Module 6

Multi-issue deals and trades: creating value before dividing it

A negotiation about one number, usually the price, is a fight over a fixed amount: what one side gains, the other loses. Most real deals contain more than one issue, and the sides rarely value the issues in the same way. A buyer may care most about delivery speed and little about the length of the contract; the seller may care the other way round. When that is so, each side can concede on what matters less to it and gain on what matters more, and both leave better off than if they had split every issue down the middle. This is called integrative bargaining or log-rolling, and it is the main source of value that analytical preparation can add. This module shows how to list the issues, weight each by how much it matters to you and how much you think it matters to them, find the trades, score packages for each side and ask the right questions to learn their priorities without giving away your own. It also explains what an efficient deal is, and why a deal can be fair and still leave value on the table. The Package Trader scores invented packages for both sides and shows what a trade could add.

General education on using data in negotiation, with invented companies, people, disputes and figures. It states common practice in simplified form and does not describe any one country's law or professional rules, which differ and change; rules on candour, misrepresentation, confidentiality and settlement in particular vary. The tools organise your own estimates and cannot predict the result of any real negotiation. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer on a real matter.