GreenMarket (GRM) assures their customers of the freshest certified organic produce. They are located in California. They have markets predominantly in the western states of the U.S. Recently there have been some social networking sites and blogs with a few comments that some of the produce is in fact not organic. The contract with Organikfarms (ORF), a produce supply company is up for renewal. GRM does have another supplier that they also rely on.
For each side of the Team A negotiation: The side that represents GRM: Your company wants to ensure quality produce is shipped to their markets. You are concerned about the social networking sites recent barrage of negative comments and possibly tarnishing your company's reputation and trademark. You also want a stipulation in the contract to allow your company to get out of the contract if quality produce is not provided. The side that represents the supplier ORF and the workers: You pride yourselves on fresh organic produce provided by several hundred small to medium sized farms. You need that contract as it is a large one and you want it for two years or longer if you can get it.
1. Determine what you are negotiating, what your collateral is, or points you have to negotiate with.
2. Determine what cannot change - policy, legal, budget, etc.
3. Before you start to negotiate, know what your bottom line is below which you are not willing to relinquish.
4. Determine where the other side is coming from.
5. Think about what you might propose as a midpoint between where the other party wants to go and what you will ideally accept.
6. Be willing to compromise a bit to get some of what you want while allowing the other party to save face and also to get some of what they want.
7. If you both have gotten some of what you wanted then it has probably been a successful negotiation.