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Having read the article ‘They Don’t Negotiate’: Why Young Women College Graduates Are Still Paid Less Than Men (huffingtonpost.com) I still maintain the view that essentially women have as much potential as men to be good at negotiation.

As a negotiation trainer I encounter lots of women who are good at the “soft skills” of negotiation – listening, exploring and focusing on common ground. But I also see some women who are great at so-called “push behaviour”, which you use in negotiating to pursue your own agenda.

It may be that some women are held back as negotiators by perceived barriers as to how they should behave or what jobs they should aspire to. However, we are all capable of influencing our “state” in a positive manner in preparation for a negotiation. We can break up our normal patterns of thought and (for example) introduce a more positive and ambitious mindset. And if women are able to do that then they have no less potential than any man to negotiate successfully.

Will a further bail-out for Greece change the negotiation dynamics with the financial markets over the Euro? Only if it results in the financial markets feeling that Greece can pay its debts and that the EU can afford to sustain its current levels of support until Greece does. An absolutely critical part of this would be for existing Banks who are debtors to agree to the “voluntary” re-scheduling of their debts, to give Greece some breathing space. Without this any further bailout package will not seem credible.

It will be interesting to see if Banks are prepared to step up in this way on a voluntary basis. Generally, asking someone if they would like to give you what you want is not an effective way of bidding. It’s like the difference between saying “I want x” and “Would you mind giving me x?”. The former has much more impact. The problem for the Eurozone of course is that it can’t force debtors to participate – any such compulsory re-scheduling would itself be deemed to constitute an event of default.

In any event, all of this only becomes relevant if the Greek Parliament votes to pass the latest austerity package. Is that certain? One problem may be that local Greeks are very conscious that there doesn’t seem to be much of a “win” for them in complying with the austerity programme demanded by the Eurozone countries as the price for further bail-out assistance. Often if people feel there is no prospect of a “win” in a negotiation, they start to play lose-lose, saying to themselves “if I can’t win I’m going to make sure that you lose too”.

If it was up to the man-on the […]

I see Shazam has completed advertising deals with a whole host of different companies such as Starbucks and Honda. It seems the app is going from strength to strength.

From a negotiating point of view, effective brand campaigns are based around the emotional negotiating needs of the parties – normally it is “belonging” needs that are addressed. Each party wants a connection with the brand values of the other so that users will associate it with those positive values.

In this case Shazam gets to associate itself with the mainstream market values of all of these larger brands which helps it extend its reach.

For the brands themselves they get to make an association with a cool emerging brand (Shazam) and also a connection with the music that is featured. Music is normally used in ads to create positive emotional connections which reflect well on the brand concerned – the Brand imports some of the emotional associations of the music and so we think more positively of the brand. In this case, by tying up with Shazam, the depth and range of that connection with the music is emphasised.

Alec Gores, Warners and Universal Music are all believed to be considering bids for EMI. Is this good news for the troubled major? Well, it certainly helps to have more than one suitor in any negotiation. The likelihood of impending scarcity tends to make something more attractive to buyers, and so they may be more likely to pay more for it than if they had a clear field and they were the only buyer.

In this case it will be interesting to see who emerges as potential purchasers. If this article (businessweek.com) is right about the identity of the potential bidders, then Warners and Universal may have one disadvantage compared to Alec Gores, which is that both of them would have regulatory hurdles to clear (probably a substantial one in the case of Universal). This would not apply in the case of the Gores bid. Having “law” or “regulations” on your side is an important source of bargaining power and it could work particularly well in this case, if Citigroup want and need a speedy sale. If that’s true then Gores would be like an unencumbered purchaser competing for a house sale, with less process and approvals to get through – always an attractive option for a vendor.

Whether that means Gores could make a success of EMI is another question. Warners and Universal could both release instant savings from merging EMI with their own companies, so they would be able to buy themselves some time before they were judged on their expertise in running the combined companies. Gores might not have that luxury. Could he run a company like EMI successfully on its own, given his expertise in leveraged buyouts? We all know what […]

I read an interesting article here (wired.com) suggesting a theory that it is bandwidth issues which will prevent iCloud tracks from being available in streamed format. Whether or not Apple do indeed have an agreement in place with AT&T and Verizon is unclear, but this would certainly make sense, as an Apple streaming service would undoubtedly devalue price plans which limit mobile data usage. The hunger for mobile users to access more and more streamed content is already putting a strain on the networks (hence the data limits imposed) and such a service from Apple may not be sustainable given the current limitations.

How will people react to the iCloud service knowing that streaming is not currently on offer? Well, no new technology system is ever perfect and whether people think that a new technology represents a “good deal” has as much to do with the patterns or filters through which they interpret the world, as it does with reality. Certain people have a filter which predisposes them to look for “what’s there” in a picture, whilst others look for what’s “missing”.

People on either side of that divide are going to have different views on whether it matters that tracks cannot be streamed via iCloud. Equally, some people like to defer to authority in making up their minds about the quality of a product – they will be quite happy to accept at face value all the positive aspects of the iCloud service that Apple emphasises. Other people are more sceptical of authority and prefer to make up their own minds – these are people who might notice that iCloud lacks the streaming feature and factor it into their judgement.

