Business Negotiations in Hungary

When entering a negotiation, keep in mind that Hungarians like to disagree for the sake of discussion and new ideas. Hungarians do not hesitate to interrupt, argue and criticize if they feel it is needed. An argument, even a heated one, is usually considered a constructive thing that brings about conversation and 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.

You will often experience verbal indirectness and polite evasions during communication with your business partners. Hungarians prefer to avoid rude words such as ‘no’. 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 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.

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.

As in many other cultures, 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, they 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 they like to map things out and therefore need to be well aware of the context in which they find themselves.

North 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 intellectual 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.

Hungarian business culture, bargaining, bidding, communication, communication patterns, conversation, high-context communication, negotiating