Negotiating Partnerships: Increase profits and reduce risks

How the combative negotiator chooses his strategy

There are many negotiators with different ideas about how to structure a negotiation. To them combat is a matter of course; they take a different view of the value of solutions with two winners, and of ethics and morality.

In such negotiations you shouldn’t let yourself be hampered by your principles. You have to play the game. This is why it’s important that as a negotiator you’re familiar with the methods that you yourself consider fair as well as those that you view as unfair.

You shouldn’t embark on a negotiation with the kind of tactical gambits that you consider to be morally reprehensible. But if the other party does, you must know how his tactics work, what he hopes to achieve, and how ...