Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on strategic negotiations.
Negotiating a good partnership requires the right balance of determination and compromise. You lay out your opening position and try to get as much as you can out of the deal. But you have to accept that you can’t get everything you want. You need to find common ground and reach a satisfying agreement. And that takes skill.
But like all skills, negotiation is something you can learn. And today we’ll look at several techniques for reaching agreement, including easing off an aggressive position, proposing an exchange, and making a counterproposal. We’ll also cover how to propose a compromise and summarize areas of agreement.
In the dialog, you’ll hear Mike and Lisa negotiating a strategic partnership. Mike represents a US auto parts company called Sigma, while Lisa is leading the negotiation for NVP, a Japanese distributor. Together, they’re trying to work out a deal for NVP to distribute Sigma’s products in Asia.
Listening Questions
1. What does Lisa initially propose as an exchange?
2. What does Mike propose to offset the costs of buying out their Chinese partner?
3. What is the final compromise on staffing for the deal?
Download: Podcast MP3
