
GETTING READY TO NEGOTIATE WITH A GOVERNMENT 51
tions, agents themselves often play a key role as advisors to their
principals.
1
One of the reasons why principals use agents in a ne-
gotiation is because of the agent’s expertise, and that expertise can
allow negotiators to guide the formulation of their authority and
instructions. For example, in trying to determine a maximum
amount to be obtained from a negotiation, a principal may ask an
agent’s advice: ‘‘How much do you think we can get?’’ In other
cases, when a principal’s stated demands are extreme, an agent
may have to deflate them by referring to the prevailing standards
in a specific area of business ...