Competitive Negotiation Research Articles

IDENTITY AND INFINITY: ALTERNATE MODES OF SCRIBING THE SELF: A COMPARISON OF MARIO VARGAS LLOSA’S AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER AND YANN MARTEL’S LIFE OF PI

An active engagement with the notion of the ‘self’ in modes of confrontation, contestation and conjuration has been an important tropological concern of fictional narratives, especially of an autobiographical intent and tone. Any coherent and significant concept of the ‘self’ entails a conglomeration of conscious and subconscious indices of subjectivities, intellectual sensibility, emotional drives and epistemological orientations, all of which are ideally conducive to artistic or material creativity. And, in life as well as in literature, it inevitably determines the ways and the extent to which the individual is capable of transcending the ‘personal’ to connect with the ‘other’ in varying degrees of empathetic identification. Literature is a terrain where one can encounter, on the one hand, protagonists who cross the confines of their self and feel one with the whole cosmos, and on the other, those who fail miserably in transcending the anxieties and fears of the personal, and recede into self-imposed reticence and insularity. The former is usually seen undertaking a self-chosen or imposed journey in which their inner psychic resources are unearthed and are ultimately traced to the vast eternity of cosmic energies. The latter is representative of the tragic consequences of the ruthless encroachment of normative social forces upon the personal space and the resultant subjugation of the individual self. There is also an in-between category of individuals who can strike a fine balance between their self and the social mores, through an ironic process of competitive negotiation. They consolidate their selves through the calibrated transgressions they perform upon the rules and rigours of social institutions and ethics, only to be re-inducted after a brief interregnum of ostracized animation.

Determinants of Competitive Negotiation Style in Agribusiness Trade of High Value Food Crop Products in Tanzania: Evidence from Middlemen in Arusha, Tanzania

This paper explored the role of competitive negotiation style in agribusiness food value addition in Tanzania with insights from Arusha, Tanzania. Cross sectional survey of 280 middlemen were involved in the commodity’s value chain in Arusha main markets. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine main factors contributing to competitive negotiation style but also on their disaggregated effect on agribusiness trade performance. The results showed that competitive negotiation style through self view point, self gain, self win and self outcome had a negative effect on agribusiness performance. In this study it was found that competitive negotiation style had negative significant impact on agribusiness trade performance. The model had high concern for self and low concern for others. The low concern for others had been founded to add negative performance and made it to be the highest negative impacted model. In this notion once one side of the negotiating part found to have less considered by other part the negotiation process tends to be hard with negative performance. It was concluded that competitive negotiation style was not effective model on high value crops but it can be done in a non-competing way (competing-un-competing). Competitive negotiation style can further be reflected on diplomatic arena as non-productive way of conflict and disputes management, in leadership and interpersonal relationship.

A model for optimal bus routes packaging in a competitive contracting environment: A case study of Tehran

Transit authorities often prefer to outsource the bus routes to the private sector through a competitive tendering or negotiation procedure. A major challenge for decision-makers in this area is the optimal arrangement of routes among contracts which directly impacts the operating costs, labor costs, vehicle resources, level of competition between private operators, required subsidy, contract price, and system efficiency. Therefore, this study proposes a new model to find optimal route packages considering the parameters including package size, package revenue, the geographic distribution of routes, and terminal locations. The methodology relies on a genetic algorithm equipped with innovative methods, making it applicable to large-scale urban networks. We programmed both the model and the solution approach in C++ programming language and applied them to the city of Tehran as a real case study, which involved 169 routes and 2,215 bus fleets. In the main scenario, 10 packages were identified and compared with the current packages. The results demonstrated a 7.6% reduction in revenue deviation among the packages, indicating improved balance. Additionally, the routes within each package exhibited geographical concentration, aligning with the common terminal approach. By applying the proposed methodology to the bus network in Tehran, the study highlights the potential of the model in outsourcing bus routes to the private sector in similar real-world practices. It is worth noting that the Tehran Bus Organization has utilized the proposed packages derived from this study in their recent tender processes. Evaluation of the new packages' effectiveness demonstrated a notable decrease of 17% in average bid prices. This reduction directly corresponds to a decrease in operating costs and the required subsidy.

