Business Negotiations

Effective business negotiation is a core leadership and management skill. This is the ability to negotiate effectively in a wide range of business contexts, including dealmaking, employment discussions, corporate team building, labor/management talks, contracts, handling disputes, employee compensation, business acquisitions, vendor pricing and sales, real estate leases, and the fulfillment of contract obligations. Business negotiation is critical to be creative in any negotiation in a business setting. Business negotiation strategies include breaking the problem into smaller parts, considering unusual deal terms, and having your side brainstorm new ideas.

Leveraging the contrast effect is also a powerful tool in negotiations. You might ask for more than you realistically expect, accept rejection, and then shade your offer downward. Your counterpart is likely to find a reasonable offer even more appealing after rejecting an offer that’s out of the question. Additionally, offering several equivalent offers that aim higher than your counterpart is likely to accept will elicit reactions that can help you frame a subsequent set that, thanks in part to the contrast effect, are more likely to hit the mark.

Building a team is critical to negotiations in business. To prevent conflicts among diverse, strong-minded team members from overshadowing group goals, negotiation teams should spend at least twice as much time preparing for upcoming talks as they expect to spend at the table. Because the other side will be ready and willing to exploit any chinks in your team’s armor, it’s important to hash out your differences in advance.

Other business negotiation tips include curbing overconfidence, creating value in the negotiation, establishing a powerful BATNA, effective use of emotions at the bargaining table, caucusing, delineating your zone of possible agreement, and other skills geared toward an integrative bargaining outcome rather than a distributive, or haggling, bargaining outcome.

In addition, considering the ethical and legal repercussions of a deal to insure that it is a true win-win is the hallmark of every experienced business negotiator.

Articles include many business negotiation examples, and explore concepts such as creative dealmaking, renegotiating unfavorable deals, seeking advice from a negotiation opponent, identifying a solid BATNA and crafting draft agreements.

See full description

Negotiation research you can use: In job interviews, is it better to be excited or calm?

PON Staff   •  09/30/2018   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

When interviewing for a job, you might wonder whether you’ll be viewed more favorably if you appear excited and enthusiastic or if you seem calm and collected. There’s certainly an argument to be made for either choice: Excitement could suggest you’d be highly motivated and a pleasure to work with, while calmness might convey you’d be … Learn More About This Program

Most Startups Fail. But Yours Doesn’t Have To.

PON Staff   •  09/24/2018   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

business negotiations

We recently interviewed Samuel Dinnar—instructor at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, global entrepreneur, and strategic negotiation advisor—about his new book, Entrepreneurial Negotiation: Understanding and Managing the Relationships that Determine Your Entrepreneurial Success. In this insightful book, Dinnar and Susskind delve into the reasons why entrepreneurs fumble key negotiations—and what they can do … Read Most Startups Fail. But Yours Doesn’t Have To.

Successes & Messes: A new MLB player keeps his eye on the ball

PON Staff   •  01/31/2018   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

NB-feb-2018-featured-3

It’s been 100 years since Major League Baseball (MLB) had a superstar at both hitting and pitching in its ranks—namely, Babe Ruth. With teams rewarding specialists, players rarely have the talent, drive, and freedom to successfully multitask as so-called two-way players.

That’s why excitement was so high this winter when 23-year-old Japanese hitting and pitching phenomenon … Learn More About This Program

Negotiation research you can use: When being yourself gets you the job

PON Staff   •  12/31/2017   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

“Just be yourself”: It’s probably the most common advice given to job interviewees. But research suggests most people don’t follow the old cliché: in a study by Julia Levashina and Michael A. Campion, at least 65% of job candidates actively misrepresented themselves, and at least 87% concealed aspects of themselves to create what they felt … Learn More About This Program

Business Negotiations: Matching Rights – The Fundamentals

Guhan Subramanian   •  12/11/2017   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

business negotiations

When the mergers-and-acquisitions boom began in 1993, many deals simply required the seller to let the buyer know if a “superior proposal” came along. By the late 1990s, buyers were demanding – and receiving – more than this: an exclusive negotiating period of several days, during which they could decide to match or improve upon … Learn More About This Program

How Short-Term Focus Contributes to Future Disasters in Business Negotiations

PON Staff   •  06/08/2017   •  Filed in Business Negotiations

How Short-Term Focus Contributes to Future Disasters in Business Negotiations

Negotiators tend to concentrate too closely on the here and now. By incorporating future concerns into your talks, you’ll make sounder decisions and guard against crises.

In the midst of the current U.S.financial crisis, accusations of greed on Wall Street have sounded across the globe. Greed may be a significant factor in the collapse of credit … Learn More About This Program

Would you like us to inform you when new posts become available?

We hate spam as much as you do. You have our promise not to sell or share your email address — ever! Please read our privacy policy.