negotiation

ASSIGNMENT 4

TEAM 4

7 August 2022

Submitted To- Joe Vosburgh

Team Members-

Sukhpreet Nagra- 100412014

Jasleen Kaur- 100414732

Manvinder Kaur- 100413252

Jyotika Sharma- 100396206

Summary of the Outcome

Was an outcome reached? Negotiating in this modern era is complex and the most significant challenge when individuals are not ready to understand the other party. A group of individuals only think about their interests and tend to ignore the interests and needs of the other. But, our party succeeded in getting into a single contract for a single film: The Eternals with Marvel.

What was achieved by both parties? BY RAZER'S:- Razer's actual demand was to get a 25% of the share of the profit for the single contract, but we were unable to achieve it. Instead, we got a better deal as now Marvel will give us 15% of the profit share of the movie but also 40% of its resources to make the film which is beneficial for us. BY MARVEL'S:- By getting into a single contract with Razer, Marvel is now the first company to get its hand on innovative software and technology known as EdgeEffect, which will give them an edge over its competitors. They were successful by having a deal in which Razers will cover 10% of the total loss, which is a security for them.

Did the outcome favour one party over the other? In this negotiation, both parties achieved different outcomes according to their needs. It was a win-win situation. Both parties settled on an offer in a positive bargaining zone where both are accomplishing something in the end. But we think that one thing here which favours Marvel is that if the film suffers from a loss, then Razer will be obligated to pay 10% of the total loss, which was kind of unfair towards our situation as we are a small startup company and will not be able to cover losses if the amount is significant.

What elements of the outcome were mutually beneficial? Firstly, both parties agreed on working under a single contract, which benefits both companies since there would be no pressure to build long-term relationships based on stretching false hopes and promises. Secondly, if Marvels will give 15% of the share of profit to Razers, then the latter party will also cover 10% of the losses. Ultimately, both parties will get mutual benefits. Moreover, Razers company is a monopolistic company with owners of only innovative technology in the market. So, they will enjoy a competitive advantage in the market. As a result, Marvel will also feel superior by working with such a unique software company. This will enhance both parties' reputations in the market. It could open doors for more opportunities for both parties.

What issues were left unresolved if any? After negotiation, we don't think anything was left unsaid and unresolved regarding this single-time contract as both parties have already discussed the shares of profits & losses and other factors. But we should have discussed more the future and if our companies will collaborate again.

Were your objectives met? Yes, no, partially? Explain Yes, our objectives were met, Firstly we wanted a profitable deal, and the share of 15% profit made by the film is immensely fulfilling this objective as we know that a Marvel movie makes more than 50 million on average, and it will serve as an excellent opportunity for us to earn good amount of money. Also, we did not have the resources and hardware to support and

run our technology Edge effect, so the offer of Marvel to let us use 40% of its resources will be very beneficial for our company as we will be able to cut our cost and save money. Because this is a single film contract, we can continue negotiations with other companies and work with them after completing Marvel's project. Our other objective was to build a good relationship and negotiate the percentage or share of loss each party will be responsible for in case of uncertainties. Razer's Edge is responsible for a 10% share of the total loss, and we think it is a little high but acceptable. We also wanted that both companies should respect the privacy of each other, which is also met; if any party leaks information regarding the working or internal affairs of another party, they can sue them for $20 Million.

Summary of the Negotiating Experience

Many class concepts were used throughout our negotiation. Some of our approaches helped make the other party more vulnerable, and some methods were not that helpful. The following are a few of the class concepts that we think were linked with our negotiations with Marvels:

The selection of a communication channel is crucial when you are going to negotiate with someone. There are a variety of communication channels such as telephone, emails, instant messaging, virtual negotiation and much more. It was an excellent opportunity for our small startup company to negotiate with one of the biggest film-producing companies and learn how they deal and carry themselves, so we decided to have an in-person meeting. Face-to-face meetings enabled a better flow of information and understanding between both parties, and both parties strengthened the trust and reduced the need to utilize complex approaches.