Sense of Relational Entitlement and Couple Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Couple Negotiation Tactics

Previous research shows a link between the sense of relational entitlement and various couple outcomes. However, the mechanisms linking these variables are less discussed. With this study, the aim was to test the associations between individuals’ excessive and restricted sense of relational entitlement and their levels of couple satisfaction and conflict. In addition, it was tested whether the use of different negotiation tactics (cooperative and competitive) mediated the links. Six hundred and eighty-seven adults (55.2% women) participated in this study. Mediation analyses showed that a restricted sense of relational entitlement is associated with couple satisfaction and conflict through higher competitive negotiation use. Additionally, an excessive sense of relational entitlement is linked with couple satisfaction and conflict through lower cooperative negotiation use. This study has important implications for couples therapy addressing satisfaction issues, showing why and when educating couple interactions, especially those regarding negotiation, can improve relational functioning. Additionally, one’s relational well-being is strongly related to one’s mental health, and the applicability of the findings can be extended to all outcomes of the therapeutic process.

Do managers’ negotiation styles make employees’ relational justice-emotional experiences links sporadic?

Purpose Being grounded in interdependence theory, this study aims to address the following research question: Do managers’ negotiation styles (collaborative versus competitive) make employees’ relational justice-emotional experiences links sporadic? Design/methodology/approach Data elicited from N = 139 Pakistani undergraduate students participating in an online scenario-based experiment were used to employ repeated measures analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling techniques. Findings Results suggest that employees’ relational justice is likely to be higher when managers use a collaborative negotiation style than when they use competitive style in performance review meetings. Moreover, per managers’ different negotiation styles, employees’ relational justice perceptions may predict their positive emotions differently. That is, when managers use collaborative negotiation style, employees’ relational justice perceptions may positively predict their hope but not optimism, whereas when managers use competitive negotiation style, employees’ relational justice perceptions may positively predict their optimism but not hope. Furthermore, the positive relationship between employees’ relational justice and their optimism is stronger when their trust in manager is low than when it is high. Originality/value The study is of value for performance management theorists who aim to address the issue of ineffectiveness of the practice through relational means. The study includes the recently explicated concept of relational justice and examines its links with employee emotional reactions to performance reviews. Moreover, the study unveils how managers’ negotiation styles in performance review meetings cause variations in the links between employees’ perceptions of relational justice and their emotional experiences.

A stage model for agent-based emotional persuasion with an adaptive target: From a social exchange perspective

Agent-based automated negotiation is a promising approach for business negotiation; however, most studies in this field focus on negotiation strategies, ignoring the role of similarities between negotiating parties and the interactive social nature of negotiations. This study considers similarities between proposed and expected values in automatic negotiations to improve the agent perception ability. A cloud model was innovatively applied to calculate similarities, and overcome subjective characterization of proposed values in negotiations. Additionally, two social factors, i.e., emotion and familiarity, were identified in negotiations, the Web-Fechner law was applied to model an agent’s generation of emotion, and a familiarity function was constructed to measure the level of familiarity between negotiating agents. Finally, a stage model for agent-based emotional negotiation which integrates similarity, emotion, and familiarity was established. A series of numerical experiments were conducted and comparative analyses of the proposed model with other similarity measures and existing negotiation models were conducted to test the performance of the proposed model. The results show that the proposed model can lead to more successful negotiations and fairer negotiating outcomes and simultaneously, maintain competitive negotiation efficiency.

Negotiating with the tax auditor: Determinants of tax auditors' negotiation strategy choice and the effect on firms’ tax adjustments

Using a survey of tax auditors, we investigate which factors determine tax auditors' choice of negotiation strategies during tax audits and analyze the effect of their chosen strategy on audit outcomes. The results show that, compared to a cooperative auditor negotiation strategy, a competitive auditor negotiation strategy is associated with significantly higher additional assessed taxes. However, the competitive strategy is associated with a lower probability that the negotiation partners will reach an agreement. These findings indicate an advantage of combining competitive and cooperative tactics (i.e., using a “mixed strategy”). We find that although this mixed strategy does not lead to significantly fewer additional taxes, it results in a higher agreement probability. Moreover, we show that the probability of using a mixed strategy increases with audit expertise and time pressure, whereas the use of a competitive (cooperative) strategy increases with the availability of higher authority (the quality of the taxpayer's financial accounting system) and a perceived competitive (cooperative or mixed) negotiation strategy of the tax advisor. In sum, our study provides new insights into how firms' tax burden is affected by negotiations between tax auditors and firms' tax advisors. The way these negotiations affect firms' tax burden is relevant for both tax policy and firms.

