Business Negotiations

The death of George Floyd beneath the knee of a White Minneapolis police officer provoked many Americans to protest police brutality and racial injustice for the first time. Floyd’s killing has also prompted U.S. organizations, most of which are led by Whites, to reckon with the fact that they have failed to create workplaces where … Learn More About This Program

One of the biggest negotiation stories of the Covid-19 era is how many deals are collapsing. As we described in last month’s issue, lots of agreements that made perfect sense just a few months ago have become inadvisable or impossible to carry out. Here’s how one troubled acquisition unfolded recently.
A change in fortune
Corporate buyout firm Sycamore … Read Negotiation In The News: Dissolution of a Deal

In the best of times, negotiators thrive by striking a careful balance between cooperation and competition. Collaborating with our counterparts to create new sources of value, and then trying to claim a fair share of that value for our side, is typically a recipe for success.

In the worst of times, working with other parties to create … Read In Times of Crisis, Collaboration Must Come First

The COVID-19 pandemic has left many of us negotiating circumstances we never envisioned just months ago, from health crises to lost jobs to plummeting sales. Businesses of all sizes, in particular, are faced with the difficult task of contract renegotiation as a result of parties’ inability to meet current deal terms.

Unfortunately, contract renegotiation is much … Read Contract Renegotiation in a Time of Crisis

With face-to-face negotiations currently hazardous to our health, businesspeople across the world have switched to Zoom meetings, Skype calls, Google Hangouts, and other forms of videoconferencing. In addition to enabling social distancing, videoconferencing seems at first glance to have all the advantages of in-person meetings. It eliminates the costs of meeting face to face, including … Read Videoconferencing in Business Negotiation

Exercises designed to build trust and rapport are often touted as the key to business team building and improved business skills. Such exercises—from falling backwards into the arms of teammates to competing in scavenger hunts—can be effective at onboarding new employees, overcoming cultural barriers, and strengthening existing teams.

But not all business team building efforts need … Learn More About This Program

When your negotiating leverage seems to be nonexistent, you may need to enlist the help of an influential advocate. The owner of a venerable New York bar came to that realization just in the nick of time.
More than just a watering hole
Neir’s Tavern, which opened in the Woodhaven neighborhood of Queens in 1829, may be … Learn More About This Program

It happens to the best of us: A critical negotiation comes to an impasse, and you’re crushed. Maybe your efforts to find a buyer for your business have been fruitless, your job contract is being terminated, or you’ve sat by helplessly as others negotiated decisions that could affect your health or well-being. Whatever the desperate situation may be, … Read Negotiating beyond the finish line

In the 1990s, U.S. drug manufacturers unwittingly set a national crisis in motion when they began marketing new and highly addictive prescription opioid medications for the treatment of pain. Between 1999 and 2017, about 400,000 Americans died from a drug overdose involving an opioid, including both prescription and illegal drugs. By 2015, the opioid crisis … Learn More About This Program

Sometimes your goal in negotiation is to improve your fortunes. But sometimes, as in this famous negotiation case, the best you can hope for is to lessen the fallout from past mistakes. … Learn More About This Program