国际商务谈判

International Business Negotiation

Chapter 1

 

   A negotiation is a meeting or a series of meetings in which the parties need each other’s agreement to reach a specific objective.

 

The fundamental principles of negotiation

1. Negotiation is an element of human behavior.

2. Negotiation takes place only over issues that are negotiable.

3. Negotiation takes place only between people who have the same interest.

4. Negotiation takes place only when negotiators are interested not only in taking but also in giving.

5. Negotiation takes place only when negotiating parties trust each other to some extent.

 

 

Chapter 1 Negotiation motives and key terminology  谈判动机与关键词语

Negotiation谈判

Conflicts冲突

Stakes利益

Case study: Matsushita Electric Corporation 松下电器公司

 

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NEGOTIATION谈判

 

    A successful negotiation must satisfy at least the following conditions:

 

1. The outcome of negotiation is a result of mutual giving and taking. One sided concession or compromise can not be called a successful negotiation.

 

2. Negotiations happen due to the existence of conflicts, however, no negotiations can proceed smoothly and come to a satisfactory solution without collaboration between the participants.

 

3. Negotiation is a behavioral process, not a game; in a good negotiation, everybody wins something. Success isn’t winning everything; it’s winning enough.

 

 

CONFLICTS冲突

The definition of conflicts states three points:

1. Parties in conflicts are interdependent, which means there remains a kind of relationship developed by interrelated interests and concerns. There would be no conflict if two parties were not interrelated and had nothing to do with each other.

 

2. Contradictions and interests coexist. If    there are only contradictions and no sharing of common interests, negotiations become groundless and unnecessary.

3. Two parties in a conflict will naturally fight for each other’s own interests and make every effort to gain more from the other side, as a result it will reduce gain of interests expected initially.

 

STAKES利益

   Stakes are the value of benefits that may be gained or lost, and costs that may be incurred or avoided. Four points need to be clarified:

1. Negotiation parties will either gain the interests they expect to win from the negotiation or lose what they hope to attain, which indicates that the talks are pertinent to relevant parties’ own affairs and interests. Only when a party has stakes connected with the issues to be talked, can it become actively engaged in the negotiation.

 

2. Free lunch is not provided at the negotiation table, in another word, to get what is desired, both parties have to pay for the gaining at either high cost or low cost depending on how well negotiators manage the situation.

 

3. The negotiators will have to decide how much of stakes can be gained and whether a particular gain is the one that a party desires for. They will also have to decide how much they may gain if they choose option A instead of option B.

 

4. Negotiators will have to compare and balance the relation between the current interests and long term interests or underlying desires in order to make decision on satisfying long term interests at the cost of current interests.

 

Effective negotiating (VCD)

成功谈判

 

Who’s who in Effective Negotiation

  

The companies

   Levien SA , based in Brussels, Belgium.

   It is an international company which manufactures specialist paints and dyes.

   In its head office it has a small IT function which the company has decided to outsource.

 

   Okus IT, based in Swindon, in the South of England.

   They specialize in managing IT projects and taking over the IT departments of their client companies.

The negotiation

 

   Okus have sent a detailed written proposal to Levien.

   The meeting has been arranged to negotiate the terms of any agreement.

   In particular the following two issues are likely to be sticking points:

 

1. Staffing

Levien would like to protect the jobs of their current IT team.

They want Okus to employ the four members of the team, and are under pressure from the unions to make sure outsourcing contracts like this do not lead to redundancies.

  

Okus, on the other hand, will not want to take on Levien’s whole team.

They already have project engineers based in Swindon.

 

2. Pricing

Okus have proposed two levels of IT support:

Level A

   A fixed monthly price which will cover all support work (daily maintenance and customer support) and specified project work (hardware and software upgrades, training. Etc.)

Level B

   A lower monthly invoice based on just support work. Any additional project work will be logged and then added to the invoice the following month.

 

1.      Preparing the ground

 

The people

  Andrew Carter is Export Sales Manager for Okus IT. He has made the initial contact with Levien. He has met one of the Levien team, Sean, before.

 

   Karen Black is a Project Manager at Okus IT. She has prepared the specifications for this contract. This is the first time she has been involved in negotiating an overseas outsourcing contract. She is anxious about the meeting.

 

   Francoise Quantin is the current IT Manger at Levien. She is about to be promoted to Head of Logistics. She is keen that her IT team are protected.

 

   Sean Morrissey is from Levien’s main subsidiary in Chicago. He has been sent to the Brussels Office to develop Levien’s procurement policy.

The negotiation

 

   As the VCD begins, Andrew and Karen have arrived at Levien’s offices and are waiting to meet Francoise and Sean.

 

Script 1

   Karen Black and Andre Carter fail to communicate before they meet the Levin team.

   A =Andrew     K  =Karen    F  =Franςoise   S  =Sean

 

A:  You sure you don’t want one, Karen?

K:  Not for me.

A:  Of course, I don’t know Francoise at all, but you’ve got to ____ with Sean. I told you about negotiating with him in Dallas two years ago, didn’t I?

K:  I’m sure you did, Andrew. Can we just focus on the final package? We mustn’t ____. They’re going to ____, but we ____.

A:  That’s right. Sean was Head of Procurement at TEC in Atlanta.

K:  What we must keep in mind is ____ if they push us on staff cuts.

A:  Oh, we don’t need to worry about that, Karen. We’ll just ____. Sean, how are you?

S:  Good to see you again, Andrew. Atlanta, wasn’t it?

A:  Dallas, actually.

S:  Right, three years ago.

A:  Two.

S:  Yeah, sure. You two know each other, right?

F:  You must be Karen Black. I’m Francoise Quantin. Welcome to Lebvien.

K:  We’ve spoken on the phone, haven’t we? This is Andrew Carter, our ____.

A:  Sorry, I thought you two already knew each other.

S:  Well, ____. Can we…? 

F:   Before we start, would you like a coffee?

K:   That would be nice.

F:   Milk?

K:   Yes, please.

 

 

Script 2

   Karen Black and Andre Carter are better prepared for their meeting with the Levin team. 

 

A: There you go.

K: thanks.

A: So, we’ll wait for them to respond to our proposal.

K: Yes, we know that the staff cuts and the price are ____, but we’d better ____.

A: And you’d still like me to do the presentation?

K: That’s what we head-hunted you for, Andrew.

A: And you’ll watch for their reactions and …

K: And deal with any questions. Yes.

A: Be careful with Sean, Karen. He drives a hard bargain.

K: I’m sure I can handle him. We’re in for a long day, aren’t we?

A: Well, you did pack a toothbrush, didn’t you?

F: Sorry to have kept you waiting. You must be Karen Black. I’m Francoise Quantin and this is Sean Morrissey.

S: Good to meet you, Karen. Francoise, this is my old sparring partner, Andrew Carter.

F: Nice to meet you, Andrew. How was your flight?

K: Excellent. Less than an hour.

A: Hardly time for the breakfast____.

F: What about a coffee then, before we start?

S: Yeah, you can ____.

F: There’s no need to hurry. Karen.

S: Andrew, you’ll have another one?

A: Please. Milk, three sugars.

F: Sit down, please.

A: Are you ____, Sean?

S: Yeah, I’m missing the kids and my wife. Andre and I ____in Dallas two years ago.

A: Yes, ____---thirty-six hours, wasn’t it?

S: Andrew, if a job’s worth doing, _____.

F: Perhaps we had better start now.