Looking for a Deal?

Whereas social visual attention has been examined in computer-mediated (e.g., shared screen) or video-mediated (e.g., FaceTime) interaction, it has yet to be studied in mixed-media interfaces that combine video of the conversant along with other UI elements. We analyzed eye gaze of 37 dyads (74 participants) who were tasked with negotiating the price of a new car (as a buyer and seller) using mixed-media video conferencing under competitive or cooperative negotiation instructions (experimental manipulation). We used multidimensional recurrence quantification analysis to extract spatio-temporal patterns corresponding to mutual gaze (individuals look at each other), joint attention (individuals focus on the same elements of the interface), and gaze aversion (an individual looks at their partner, who is looking elsewhere). Our results indicated that joint attention predicted the sum of points attained by the buyer and seller (i.e., the joint score). In contrast, gaze aversion was associated with faster time to complete the negotiation, but with a lower joint score. Unexpectedly, mutual gaze was highly infrequent and unrelated to the negotiation outcomes and none of the gaze patterns predicted subjective perceptions of the negotiation. There were also no effects of gender composition or negotiation condition on the gaze patterns or negotiation outcomes. Our results suggest that social visual attention may operate differently in mixed-media collaborative interfaces than in face-to-face interaction. As mixed-media collaborative interfaces gain prominence, our work can be leveraged to inform the design of gaze-sensitive user interfaces that support remote negotiations among other tasks.

Insights from a project procurement strategy through an action research

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of selecting an appropriate procurement method most suitable to the specificities of a building retrofitting project. The relevant literature points to the difficulties in managing design errors and mistakes in the conception phase and their negative impact on the construction phase and, ultimately, on construction project development. The regulatory framework related to these issues exists but the problems persist, alongside the absence of regulation in the project manager’s functions. General contracting is the procurement method mostly used but has its caveats, particularly in risky and complex construction projects. This study adopts a Participatory Action Research methodology to describe all the procedures and decision making during the project development process, including the evaluation of the tenders and the ensuing competitive negotiation process. The results of the study show the importance of a design consultant with skills base and experience in procurement in the process of construction project development. The competitive negotiation process allowed to a final contract price that was lower than the initial best offer. Furthermore, a revised structural project design undertaken under the responsibility of the contractor increased the quality of the project design in comparison with the initial one. The results also show some adjustments in procurement method along the procurement process.

Differences in cortisol following cooperative and competitive work-related tasks with same-sex versus opposite-sex partners

Previous research indicates that circulating concentrations of cortisol increase during interactions with opposite-sex others in the presence of mating cues. However, it remains unknown whether this phenomenon extends to work-related tasks in which explicit mating cues are absent. In a series of two studies, we assessed women’s and men’s salivary cortisol concentrations before and after completing a cooperative brainstorming (Study 1) and competitive negotiation (Study 2) task wherein they worked with same- or opposite-sex partners. Both studies revealed significant participant sex by partner sex interactions. Specifically, male participants demonstrated significantly larger increases in salivary cortisol concentrations when working alongside opposite-sex as opposed to same-sex partners on a cooperative task. In contrast, female participants demonstrated significantly larger increases in salivary cortisol concentrations when working with opposite-sex as opposed to same-sex partners on a competitive task. Opposite-sex teams also produced fewer novel ideas relative to same-sex teams on the cooperative brainstorming task; however, differences in cortisol did not account for this effect. Our research extends previous research demonstrating elevated cortisol during opposite-sex interactions in the presence of explicit mating cues to a work-related context that is divorced from mating cues.

