The Potash Corporation recently received an unsolicited $38.6 billion offer from BHP Billiton. When made, BHP’s bid was 16% higher than Potash’s market capitalization. The Potash board rejected the bid and announced it was seeking additional bids. ...
As the NFL preseason comes to a close, a number of high-profile players are still holding out, some claiming a willingness to skip the season if they don’t get what they want. Why would a player hold out? To strengthen their leverage. The player wants to emphasize...
Hewlett-Packard recently purchased 3Par, a computer storage system company, for $33 per share ($2.3 billion). Dell had engaged in an 18-day bidding war with H.P. but in the end decided not to counter H.P.’s winning offer. What can we learn from this? Evaluating your...
The NFL Players Association provides us with a great example of a party taking concrete steps to limit the attractiveness of one of its counterpart’s alternatives, or Plan Bs. When done right, doing so will strengthen your leverage and improve your results. Here, the...
In August 2000, former White House OMB Director Jack Lew told me “(t)he most critical thing in a negotiation is to get inside your opponent’s head and figure out what he really wants.” In a talk today assessing the Vietnam war, former Secretary of State Henry...
In 1938, psychologist Gregory Razran found that his subjects developed a more favorable view of the people and things they experienced while they were eating – a result Razran coined as the “luncheon technique.” So the next time you have an important negotiation,...
Most of us have a strong desire to appear consistent. Consistency is valued in our society and is associated with other positive traits like honesty, stability and intelligence. Similarly, most of us will go to great lengths to fulfill our commitments....
Here is an example of counterparts in a negotiation beginning the “standards dance” – when the parties identify the most favorable independent standards justifying their position and then negotiate over which is the most fair and reasonable. Community Health Systems...
Derek Jeter recently signed a three-year contract worth up to $65 million to continue playing baseball for the New York Yankees. At the official announcement, Jeter expressed anger that the Yankees had asked him to “go shop” himself to other teams even though Jeter...