When we started negotiating, the opening offer made by Marvel was $600000 for a single contract for the film "The Eternals," which we declined because the money offered was too less compared to what we wanted, so we told them we would work with them if they give us $12 million as we are using our resources and making the film cost us millions. Marvels offered us an increase of $100,000 to the existing offer plus the liberty to use all their resources to make this film. Here, Marvel is in a hurry to lock the deal with Razers when they gave us a sweetener in the form of liberty to use their resources. This also showed Marvel's resistance point as they don't want to go beyond 8 Lakhs and gave us access to use their resources. On the other hand, Razer's target point was 10 million, so we declined their offer. We tried to intimidate Marvel by saying that our company goal for this year is 12 million, and if they want to work with us, they better bring a reasonable offer next time as many other big companies contacted us, and their recommendations are far better than what Marvel is offering. If Marvel wanted our innovative technology before its competitors, they should make a better offer before it's too late. Although we shared some of our company information, we don't think it was an information leak as we only told them about our goal and didn't share any information that could put us in hot waters.

While negotiating, we tried to analyze marvels by asking various questions. This not only helped us to secure information, discover their position and support our argument but also helped us to understand Marvel's interests and needs. For instance, when we first began negotiating, we asked Marvels to put forth their offer first to see if it aligns with our needs and goals and what is the limit to which we can negotiate with them. We asked for different alternatives they have in mind if we don't accept their offer. Why do they think their offer is beneficial and favourable to both parties? Being an active listener when negotiation is taking place is very important. Whenever Marvel's negotiators were making a new offer, counteroffer or stating something important, one of our negotiators would restate or paraphrase the message in their language to make sure we understood their motive better and didn't misinterpret things.

Razer's Edge followed the "Big five" personality factors both when negotiating with Marvels as well as when negotiating within the team. We were curious, original, intellectual, open to different perspectives, organized, punctual for meetings and achievement-oriented. Razer's tried to be sociable, tolerant and trusting, and although some situations lead to worry, sadness and anger, we tried our best to overcome these negative emotions. For instance, when Marvel offered us $600000 as a first offer, it was very saddening, but we tried not to be anxious and continued the negotiation while focusing on our objectives.

During our second meeting, we gathered more information about Marvel to be prepared more efficiently. Razer made an offer first to get the upper hand in the negotiation. We demanded a 25% share of the profit made by the movie "The Eternals," to which Marvel made a counteroffer of 10% profit share and resources. Razer was unsatisfied with this offer and asked Marvel to negotiate the profit percentage. Marvel refused to change the proposal (10%), but Razer's decreased it by 5%. Because both parties did not agree to reduce or increase the offer, we tried to settle within a positive bargaining zone. So, the final proposal to which both the parties agreed is: It will be a single film contract; "The Eternals" and Razer's Edge will have a 15% share of the profit made by the film. Marvels will provide 40% of its resources for making this film to Razer's Edge. If there is a loss, Razer's Edge will be obligated to pay 10% of the total loss, and if any party leaks the information regarding the working or internal affairs of another party, they can sue them for $20 Million.

Best Practices

Be prepared- Razer's negotiators think they were well prepared for this negotiation. Better prepared negotiators have numerous advantages, including analyzing the other party's offers more effectively and efficiently, understanding the nuances of the concession-making process, and achieving their negotiating goals (Lewicki, Saunders, Barry, and Tasa, 2019, p.g. 338). We think the time spent negotiating with Marvel was productive as Roger started preparing

for its negotiations one week before the event. We were well aware of our goals and interests and represented Razer's motive skillfully. As negotiators, we were ready to understand the other party's needs and communicate to find an agreement that meets the needs of both parties. Our negotiation aspirations were high but achievable; we did not want to be pressured by the other party, so we tried to gather as much information about Marvel to use it in our favour later.

Identify and work your BATNA- One of the essential sources of power in a negotiation is the alternatives available to a negotiator if an agreement is not reached (Lewicki, Saunders, Barry, and Tasa, 2019, p.g. 339). We wanted a good deal, so we used a strong BATNA. We tried to make as many counteroffers as possible to marvel offers until we were satisfied with the agreement. In our first meeting, Marvel was only making offers in a cash amount, but when we had our second meeting, we tried to influence them by making the offer in percentage, Which was more beneficial for us. During the meeting, we tried to monitor, carefully understand, and retain the competitive advantage over the other negotiator's alternatives and tried to influence marvel by telling them the benefits of our offers.

Be willing to walk away- During our first meeting with marvels, they offered us a deal that was not aligning with our goal as the amount offered was too low. So, we rejected their offer, and to intimidate Marvel; we told them that if they didn't bring a better deal next time, we would walk away and collaborate with other companies.

