Negotiating Partnerships: Increase profits and reduce risks

4. Why co-operation provides better solutions

An arrangement which is exclusively based on one party’s victory over the other is barbaric and can never be humanized. It can only be maintained as long as the part who has the upper hand can force the opponent into submission. Sooner or later it will collapse. The alternative is co-operation and partnership. But the person who does not understand the theoretical reasoning behind the idea of partnership and added value, is not motivated to be open and run the risks inherent in a more open negotiation climate. In order to dare to co-operate, we must have accepted the theories.

The notion that two parties can increase their wealth by means of a rational division of labour is not in any way new. The ...