Effective Negotiation and Contractual Process

The assignment emphasizes the significance of negotiation in business, highlighting the importance of following key steps and ERP processes to resolve disputes. It also touches on the need for contractual management, including planning, execution, and closure. The document is useful for students looking for insights into negotiation and contract management.

Pitching and
Negotiation Skills

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1 negotiation, why it occurs ......................................................................................................1
P2 Key steps and information required for negotiating...............................................................2
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P3 RFP process ...........................................................................................................................3
P4 Contractual process................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................4
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................4
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Negotiation is an activity wherein two or more parties comes together in order to sign an
agreement for mutual benefit of both parties. At business negotiation is usually carried with an
aim to gain strategic advantage in market. To conduct an effective business plan pitching plays a
vital role. To better understand this concept AOL has been chosen which is an American web
portal & online service provider. There are various topics has covered in this report such as: to
explain about the negotiation and key stakeholders in negotiation process, discuss about ERP
process & relevant types of documentation required. Along with this, report has discussed about
key principles which are helpful to achieve sustainable competitive edge and identify potential
issues in context to the pitch.
TASK 1
P1 negotiation, why it occurs
Negotiation is a tool which is beneficial to resolve the conflicts which arises at
workplace. To settle the disputes, it is very important factor for the organisation. It is also
beneficial to develop effective relationship & delivering quality solutions in order to fulfil the
desires of business related parties. To resolve the conflicts and future problems it plays a vital
role. As the main reason of negotiation occurrence is that one party does not satisfy with needs &
demands of another party. According to the case scenario, Microsoft won negotiation with AOL
competing against the browser market leader Netscape by getting the best out of their marketing
resources. Netscape has strong technical superiority, presence & dominance in overall browser
market. So it is important for Microsoft and AOL to expand their business in context to the
browser market (Holden and Thompson, 2013).
In this regard Microsoft has made negotiation and offering to bundle AOL into the
Windows operating system and it offered to do this for free. As the promised has been made that
Microsoft provide additional technical adaption if AOL sign a multiyear contract. Despite the
fact that both were competitors but this negotiation strategy will be beneficence for their growth
of business. As they can reach out to a market which equated to an additional 50 million persons
in a year. So this negotiation strategy can be helpful in context to the business growth of AOL.
As stakeholders are the individuals or corporations which are directly or indirectly related to the
business of company and they have interest also in the business of corporation. In context to the
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negotiation, key stakeholders are those which includes in the procedure of bargaining & mutually
agreed to enter an agreement. They communicate the need while entering into an agreement in
context to the negotiation and it is helpful to get better outcome. Key stakeholders involves:
business partners, owners, suppliers, consumers etc (Dinnar and Susskind, 2018).
P2 Key steps and information required for negotiating
To make negotiation is important because it is helpful to resolve the conflicts which
arises in the business. As there are various steps of negotiation which are used by AOL and these
are as describe below:
Preparation & planning: In this step organisation prepare a plan that how they will find
appropriate solution in context to the negotiation. For that purpose, AOL can make effective plan
that how it will make negotiation with Microsoft so that its business can grow and it can lead the
market.
Definition of ground rules: After the planning, there is another step to emphasis towards
the ground rules. In this process rules & procedures has been formulated for the purpose of
planned negotiation. It considers following points such as: how negotiation will take place, what
are the issues and what happen if there is not any agreement. In this process parties will find out
about the prices for the negotiation and show their expectations. So AOL will set the ground
rules that how it will be negotiate with Microsoft and what will be the prices and what are the
points which are required to be discussed while negotiating.
Clarification and justification: In this step, both parties will explain and justify about
their demand in context to the negotiation. For that purpose, it is important for AOL to explain
its interest and expectation while negotiation take place. In this regard company can give
justification to Microsoft about their interest while negotiating.
Bargaining & problem solving: It is the fourth step of negotiation in which AOL make
bargaining with Microsoft in order to resolve the issues while negotiating. As per the case
