N E G O T I A T I O N S

In the second part of my contribution, I have been able to show the first category of advices given by experts to negotiators. The second area of advice was about beginning the negotiation, per se. What they warned was to make the opening scene firm and valid so that one would think of the agenda seriously and to watch the physical arrangements. They say the overture should make music in order to bring about friendship.
While coming to the third area, i.e. to the hard-talk, they go on advising to control information and to watch one’s language. They advise not to overplay persuasion so that it will not paint one’s argument with the wrong material or impression. They strongly uphold the importance of taking time out. Going behind the scene—that is, where minds are changed is considered vital for the success of negotiations.
It is said that a deadlock is possible and both sides may lose. They advise to walk away in such a case rather than brow heated into a bad deal. But, one important piece of advice they underline is to get an agreement signed before one leaves.
In their last piece of advice, i.e. beyond the contract, they warn that discussions are always preferable to court settlement; and to remember, without a relationship, there is no deal.
This shows us how negotiation is a very serious and a hard piece of work. Scholars have attempted to show how the word “negotiation” itself has evolved through times. They tell us the orgin of the word dates back to some 2000 years, when the ancient Romans used the word “negotiari” meaning “to carry on business.” The word originates from Latin. “Negotium” is the original word; when split into two “neg” means “not” and “otium” means “ease or leisure.” When this is put into its modern context it shows us that “negotiation” is a hard work and not at all leisure.
This is why globalization in the romance of world trade had to be preceded by other phases of reality, yet, the transition form domestic to global corporation may be described as some writers put it in “four-stages: internationalization, multilatralization, transnationalization and globalization.” Beyond that it is viewed only as a new form of business that can only be guessed.
An international business becomes a reality when a domestic firm begins the internationalization process—that is when it is involved in direct and indirect exporting, licensing, franchising, and when it enters into manufacturer’s contracts and technical agreements and joint ventures. A business remains categorized as international until it begins to invest directly in wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries. Then, at some point after the subsidiaries are build, a business becomes multinational but with its own different features.
Conversely transnationalization is an advanced stage of multinationlization in which individuals from the branch countries acquire partial ownership of the MNC. While multinational corporations are nationally owned and managed and sometimes owned and managed by persons of different nationalities, transnational enterprises are internationally owned and controlled. On the other hand, decision-making in transnational firms is free from home country bias.
When it comes to globalization, the global corporations operate as if the entire world were a single entity. It emphasizes global operations over the domestic member. It selects the best people available for management, regardless of nationality, and it locates corporate headquarters anywhere in the world.
Finally, what needs to be discerned is that negotiation helps to reach at an agreement, to resolve a problem or to manage conflict internally and externally in order to come out of a situation as competitor or friend. For all that, however, it should be remembered that the skill of communication is intertwined with the art of negotiations.