Do Cultural Values Affect Negotiation Styles in Pakistan: The Mediatory Role of Cultural Intelligence

Culture assumes a significant job in deciding the way to deal with business matters, method of managing and gatherings with subordinates and associates, and different business correspondences and choices. Successful cross-cultural negotiation requires a good understanding of the differences in cultural values and Behaviors. The purpose of this study is to identify the association between the values that influence culture, different Negotiation styles, and the Cultural Intelligence in Pakistani Environment. For this, we apply Caputo et. al. (2019) framework on Pakistani employees. We hypothesize that cultural values such as Power Distance (PO), Uncertainty Avoidance (UN), Collectivism (CO), Long-Term Orientation (LTO), and Masculinity (MA), significantly affect the mode of negotiations i.e. Competitive (CN) or Cooperative (CON). Competitive negotiation styles involve the use of distributive or combative tactics, such as threats, false promises, misrepresentation of positions, bluffing, selective disclosure, and sometimes deception to force concessions from the other parties or the cooperative negotiation style that involves the use of tactics to increase cooperation and information exchange with the other party. Moreover, this relationship is mediated through Cultural Intelligence (CQ). CQ construct consisted of four elements: (i) metacognitive CQ (MCCI), (ii) cognitive CQ (CCI), (iii) motivational CQ (MCI) , and (iv) behavioral CQ (BCI). First, metacognitive CQ describes an individual's conscious awareness of the cultural interactions and, within such situations, the ability to identify their own and other people's thoughts and to strategize. Second, cognitive CQ reflects an individual's knowledge of a cultural group's values, beliefs, and norms. Motivational CQ, reflects an individual's interest, drive, directed energy, and willingness to learn about cultural differences. Finally, behavioral CQ is an individual's ability to choose the appropriate verbal and physical actions and thereby, to effectively accomplish her goals when interacting with people from different cultures. Empirical validity was established by conducting a survey using a close-ended questionnaire. Data were collected from 200 employees working in the educational, banking, and telecommunication sector, and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. The results indicate that Long-Term Orientation (LTO) has a significant and positive effect on most of the CQ dimensions i.e. BCI, MCCI, MCI, whereas Masculinity seems to have a negative and significant effect on all CQ dimensions. Power distance also seems to affect BCI and MCI negatively while Uncertainty Avoidance affected CCI positively. Surprisingly, Collectivism didn’t seem to be affecting any CQ. Moreover, All dimensions of CQ seems to affect Cooperative NS (CON) significantly, whereas Competitive (CN) was positively and significantly influenced by CCI and MCCI. Hence, investigating and evaluating the cultural values of an organization in consolidation with cultural intelligence and negotiation styles may lead to the practice of dealings.

Public bus service contracting: A critical review and future research opportunities

This paper reviews the studies on public bus service contracting over the past three decades. With a bibliometric approach, the impactful clusters of studies and research focus are identified and visualized separately. Key papers on measuring bus service quality, assessing the efficiency impacts of contract features, comparing competitive tendering with negotiation are discussed. Studies on incentive issues and alternative contract awarding mechanisms are reviewed separately in a structured manner, allowing us to extract the representative modeling frameworks and summarize the major policy implications. The survey paper would be a quick and self-contained reference to both scholars and policymakers who are interested in either modeling or evaluating bus service contracting. It is found that (i) the empirical results are mixed in terms of the impacts of incentives. Given the varying conditions of transit markets from different jurisdictions, policymakers should be cautious about the potential and the adverse impacts of incentive schemes; (ii) many research opportunities revolve around incentive contract design where the classical principal-agent framework and the optimization theory could play an important role from different perspectives; (iii) the competence and integrity of the transit authority matters in the choice of competitive tendering and negotiation. Irrespective of the awarding mechanisms, however, building trusting partnerships between the transit authority and operators is always beneficial; (iv) very few studies have investigated how contract features and managerial practices can affect bus service quality. A large variety of methods, including the discrete choice and the leader-follower framework, can be used to model the evolution of service quality perceived by riders. This can in turn promote the development of the scare but growing literature on assessing the impacts of contract awarding mechanisms on riders’ satisfaction.

