ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a case study which is used for training negotiators. Langside, the retailer, claims to have lost profits as a result of a failure in supplies from Fulcrum of its best-selling detergent, Console. Fulcrum was the victim of a strike at one of its suppliers of its trade-marked plastic bottles, which it fills with Console liquid softner. Participants may choose to argue about the past losses, who was to blame and the issue of the apparent availability of Console in rival retailers' stores. This approach will lead to deadlock. Alternatively, they can concentrate on their common interests for the future – how to sell more Console for their mutual profitability. Inevitably, there is some minimum arithmetic required as the participants must grasp the details if they are to negotiate effectively. These data have been simplified to keep the arithmetic to approximate numbers, and participants should be steered gently towards formulating proposals rather than getting hooked into number-crunching.