bargaining has done on the basis of prices and AOL does not require to pay any cost while using
Windows Operating system (Romo, 2017).
Closure and Implementation: It is the final step of negotiation and in which both parties
are mutually agreed for the purpose of negotiation. As per the case, AOL and Microsoft has
agreed for the closure & implementation and they decided for their business growth both
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companies will support each other. For that purpose, Microsoft has decided that AOL can use its
Windows operating system and it will also provide additional technical adaptations.
TASK 2
P3 RFP process
RPF is a document which is issued by corporations to request vendors bids for products,
solutions & services. It provides a procurement framework to streamline the initial stages for the
purpose of contractor solicitation. RPF process is describe as below:
Determine needs: To analyse the requirements are important while writing an RFP and
while documenting a request for proposal it needed to write “help wanted” ad. It is helpful to
determine requirements for organisation, tactics, knowledge and time duration in context to the
submission of proposal.
Write RFP: There is a specific formate of RFP which is provided by various authors but
it is important for organisation to follow uniform formate so that vendors can easily understand it
(John Peters, 2016).
Distribute the RPF: To get the fruitful results it is essential for the organisation to
distribute more RPF so that it can get better response from vendors & suppliers.
Evaluate responses: It is important stage of request for proposal and in this process
proposal has been short-listing so that unwanted things can be eliminate from the proposal.
When short listing has done by vendors or suppliers than proposal has sent to the organisation for
scrutinizing.
Evaluate further: In this process important information has been gathered and
interviews are conducted from chosen candidates. Vendors provides the relevant details which is
helpful for the business entity. In this regard, stakeholders take final decision in context to the
price & terms of agreement and if individual has selected than it will be chosen as supplier of
corporation.
Make a decision: After looking all important points the final decision has been taken and
appropriate vendor has been chosen who provide services at reasonable price (Tse, 2013).
P4 Contractual process
As when contracts are complicated of have more value than parties has made negotiation
so that favourable results can be produced. To make contract it is require that parties has to give
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their acceptance about a specific subject matter. Before giving the acceptance negotiation has
been made so that terms and conditions of contractual process can effectively follow by both of
the parties. As all parties of contractual process have to follow the obligations which are related
to it.
In this step, foundation of relevant contract has been set up along with effective planning
procedure. As the proper details has been provided by contract management team to the
procurement team. The project has been scheduled in context to the contract execution so that
effective results can be determine. When both parties have mutual understanding about the
contractual process after following negotiation process than they will be bind as per the
regulations of contract. As integrated management aspects are associated with procurement stage
deals and it is beneficial to follow the rules and regulation according to the governance. The
documents are managed effectively in the execution stage. In ending contract closure has
managed and document has been saved in this stage. So it is important for AOL to emphasis
about contractual process (Genovese, 2014).
TASK 3
Covered in PPT
TASK 4
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
As from the above report, it has been concluded that it is important for an organisation to
make effective negotiation in order to resolve the disputes which arises in the business. As there
are various stakeholders that plays a vital role in negotiation process. To get relevant information
it is require to follow the key steps. For a corporation it is require to follow ERP process and the
documents which are essential for it.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals:
Genovese, J., 2014. Sports television reporters and the negotiation of fragmented professional
identities. Communication, Culture & Critique. 8(1). pp.55-72.
Tse, J., 2013. Pitching your ideas to senior management. Training & Development. 40(6). p.11.
John Peters, B., 2016. Reading Religion: Chivalry in the Alliterative Morte Arthure as an
Instance of Cultural Negotiation. Literature and Theology. 31(3). pp.305-317.
Fatima, S. and Rahwan, I., 2013. Negotiation and bargaining. Multiagent Systems. 143.
Romo, L. K., 2017. College Student-Athletes’ Communicative Negotiation of Emotion Labor.
Communication & Sport. 5(4). pp.492-509.
Jennings, S., 2018. Negotiating: a five step approach to the negotiation of health care contracts.
In The Clinical Directorate(pp. 44-62). CRC Press.
Dinnar, S. and Susskind, L., 2018. Entrepreneurial negotiation: Understanding and managing
the relationships that determine your entrepreneurial success. Springer.
Cremades, A., 2016. The art of startup fundraising: pitching investors, negotiating the deal, and
everything else entrepreneurs need to know. John Wiley & Sons.
O'brien, J., 2016. Negotiation for Procurement Professionals: A Proven Approach that Puts the
Buyer in Control. Kogan Page Publishers.
Holden, R. K. and Thompson, L., 2013. Learn Successful Sales and Negotiation Tips
(Collection). FT Press.
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