Negotiation Reflection - Knight Engine

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Looking at the negotiation holistically, I definitely intended to come into it with a collaborative mindset, and I believe my partner was the same. I knew from the case reading that while we wanted this contract, it wasn’t something that would have sunk our business had we not been able to secure it. I wasn’t sure how important it was to Excalibur, and in hindsight I could have done a better job obtaining some information in this vein. What this experience really highlighted for me was the importance of the conversation leading up to even making an anchor offer. By instigating a price so soon in the conversation I was the first to make an offer, however in doing so I think I glossed over information that would have allowed me to drive the price even lower and justified an even stronger anchor price.

On that note my partner did an excellent job of not coming across as desperate or revealing any information that I hadn’t earned. Over the course of the negotiation he ascertained that we had a solid relationship with the United States government, successfully appealed to his higher authority to get me to bring my price above his unit cost, and throughout the process was an agreeable negotiator that I would be pleased maintaining a relationship with going forward. The advice I would give you going forward is when revealing costs it is better to try and explain why it’s worth what you’re asking than giving actual cost. In our class discussion Tuesday, this seemed to be a popular and effective method of answering that question for other individuals. Overall, it is difficult to identify any other constructive feedback that I did not mention in my analysis. I felt he did a better job than myself and had a slightly better deal than I did at the end of the simulation. With that in mind and the knowledge that we both walked away feeling happy, I would say we negotiated a competitive bid and a successful outcome for both parties.