Business Negotiations

Adapted from “Onlooker Alert!” First published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Unless your official title is “lawyer” or “agent,” you probably don’t think of yourself as an agent. But if you’ve ever represented a family member, your boss, your department, or your organization in a negotiation, you’ve served as that party’s agent.

Representing others at the bargaining table … Read Who’s Looking Over Your Shoulder?

Adapted from “Dealing with Backstage Negotiators,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Negotiated agreements sometimes go off the rails in the final hour because one side caves in to a constituent’s wishes despite having the authority to make a commitment. Because people tend to approach negotiations with an “us versus them” mentality, they may succumb to … Read Dealing With Constituents

First published in the Negotiation newsletter.

In recent years, a number of new Web-based systems have changed the very structure of negotiation as we know it. One of most famous of these is Priceline.com, which allows consumers to make bids for rental cars, hotel rooms, and air travel-bids that the car-rental firms, hotels, and airlines can … Read Letting Them Down Easy

Guhan Subramanian, Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business, Harvard Law School; Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law, Harvard Business School; Author of Negotiauctions

When you have something to sell, should you hold an auction or negotiate a collaborative deal that delivers maximum value to both sides? In this article, professor Guhan Subramanian compares the risks … Read Negotiation? Auction? A Deal Maker’s Guide

PON Executive Committee member and author of the book Negotiauctions was featured in the New York Times DealBook discussing the effectiveness of go-shop provisions in contracts. To read the full article, click here.

Professor Subramanian found that “despite the conventional wisdom, go-shops were generally effective and did indeed result in subsequent bids. The one exception … Learn More About This Program

PON Chair Robert Mnookin was interviewed by the NYTimes Dealbook about the recent deal made allowing iTunes to sell music by the Beatles.

“Professor Mnookin noted that he often tells his students, ‘Before you go into any negotiation, any party should ask, what are my interests, what do I care about, and what are my alternatives … Learn More About This Program

Max Bazerman (Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; author of Judgment in Managerial Decision Making; co-author of Negotiation Genius and Predictable Surprises)

Setting goals has become an embedded practice in management, but does it truly produce beneficial results? In this provocative article by Max Bazerman, he and his collaborators from top business … Read When Goal Setting Goes Bad

Adapted from “Make the Most of E-mail Negotiations,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

At a recent social gathering of professionals, the topic of negotiating via e-mail came up. “My work team is constantly shooting e-mails back and forth,” said Sarita. “But since I’m driving and meeting with clients most of the time, I can’t respond … Read Adding Value to E-mail Negotiations

Adapted from “How to Do More with Less,” by Lawrence Susskind (professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

Times are tough, and managers need to find a way to squeeze more out of every contract negotiation. How can you improve how your organization negotiates?

Though we tend to think of negotiation as an … Read Help Your Organization Do More with Less