The Organization as Negotiator

Editors’ Note: The authors discuss the surprising shortage of researchon how organizations negotiate or plan to negotiate, when the work isconsidered on a broader than individual level. They contrast this withevidence that certain organizations have profited enormously, and evenbecome dominant players in their markets, largely by adopting andenforcing one consistent style and approach to negotiation, one whichsupports in every detail the organization’s overall strategy. They arguethat building on this evidence represents a potentially huge strategicopportunity for organizations which have not yet tackled consistency ofpurpose and of execution across all of their relationships with suppliers,employees and other stakeholders. They note, however, that the resultsof such consistency are not always attractive to the outside observer.