Unlocking International Joint Ventures

CHAPTER EIGHTNEGOTIATION TEAM: HOW TO ASSEMBLE A WINNING TEAM AND SELECT THE RIGHT LEAD NEGOTIATOR

‘We have found that when we disseminate broad documents like this to teams, while it may have some interdisciplinary value, it has a larger tendency to cause people to get outside of their swim lanes instead of focusing on their particular area.’

– actual client email

Negotiation teams from the same company are typically not cohesive units focused on completing the joint venture.

If you have managed to find the right partner who is willing to negotiate with you (which means you have identified a compelling proposition for both partners) and are now assembling your own negotiation team, you have done better than most! Unfortunately, the next step – assembling the winning team inside your organization – is fraught. Within your own organization, getting the right people (as sponsors and on the negotiation team), aligning on the processes to be followed, including communication (which Section 1 provided) and building internal trust are not easy tasks. There is also the question of who should lead this motley crew, too.

In reality, each member represents the view from the part of the organization from whence they came (i.e. Finance, Sales, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, etc.). If an element of an emerging deal is not looking good, such as creating a large tax liability or presents a manufacturing challenge, then the team member will typically raise the issue outside of the deal team ...