Here are some tips and examples from two famous books which help you get the best position in the negotiation process of international transactions.

1. "Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands" - Author: Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway and Dr. George A. Borden
"Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands" is a useful book for those who want to master the norms in international business or society and negotiating techniques. Although the texts below are stories being a little bit outdated, compared to the operation of current businesses, they are still somewhat true – with a little humorous - even to this era.

Thom McAn - a company sells shoes - designed a signature associated with its brand name "Thom McAn " which was printed inside the shoes and was difficult for customers to realize. However, when the company started to sell this product in Bangladesh, a riot happened with more than fifty injured people. The main reason was that the signature of Thom McAn looked like the word "Allah" ("God") in Arabic. The Muslim felt indignant and believed that Thom McAn was trying to usurp Bangladesh, defiled the name of the Holy Spirit by leaving people step up on this word. It was an insult in any culture, especially in Bangladesh where feet are considered be dirty.

Ford Motor Company failed in the marketing campaign for new product line “Ford Pinto” in Brazil. Initially, Ford did not realize that "Pinto" was a slang term in Portuguese for "small penis". However, a few Brazilian people was still willing to buy a Pinto, which is not surprising; but after that, Ford changed the name of this car into Corcel, meaning "horse" in Portuguese.

2. "Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success" - Author: Dr David Livermore.
As he emphasizes in his book, although foreign trade is becoming more dynamic and open, business leaders are still in lack of a key element for success on the global market: cultural acknowledgement.

In an interview with David Livermore, he was asked a number of questions related to his work in understanding of different cultures. Here is a question and his typical answer.

- "You mentioned to the change in perception of most people about the United States in your new publication. Could you share some information about that change?

- Many years ago, people had the notion that a leader of Americans could be welcomed in anywhere throughout the world and could use the full range of services and products at which they arrived. Nevertheless, recently, there has been a change in Americans’ point of view and that's what we study. We must change its role from a superpower country to a global broker. If having more open-mindedness, cooperation and even compromise, we can regain the reputation that is a nation being well known for innovation as well as for a place where people from any country or from any the culture background can converge and work together "

I think that both of valuable books will give you a new set of skills including knowledge and cultural understanding to handle intercultural business communication situations with confidence and ingenuity, which helps the complex issues become easier than ever.