Reputation-based competitive pricing negotiation and power trading for grid-connected microgrid networks

The integration of renewables and microgrids into the modern electric grid has forced financial, technical, and policy change. Control strategies that enable energy trading between microgrids provide more effective use of distributed energy resources. This study presents a decentralized, autonomous control approach to manage energy transactions between nodes of a grid-connected microgrid network. Agents in the network form relationships, with interactions between agents described by quantifying their reputation using historical knowledge of familiarity, acceptance, and value between nodes. Methods are demonstrated on a network of 9 nodes with varying levels of network connectivity for a simulated year. Results indicate that certain relationships between nodes allow some microgrids to achieve greater financial benefit than others through a reduction in operating cost. A baseline case with no trading is used to compare results, with nodes experiencing anywhere from 3% to 72% reduction in their annual cost of energy depending on network connectivity and configuration. Node pair connections with the most opportunities to trade had a significant effect on the amount of excess renewables successfully traded in the network, and network configurations containing those pairs also resulted in the lowest grid load factors. Enabling localized trading led to a decrease in utility revenue by 21–27%, which could be partly recouped by establishing wheeling charges or trading fees.

Intra-Team Hierarchy Triggers Inter-Team Competition: The Impact of Hierarchy on Team Negotiations

Organizations rely on teams to negotiate over the division and allocation of scarce resources (e.g., two departments discussing budget, space, and personnel needs). These teams are often organized hierarchically, such that they have a clear and designated leader with greater decision-making authority than the rest of the team. Existing work suggests that such hierarchical teams suffer from greater intra-team competition. However, it remains unclear from this research how hierarchical differentiation within teams affect the team’s ability to compete and cooperate effectively with other teams. Combining insights from the literatures on negotiations and social hierarchies, we propose that hierarchical differentiation within teams promotes a more competitive negotiation strategy between teams, which undermines joint gain and leaves valuable resources unused. We tested these predictions in two laboratory experiments involving 554 negotiating teams and find that hierarchical teams achieved lower joint gain than egalitarian teams because they adopted a more competitive strategy during the negotiation itself.

Lacking pluralism? A critical review of the use of cultural dimensions in negotiation research

Cross-Cultural-Negotiations are pivotal in global business. Research frequently approaches this topic using cultural dimensions as underpinning conceptual constructs. This paper provides a systematic review of the use of cultural dimensions in negotiation research of more than 30 years. Empirical Cross-Cultural-Negotiation literature has been systematically searched for findings obtained by the use of Hofstede or The Globe Study dimensional constructs and categorized them into four negotiation stages. Findings show that negotiation research lacks pluralism in the use of cultural dimensions: The majority of publications use Hofstede’s Individuality dimension as the main reference, whereas the remaining dimensions of Hofstede, and especially those of The Globe Study enjoyed little attention so far—A trend that continues to exist until 2017, including. This review also shows that the use of Hofstede’s Individuality dimension delivers contradictory findings in crucial research areas: Competitive versus Cooperative Negotiation Strategy, Integrative Information Exchange, Problem Solving Approaches and its reciprocation. Further, an analysis of research sub-categories reveals an unbalanced distribution, focussing mainly on negotiation strategies and is widely ignoring other areas of research. Implications of the findings and the use of alternative dimensional constructs of culture for future research are discussed.

ANALISIS RENTABILITAS PADA INDUSTRI PERHOTELAN YANG TERDAFTAR DI BURSA EFEK INDONESIA

As business increasingly global, financial statements are more important than ever before. As a basis of competitive analysis, credit decisions, business negotiation and legal entity control. For investor or potential investor, it would be better to analyse the company’s financial performace first. In assessing the company’s financial performance, one of the indicators that mostly used is accounting investment in the form of a company’s financial satatement. This study was conducted in the hospitality industry listed on the stock exchange with aim to analyse financial statement in assessing the company’s financial performance. The analytical method used in this study is a quantitative analysis method. From the financial statement there is an analysis of profitability to be able to predict the condition of the company’s in the future. The results of profitability ratio which consist of profit margin, gross profit margin, net profit margin, ROI, and ROA show that ability of the company to get profits from all sources have varies performances. There are companies which have good, standard and poor performances.

