ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role and length of preliminaries, necessarily longer and more personal when a relationship is primarily sought after. It examines the challenge of unprepared negotiators, especially when the other party comes fully prepared, having properly done their homework. The chapter also examines two types of post-negotiation. First, finalizing the deal, from an apparent agreement to an explicit contractual arrangement, with all sorts of opportunistic moves related to oblivion, interpretation, and particular readings of what has been said earlier. Second, post-negotiation occurs after the contract has been signed. A simpler solution for information gathering in the negotiation preparation phase is to ask for private information from the potential partner, and consequently be ready to reciprocate by delivering one's own private information. Information gathering deals with macro-environment information, in particular general facts on the national and business context of the negotiation partner. Negotiation facilitators act as third parties involved in alternative dispute resolution.