We all […]

Two separate stories I read about recently highlight some important basic fundamental points about negotiation.

LESSON 1: Having a unified negotiating team is very important for success

The reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah back in May, discussed in this article (worldpress.org) makes it more likely that together they can achieve a constructive result in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. Individuals are often more intent on picking holes in their opponents on the same team, rather than focusing on the deal with the other side but a divided negotiating team rarely achieves anything.

LESSON 2: Both sides in a negotiation must want a negotiated outcome

There are a number of positive suggestions advanced in that same article which could help move negotiations between Palestine and Israel forward at some point, especially the so-called IPI which puts economic co-operation at its heart and the Parallel States project (two states occupying one country). However, the key, as it has always been, is to get both parties in a state where their key decision makers want peace more than war. Until that point is reached nothing further will be achieved.

LESSON 3: All stakeholders need to be present or represented with their consent for a negotiation to work

I read here (washingtonpost.com) that talks collapsed at the end of June between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh when both sides failed to accept the “Basic Priniciples” for a peace deal proposed by the ‘Minsk Group’ mediators.

Interestingly, Nagorno-Karabakh itself had not actually been involved in any of the discussions regarding its future. It’s a fairly extraordinary thought that a party which is the subject of a negotiation plays no part in its process. All parties with a vested interest need to […]

There is no point in maintaining a “bailout” deal for Greece if the deal cannot in fact be honoured by Athens. If that is the case the deal solves nothing as it does not restore any credibility to the Euro. So, it’s no surprise to see Eurozone Ministers have been pondering further moves to relieve Greece of its burden of debt in some way, for example by agreeing lower interest rates on the bail-out.

It’s a fine line as any move that looks like a partial default will only intensify market pressures on the Euro and on Greece. With Italy queuing up to be the next country requiring a bail-out, it may be time to reform the currency totally. Otherwise the Eurozone is just throwing money away on bail-outs which the markets don’t believe are going to work and simply store up fresh problems for the Euro and those members of the currency with unsustainable debts.

Virgin announced a partnership deal with Spotify last week to offer the streaming service at discounted rates, as part of its bundle of tv, broadband and phone services. This deal may well be welcomed by the record industry as a further extension of the opportunity to consume music legitimately, and this is partly true.

However, there is an alternative point of view. Virgin has for 2 years been negotiating with the Majors with a view to launching its own paid for service. Although officially the company is still leaving open the possibility of launching this service, the Spotify deal must surely signify that it will be mothballed. From Virgin’s point of view it’s easier and less risky to license in another service which has already paid advances to the labels, than to pay high advances/minimum guarantees and agree other tough terms with the Majors for its own service.

Why is that a problem? Because if that decision is duplicated by other potential digital stores, then ultimately the only digital stores available will be those with deep enough pockets to consummate deals with the majors. There are not many of those (can Spotify can afford to be part of that group indefinitely?) and the services that are out there are not providing enough traction to make up for the dwindling of physical sales.

What the Industry needs is more legitimate services, not less. Confining the availability of content to a few services who can afford to get licensed reduces choice and is ultimately not good news for the Majors either, since it leaves them continuing to lose money overall and highly dependent on just a few major customers.

This saga still has some way to go and illustrates how important it is to retain your integrity when you negotiate. If you lose your reputation as someone who can be trusted you lose all your authority as a negotiator – and authority is one of the major sources of bargaining power.

News International has fallen below even the minimal standards of trust expected of journalists these days, with its hacking of innocent victims’ phones, including Milly Dowler’s. The resulting fall-out among the public, media and politicians, has removed all of Rupert Murdoch’s bargaining power in the negotiation regarding the takeover of Sky.

In these circumstances it is no surprise to see Murdoch engaging in “parting” behaviour, and withdrawing from the negotiation. In the circumstances it is the only sensible option to avoid a comprehensive negotiating defeat – withdraw, re-group and try again when and if enough time has elapsed that trust has been re-earned and the climate has improved. It may take some time.

The labour deal between the NFL and it’s players seems to be slowly moving towards a conclusion.

One thing that may have helped is that as well as there being a disagreement about money, there are also plenty of other issues on the table which can supply “coinage”. Coinage is a concession that has low value to one side and high value to the other side because it meets one of their underlying emotional needs (see my video on coinage here).

Look at the list of other issues, including blood testing for human growth hormone, a reduction in off-season workload, deciding which body has the authority to resolve disputes arising out of the new deal, and whether the next deal is a traditional collective bargain or the result of a lawsuit. There is plenty of scope for creating packages here in which monetary demands are offset against other concessions which help meet the other side’s emotional need for reassurance on a particular issue.

I would not be too worried about Judge Arthur Boylan (the mediator credited for a lot of the progress that has been made in discussions over recent weeks ) going on holiday this past week. Some people have commented that this is very bad timing and that he should have cancelled plans to keep working with both sides. However, like any good mediator, he knows that ultimately any settlement must be owned by the parties, not by him. In any event the parties will want to show that they were perfectly capable of solving the dispute without him…