initiate introductions. The phrase 'look before you leap' has survived the test of time for a very good reason.

The time and money spent before the negotiation courtship even begins is well spent. We need to prepare the groundwork to lessen the possibility of unnecessary expenses being incurred later on. Remember, when the fat hits the fire, you'll have to invest a lot more time and money in putting it out.

Here are 6 tips to enhance our pre-negotiation time effectively, and to help us think ahead about what will transpire during the negotiation and what might happen after the contract is signed.

1) The negotiation never really ends

Never stop conversing, even after the contract is signed. There are very few seers who can accurately predict the future while gazing into their crystal ball. Nothing remains static in this big wide-open world of ours, as everything is constantly in a state of change. Prices rise and fall, and governments with different ideologies come and go on an almost weekly basis, like a game of global dominoes. Let's not even try to guess what the weather is going to do tomorrow.

If we're naive enough to think we can toss the contract into the filing cabinet, put our feet up and allow ourselves a nice little snooze, think again! Put the coffee back on and stay vigilant. Be prepared to renegotiate on a whole host of potential problems. Most of them will be small, annoying problems that will spring up here and there along the way throughout the life of the partnership. Don't ignore them. Deal with them immediately, or risk the dire consequences of putting the negotiated relationship on rocky footing.

Because there is so much instability and uncertainty out there, it would be prudent to make certain that one of the key clauses in the contract specifically ensures that both parties revisit it periodically. By controlling the process in the early stages, we can prevent our arrangement from spinning wildly out of control later on. Keep the dialogue rolling and prevent needless problems from festering due to lack of attention.