Parantara: The Javanese Way of Managing Business Relationships in Indonesia

 This paper investigates the influence of indigenous Indonesian management behaviours during international business negotiations in an Indonesian context, and the impact of these behaviours upon multinational corporations (MNC) in Indonesia.  Through an inductive analysis of interviews with 55 Indonesian and nonIndonesian managers, this paper applies a postcolonial theoretical lens to identify indigenous Indonesian management behaviours, and to determine their influence upon MNCs in the Indonesian context.  Two key findings emerge of the indigenous Indonesian management behaviours; the importance of the Parantara as a „third party agent‟ that operates as a backchannel conduit for communication between parties, and the unique relationship building process in Indonesia, which moves from a task orientation to relationship building orientation.  The findings demonstrate that MNC negotiations in Indonesia are influenced by the Javanese cultural protocols embedded in the indigenous Indonesian management behaviours. Subsequently, these culturally embedded behaviours may determine the success or failure of MNC negotiations in Indonesia.