Continue to learn from your experience- After our first meeting, Razor's Edge held a team meeting where we discussed where we were successful, what areas we were lagging and needed more focus on, what we wanted to achieve, and how we will approach our next meeting. These meetings with Marvels were an excellent opportunity to learn how negotiations are sorted and how we have to approach each situation. We will use what we learned from our talks with Marvels with other companies in future.

Summary of what worked and what didn’t

As we mentioned in the third assignment, our first choice was negotiating a long-term deal where Marvel would pay Razer's Edge for not only 'The Eternals' but also invest money in us in exchange for our commitment to work with Marvel for the next five years. This was an excellent opportunity for Razer's Edge to secure a financial backup to survive and grow as a small company, and with the help of Marvel and its funding, we would have been able to overcome this cash shortage problem and fill the staffing and technology gaps. But because of the circumstances, we could not negotiate this deal as Marvel wanted only a single agreement. Moreover, when we asked them about their plans for a long-term contract, they told us that they could make a contract for two years and want us to work only with them, but they can not assure that we will get two films per year and investment will also be less. Razer

thought this option was not aligning with our needs and goals, so we decided to go with our second best option of negotiating a single contract for a single film: The Eternals.

We decided to negotiate a single contract for a single film: The Eternals, because it is a short-term contract that only involves us doing a single film, getting paid, and parting ways. By doing this, we can contact other potential companies like Apple and DC to work with them on big projects and establish more connections, make more money and grow our company. We think this movie will earn more than 80 million at the box office, and with the 15% profit share, we will be able to collect 10 million in no time. Moreover, the 40% use of Marvel resources will also be beneficial as we will be able to reduce our expenses and cost to a great extent.

As we know, Marvel is a big film-producing company, and if this movie is a hit public will demand its sequels. If this happens, Marvel will have to contact us again to provide them with a new character and visual effects, so it will serve as an opportunity for us to bargain with them and make sure that we have the upper hand in the negotiation with the contract in our favour.

Negotiation Experience with Team 1

It was our first experience negotiating with a group of people. Although we dealt with it many times in our day-to-day life, it was unintentional, and most of the time, we were unaware if we were negotiating. Overall it was an outstanding experience but a little overwhelming.

How we connected with another team-

One of our team members (Jasleen) already knew two members of team 1, so she made a combined WhatsApp group in which she added both of the teams, and later, the remaining members were added to the combined Whatsapp group by team 1. After making the group, we decided that only one member (Sukhpreet) of our team should write messages in the combined group after discussing the material within our team so that we don't repeat things and make mistakes by writing something unnecessary.

When we met-

After connecting with the other group, we decided to meet in person on Wednesday, 3 Aug, at the class time at 7:00 pm in the sitting area of the primary building as everyone was available to negotiate. As we did not reach a specific deal in our first meeting, we decided to hold another meeting. For our second meeting, we discussed in the combined group and agreed on the time and place to meet. We had our second meeting on Friday, 5 Aug at 11:00 am in the setting area of the Cedar building.

As a team

Our overall team experience was excellent. Our primary interaction source was WhatApp, as we had already created a Whatsapp group for the previous assignment. WhatsApp is an easy and quick way to communicate, and we held meetings through group and video calls. Everyone in the group was interactive and shared their ideas regarding the assignment. Messaging helped our team to coordinate better and allowed us to share and gain more knowledge and experience. For this assignment, we picked the parts per the question weightage, as the first part had the highest weightage. Manvinder and Jyotika collaborated and did that part. They divided the bullet points among themselves, the first three points were written by Manvinder, and Jyotika did the last three. Sukhpreet did the second and fourth parts of the assignment as she was the representative of our team for this negotiation and was more optimistic about doing the lesson concepts. Jasleen did the third part as she attended the class when this chapter was explained and had a better understanding of the topic. The following table shows how the work was divided among members-

Work Name

Summary of the Outcome Manvinder and Jyotika

Summary of the Negotiating Experience Sukhpreet

Best Practices Jasleen

Summary of what worked and what didn’t Sukhpreet

Negotiating Team Experience Grammar, spelling and structure

All members

We created a google document to do our assignment, and we were all adding our ideas to the same google document so that anyone could view and edit it if required. It was a little overwhelming as the negotiations were still ongoing till Friday, and we had to cover a lot in a short period. As we still had ongoing talks with Marvels, we could not start our parts as changes were taking place with each negotiation.

References-

Textbook-

Lewicki, R.J., Saunders, D.M., Barry. B., and Tasa, K. (2019). Essentials of Negotiation, 3rd

Canadian edition. McGraw Hill Education