A behavioral perspective on negotiating international alliances

This study examines the influence tactics of senior U.S. executives in nego tiating international business alliances. The strategy literature on allian ces and the behavioral literature on negotiations were incorporated into a behavioral model of alliance negotiations. Constructs identified from trans action cost, power dependence and game theories were integrated and linked to hypotheses describing negotiators' influence tactics in alliance negotia tions. In examining eighty-three alliance negotiations, negotiator trust, p erception of a partner firm's alternatives, conflict frame, time,horizon, a nd cultural distance were found to affect negotiators' tactics.