ABSTRACT
Most business concepts are time-based: actualization, investment choice, product life cycle, sales forecasting, or the planning of new product launches, to name but a few. Normative time in marketing and management seems indisputable, and its very nature is rarely questioned: it is perceived as linear, continuous, and economic. Time works also as a process variable, influencing negotiation phases, the appointments between the parties, and the rhythm of negotiation, its pace, speed, and its rituals. Time-loaded negotiation activities display both cultural and individual variability and they are influenced by situational variables in the negotiation process, such as the amount of time available for talks or some inescapable deadline. The concept of economic time is based on accurate time reckoning, dependent on precise dating and defined duration. Very often the starting model for time management in the negotiation process will be a classic monochronic one, involving agenda setting and a precise planning of the talks.
