Mladen D. Kresic is President and Chief Executive of K&R Negotiations, a consulting firm specializing in structuring and negotiating business transactions in the computer, software, Internet and other industries. Mladen has over 31 years experience negotiating business transactions both as a lawyer and a businessman.
Sales forecasting is a critical activity for any team, but many companies have a hard time getting it right. Business pressures or subjective measures – emotions and opinion – often have too much weight, and distort the process. For business leaders who want to give their teams a dependable way of analyzing deals so they […]
This is the sixth post in a series entitled: The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World As many have learned, cracking the united front of a negotiation team can yield prized concessions. As with a teenager who knows how to play one parent against another to get permissions and privileges, […]
This is the fifth post in a series entitled: The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World Employing this principle begins with a clear-eyed assessment of your negotiation team’s weaknesses. Be brutally honest with yourself in evaluating how critical factors like tight deadlines, lack of patience, insufficient alternatives, lack of understanding […]
“Face” is a person’s standing in the eyes of others. In negotiations, that means looking good to each negotiation side, peers, management, spouse and family. It avoids putting someone in an awkward position that could humiliate or embarrass them, particular with a direct confrontation. When confronted negatively, negotiations can quickly deteriorate. However, giving someone […]
This is the fourth post in a series entitled: The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World In our two previous posts on international negotiation, we discussed the importance of P&L (Patience and Listening) and the dynamics of credibility and leverage. One is a practice, the second is a conceptual understanding. […]
Negotiation Tactics Versus Gamesmanship Negotiation tactics are techniques or actions intended to influence a negotiation. However negotiation gamesmanship consists of techniques or actions, unrelated to the merits of the transaction, used to gain an advantage in a negotiation. Thus, gamesmanship is a subset of tactics. For example, yelling, screaming, intimidation or walking out are […]
This is the third in a series of blog posts The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World. “You lied to us.” That was what we heard from across the table on the opening of our fifth consecutive negotiation meeting during a Japanese engagement. The actual issue was minor, having only […]
This is the second post in a series entitled: The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World. You can read all posts in the series here. In its essence, good negotiation is good communication. When the person across the table from you is from a different country, you’ll see and feel […]
The combination of technology and the evolution of global markets has created exciting opportunities to forge successful relationships and seek lucrative deals globally. While the world has indeed become smaller and a lot faster, culture from country to country, region to region – and even company to company – is far from uniform. With dazzling […]
Define Value, Win Credibility and Respect at the Negotiation Table with a Few Simple Questions Have you ever heard this from a customer during a discussion? “We’d like an additional 10% discount. If you give this discount to me, we can close the deal.” Sellers hear this all the time. More often than not, sellers […]
