Negotiation Assessments

OAC supports negotiating teams involved in major business transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing agreements and strategic alliances.  We conduct an overall assessment of the opposition company and negotiating team and report on their strategies and tactics, strengths and weaknesses, and so on.  Then we provide on-going updates as negotiations proceed.  The scope of our research typically includes:

·         Opposition’s negotiating strategies tactics

·         Price and terms

·         Bottom-line objectives and acceptable terms

·         Business strategies

·         Trade-offs

·         Hidden agendas

·         Third part participants and advisors

·         Individual participants on the negotiating team

·         Other topics relevant to the successful conclusion of the negotiation

Investigative reports typically address the following issues.

Information about the opposition company and its management

·         What price and terms does the opposition company want and what are they willing to accept in the final contract?

·         What are the opposition's negotiating strategy and tactics to produce the price and terms it wants in the final contract?

·         What flexibility in negotiating price and terms does the opposition have in negotiating the contract?

·         What is the opposition's timeline for concluding a contract?

·         What is the opposition's level of commitment to ensuring the negotiations result in a transaction or contract?

·         What are the in-depth reasons, pressures and other motivations behind the commitment to negotiate and complete a transaction?

·         How unified are the opposition's board of directors and management in their commitment to complete a transaction?

·         Are any alternatives to the present negotiations under serious consideration?

·         How does your company rank among those companies considered for the contract?

Information about the opposition company

·         What are the in-depth reasons, pressures and other motivations behind the commitment to negotiate and complete a transaction?

·         Is management aware of any undisclosed problems or pending negative developments that could significantly impact the company's corporate reputation, sales, revenue and earnings?

·         Is there any potential negative publicity that management knows about but has not disclosed which could significantly impact the company's corporate reputation, sales, revenue and earnings?

·         Is management aware of any undisclosed pending positive developments that could significantly impact the company's corporate reputation, sales, revenue and earnings?

·         Is there any disclosed potential positive publicity that management knows about which could significantly impact the company's corporate reputation, sales, revenue and earnings?

·         Is the negotiating team aware of these problems, pending developments, and potential publicity?

Information about the opposition's negotiating team 

·         What are the negotiating team's strategy and tactics for negotiating the merger, acquisition, joint venture, licensing agreement, strategic alliance or contract with the customer, contractor or supplier?

·         How much flexibility and what trade-offs does the negotiating team have in changing the price and terms during the negotiations to produce a contract?

·         Does the negotiating team have a hidden agenda, and if so, what is it?

·         What are the internal pressures on the opposition and its negotiating team in completing a contract?

·         Does the negotiating team have a timeline, benchmarks or deadline for completing a transaction and how flexible are they?

·         What does the negotiating team know about your negotiating strategies, tactics, and flexibility in negotiating price and terms?

·         How accurate is the information the negotiating team has provided you?

·         How much genuine authority does the negotiation team have in making binding decisions?

·         Which members of the opposition negotiating team have the most authority and influence over the other members of the team?

·         Does the negotiating team have a source of confidential information inside your company?

·         Are there any conflicts, dissension or other problems among the negotiators?

·         Does the negotiating team know of any undisclosed problems or opportunities with the opposition company's products, finances, manufacturing, technology, new product development, sales contracts and agreements, strategic alliances, operations or other areas?

Individual executives involved in the negotiations

·         What does in-depth individual due diligence of key members of the negotiating team reveal?

·         What are the key negotiator's individual strengths and weaknesses?

·         What are each key negotiator's hot buttons?

·         What are the stressful pressures, distractions, needs and other concerns impacting each key negotiator?

·         What are the negotiation style and characteristics of each key negotiator?

·         How well prepared is each key team member for the negotiations?

·         What are the confidence levels of the key negotiators in the team's position, objectives, and the strategy and tactics for achieving the objectives?

·         What is each individual negotiator's position on different objectives or specific points in the negotiation and what are the reasons for that individual's position?

·         What are observable habits and characteristics that reveal the attitudes and emotions of each key negotiating team member?

·         During the negotiations, are there any changes in the individual negotiators' positions, and if so, what are the new positions and the reasons for the position changes?

Price and terms

·         What is the negotiating team's maximum or minimum price and are there any trade-offs?

·         What is the team's flexibility in negotiating price and terms for a contract?

·         Which terms are negotiable, which are not, and why?

·         What concessions does the opposition negotiating team expect from your team and what concessions are they willing to make?

·         What does the team expect to happen in these discussions or negotiations?

·         Has the opposition negotiating team set any benchmarks, timelines or scheduled a deadline for the negotiations?

·         What is the preferred method of payment and are there any acceptable alternatives?

·         How close is the opposition negotiators' offer or counteroffer to the actual price and terms that the opposition is now willing to accept?

·         What are the team's strategy and tactics for negotiating changes in price and terms?

Is the opposition in discussion or negotiation with a competitor, and if so:

·         What is the present status of the discussions or negotiations between the opposition and your competitor?

·         What are the price and terms that your competitor has offered or plans to offer?

·         How much flexibility and what trade-offs does the competitor's negotiating team have in changing the price and terms during the negotiations in order to produce a contract?

·         What are the pressures that the competitor's negotiating team is under to produce a contract?

·         What information does the competitor's negotiating team have about your negotiating strategy and tactics?

·         What is the opposition's evaluation of completing a contract with your competitor; what are the pivotal issues, concerns, roadblocks, advantages, disadvantages, opportunities, and preferences?

·         How does this evaluation of your competitor compare with the opposition's evaluation of completing a contract with your company?

Following today's negotiating session:

·         Did the opposition make any changes in its objectives, strategy and tactics, price and terms?

·         Are there any changes in the individual negotiators' positions, and if so, what are the new positions and the reasons for the position changes?

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