Introduction to Negotiation Strategy
At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Negotiation Strategy and other business case study solution. Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu Jeffrey Hu, Mohammad S. Rahman. The Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing (referred as “Retailing Omnichannel” 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, .
Negotiation strategy solution for case study Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing ” 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?
Erik Brynjolfsson (MIT Sloan School of Management), Yu Hu (Georgia Institute of Technology), and Mohammad S. Rahman (University of Calgary)This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Recent technology advances in mobile computing and augmented reality are blurring the boundaries between traditional and Internet retailing, enabling retailers to interact with consumers through multiple touch points and expose them to a rich blend of offline sensory information and online content. In the past, brick-and-mortar retail stores were unique in allowing consumers to touch and feel merchandise and provide instant gratification; Internet retailers, meantime, tried to woo shoppers with wide product selection, low prices and content such as product reviews and ratings. But as the retailing industry evolves toward a seamless "omnichannel retailing"experience, the distinctions between physical and online will vanish, the authors suggest, turning the world into a showroom without walls. This will push retailers and their supply-chain partners in other industries to rethink their competitive strategies The growing prevalence of location-based applications on mobile devices is a critical enabler. Mobile technology is well on its way to changing consumer behavior and expectations, the authors argue. By giving consumers more accurate information about product availability in local stores, retailers can draw people into stores who might otherwise have only looked for products online. The enhanced search capability is especially helpful with niche products, which are not always available in local stores. The availability of product price and availability information, the ability of consumers to shop online and pick up products in local stores, and the aggregation of offline information and online content have combined to make the retailing landscape increasingly competitive. Retailers used to rely on barriers such as geography and customer ignorance to advance their positions in traditional markets. However, technology is removing these barriers. The authors point to several possible success strategies for companies operating in the new competitive environment, including providing attractive pricing and curated product-related content; harnessing the power of data and analytics; avoiding direct price comparisons; learning to sell niche products; establishing switching costs; and embracing competition. In an omnichannel world, the authors say, there is a premium on learning rapidly from consumers and catering to their needs.
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 “Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing” 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 “Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu Jeffrey Hu, Mohammad S. Rahman”, 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 “Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing ”, 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 “Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing” can make for an effective negotiation strategy and will make it easier to negotiate with this party the next time as well.
Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu Jeffrey Hu, Mohammad S. Rahman (2018), "Competing in the Age of Omnichannel Retailing Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.
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