Evaluating the role of Confucian virtues in Chinese negotiation strategies using a Yin Yang cultural perspective

The purpose of the paper is to assess the dynamic and paradoxical nature of Chinese culture and Confucian virtues; particularly, how deeply rooted they are in the culture and how they impact negotiation strategies of Chinese negotiators. A multiple case study method revealed important implications for negotiations with the Chinese. Just a few of the identified factors impacting negotiation strategies of the Chinese were location within China, industry, business partner personal characteristics, hierarchy, age, seniority and guanxi. More importantly, their negotiation strategies are changing in time, depending on the context and situation. In the case of high hierarchy and power distance, Chinese negotiators will resort to rites and rituals (li) as a tactic of a more competitive or distributive (win-lose) negotiation strategy. However, when they expect and seek long-term relationships (win-win negotiations), Confucian virtues of benevolence and compassion (ren), honesty and righteousness (yi) and faithfulness (xin) will be amplified. This study's findings present important implications for businesspeople negotiating with the Chinese and open new venues for future research.

The cooperation link: Power and context moderate verbal mimicry.

Drawing on theories of mimicry as a schema-driven process, we tested whether the degree of verbal mimicry is dependent on the congruence between interactants' power dynamic (symmetric versus asymmetric), task type (cooperative versus competitive), and interaction context (negotiation versus social). Experiment 1 found higher verbal mimicry among dyads who successfully completed a cooperative problem-solving task compared with those who did not, but only under conditions of symmetric, not asymmetric, power. Experiment 2 had dyads complete either a cooperative or a competitive negotiation task, under conditions of symmetric versus asymmetric power. Verbal mimicry was associated with improved negotiation outcomes under conditions of cooperation and symmetry, and competition and asymmetry. Experiment 3 completes this picture by separating cooperative-competitive orientation from the interaction context. Consistent with Experiment 2, verbal mimicry was associated with task success during a negotiation context with asymmetric power, and during a social interaction context with symmetric power. Our results point to the contextual link between verbal mimicry and task outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Greek Tragedy, Agonistic Space, and Contemporary Performance

In this article Stephe Harrop combines theatre history and performance analysis with contemporary agonistic theory to re-conceptualize Greek tragedy's contested spaces as key to the political potentials of the form. She focuses on Athenian tragedy's competitive and conflictual negotiation of performance space, understood in relation to the cultural trope of the agon. Drawing on David Wiles's structuralist analysis of Greek drama, which envisages tragedy's spatial confrontations as a theatrical correlative of democratic politics, performed tragedy is here re-framed as a site of embodied contest and struggle – as agonistic spatial practice. This historical model is then applied to a recent case study, Aeschylus’ The Suppliant Women as co-produced by Actors Touring Company and the Lyceum, Edinburgh, in 2016–17, proposing that the frictious effects, encounters, and confrontations generated by this production (re-staged and re-articulated across multiple venues and contexts) exemplify some of the potentials of agonistic spatial practice in contemporary re-performance of Greek tragedy. It is contended that re-imagining tragic theatre, both ancient and modern, as (in Chantal Mouffe's terms) ‘agonistic public space’ represents an important new approach to interpreting and creatively re-imagining, interactions between Athenian tragedy and democratic politics. Stephe Harrop is a Lecturer in Drama at Liverpool Hope University, where her research focuses primarily on performances and texts adapted from, or responding to, ancient tragedy and epic. She is co-author of Greek Tragedy and the Contemporary Actor (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming).

A Co-Opetitive Automated Negotiation Model for Vertical Allied Enterprises Teams and Stakeholders.

Upstream and downstream of supply chain enterprises often form a tactic vertical alliance to enhance their operational efficiency and maintain their competitive edges in the market. Hence, it is critical for an alliance to collaborate over their internal resources and resolve the profit conflicts among members, so that the functionality required by stakeholders can be fulfilled. As an effective solution, automated negotiation for the vertical allied enterprises team and stakeholder will sufficiently make use of emerging team advantages and significantly reduce the profit conflicts in teams with grouping decisions rather than unilateral decisions by some leader. In this paper, an automated negotiation model is designed to describe both the collaborative game process among the team members and the competitive negotiation process between the allied team and the stakeholder. Considering the co-competitiveness of the vertical allied team, the designed model helps the team members making decision for their own sake, and the team counter-offers for the ongoing negotiation are generated with non-cooperative game process, where the profit derived from negotiation result is distributed with Shapley value method according to contribution or importance contributed by each team member. Finally, a case study is given to testify the effectiveness of the designed model.