Introduction to Negotiation Strategy
At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Negotiation Strategy and other business case study solution. ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE... case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Bryony Jansen, Benoit Leleux. The ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE... (referred as “Ondademar Tribeca” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Leadership & Managing People. It also touches upon business topics such as - negotiation strategy, negotiation framework, Entrepreneurial finance, Mergers & acquisitions.
Negotiation strategy solution for case study ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE... ” provides a comprehensive framework to analyse all issues at hand and reach a unambiguous negotiated agreement. At Oak Spring University, we provide comprehensive negotiation strategies that have proven their worth both in the academic sphere and corporate world.
What’s my BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) – my walkaway option if the deal fails?
What are my most important interests, in ranked order?
What is the other side’s BATNA, and what are his interests?
In the Summer of 2006, Luc Gerard and his Tribeca team had spent months talking to A?lvaro Arango, the co-managing partner of Colombia-based swimwear company OndadeMar. Tribeca had targeted the brand as a possible company to acquire.Arango proved eager to talk from the start. Since its inception, OndadeMar had gained significant recognition due to a combination of luck and the consistently high-quality designs it delivered. The company had potential to grow much further and faster. However, fuelling this growth required investments that went way beyond the two founders' own means. They were ready to sell. Negotiations went on for most of the summer with a number of potential buyers and investors, until Tribeca was granted an exclusive. Throughout the period, Alvaro handled the talks on behalf of the company. Pily Queipo, the other managing partner and the company's chief designer, never intervened. That became all too obvious on the day of closing with Tribeca Partners: She simply did not show up and refused to sign the purchase agreement. Unaware of the internal conflicts, Luc Gerard scheduled a meeting with Pily Queipo in her design studio in Miami. The meeting proved memorable. She was very much the jet-setting diva-cum-artist Arango had described. But she was also clearly the heart and talent of the company. For hours she spoke passionately about her brand, her designs, her dreams and her passions. She was the brand. She could not care less about the business issues; she wanted to remain with OndadeMar. Sitting on the plane back to BogotA?, his mind still buzzing with all the new information, Luc started putting all the deal pieces together again. He had targeted OndadeMar as the first building block of Tribeca Fashion, one of three pillars of the new private equity fund he had just raised in Colombia. Was this the right wave to ride first? Learning objectives: Building and managing a brand globally in the fashion industry; High-end fashion retailing; Globalization of brands; Growth financing in a global context; Emerging countries globalization.
By interests, we do not mean the preconceived demands or positions that you or the other party may have, but rather the underlying needs, aims, fears, and concerns that shape what you want. Negotiation is more than getting what you want. It is not winning at all cost. Number of times Win-Win is better option that outright winning or getting what you want.
Options are the solutions you generate that could meet your and your counterpart’s interests . Often people come to negotiations with very fixed ideas and things they want to achieve. This strategy leaves unexplored options which might be even better than the one that one party wanted to achieve. So always try to provide as many options as possible during the negotiation process. The best outcome should be out of many options rather than few options.
When soft bargainers meet hard bargainers there is always the danger of soft bargainers ceding more than what is necessary. To avoid this scenario you should always focus on legitimate standards or expectations. Standards are often external and objective measures to assess the fairness such as rules and regulations, financial values & resources , market prices etc. If the negotiated agreement is going beyond the industry norms or established standards of fairness then it is prudent to get out of the negotiation.
Every negotiators going into the negotiations should always work out the “what if” scenario. The negotiating parties in the “ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE...” has three to four plausible scenarios. The negotiating protagonist needs to have clear idea of – what will happen if the negotiations fail. To put it in the negotiating literature – BATNA - Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. If the negotiated agreement is not better than BATNA then there is no point in accepting the negotiated solution.
One of the biggest problems in implementing the negotiated agreements in corporate world is – the ambiguity in the negotiated agreement. Sometimes the negotiated agreements are not realistic or various parties interpret the outcomes based on their understanding of the situation. It is critical to do negotiations as water tight as possible so that there is less scope for ambiguity.
Many negotiators make the mistake of focusing only on the substance of the negotiation (interests, options, standards, and so on). How you communicate about that substance, however, can make all the difference. The language you use and the way that you build understanding, jointly solve problems, and together determine the process of the negotiation with your counterpart make your negotiation more efficient, yield clear agreements that each party understands, and help you build better relationships.
Another critical factor in the success of your negotiation is how you manage your relationship with your counterpart. According to “Bryony Jansen, Benoit Leleux”, the protagonist may want to establish a new connection or repair a damaged one; in any case, you want to build a strong working relationship built on mutual respect, well-established trust, and a side-by-side problem- solving approach.
According to
Harvard Business Review
, there are three types of negotiators – Hard Bargainers, Soft Bargainers, and Principled Bargainers.
Hard Bargainers – These people see negotiations as an activity that they need to win. They are less focused less on the real objectives of the negotiations but more on winning. In the “ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE... ”, do you think a hard bargaining strategy will deliver desired results? Hard bargainers are easy to negotiate with as they often have a very
predictable strategy
Soft Bargainers – These people are focused on relationship rather than hard outcomes of the negotiations. It doesn’t mean they are pushovers. These negotiators often scribe to long term relationship rather than immediate bargain.
Principled Bargainers – As explained in the seven elemental tools of negotiations above, these negotiators are more concern about the standards and norms of fairness. They often have inclusive approach to negotiations and like to work on numerous solutions that can improve the BATNA of both parties.
Open lines of communication between parties in the case study “ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE...” can make for an effective negotiation strategy and will make it easier to negotiate with this party the next time as well.
Bryony Jansen, Benoit Leleux (2018), "ONDADEMAR: CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE... Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.
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