Negotiation Tactics Used By Mitch And Max In The Pharmax And Miramas Case Study

Negative negotiation tactics used by Mitch and Max

The Facts

Pharmax is a pharmaceutical company that needs the chemical compound from the juice of the rare fruit Olenge. The chemical compound from Olenge juice is used to make the vaccination for the deadly Z virus. However, the world’s supply of Olenge was recently bought up by Miramas, a cosmetics company. Miramas uses Olenge husks to make their world famous face cream, Omas, which supposedly reverses aging.

Pharmax’s CEO, Max Barr, and Miramas’ CEO, Mitch Barr, are brothers, but are at loggerheads because Max hid, and never returned, Mitch’s favourite stuffed bear, Mickey, 20 years ago.

Mitch is refusing to speak to Max about Olenge unless Max returns Mickey. Max has no idea where Mickey is. Max has told Mitch that the real issue is Miramas’ unethical practice of having all the Olenge producers tied up in 25 year supply contracts, which is exploitation of the Olenge producers, and they should be negotiating about releasing the Olenge producers from their onerous contracts. Although Max has also indicated to Mitch that he is willing to buy the available Olenge stock at $8 per kilogram (knowing that Mitch paid $12 per kilogram), Max also told Mitch that he is being an “unreasonable brat”, just like when they were growing up. Max has also told Mitch that if they cannot come to an agreement by tomorrow, he will tell “mother about Mitch not sharing”.

Question 1

List the negative negotiation tactics used by Mitch and Max.

Question 2

Apply the appropriate countermeasure to the negative negotiation tactics identified in Question 1.

Demonstrate how the countermeasure will work in each case (i.e. what the particular brother could say or do).

Question 3

(a) Analyse Max’s interests.

(b) Analyse Mitch’s interests.

The negative negotiation tactics used by Mitch and Max in the case study are as:

After 20 years also Mitch decided not to talk Max as he has hidden his favorite bear Mickey 20 years ago. This shows the unprofessional behavior of both the brothers Max and Mitch. Max threatens Mitch for making agreement decision by tomorrow otherwise he will complain to their mother. As Mitch is CEO of Miramas’ Max told him that he should cancel the 25 years of contract with Olenge a supplier which is resulting as an unethical practice according to Max (‘Negotiation and Conflict Management Research – Call for Papers’, 2010). Mitch and Max are of unprofessional as they always threaten each other by saying that will tell to mother that you are not sharing or by giving direct decision for cancelling any contract which presenting any genuine reason. Max decided to buy available stock of olenge at $8 per kilogram as it is available in market at $12 per kilogram. This can increase the cost of expenditure of Max organization. Mitch and Max are in hurry of negotiation for the olenge product for their final product. There is no planning for negotiation, market survey and etc which will effect there organization work (Cleary, 2001). The negotiation by both Mitch and Max is done by ignoring the future scenario or they are having no future plan. If the owner of organization is having unprofessional behavior and are involving their personal matters in business decisions then the working environment of organization will also be effected (Bazerman, 2005). Max and Mitch should avoid there conflict as it will give adverse effect on final decision and working environment of organization. Max and Mitch should work as a team forgetting their conflict so that the environment of workplace is motivating for others (Menken, 2009). The final decision of negotiation should be taken by Max and Mitch common decision taking into consideration the changes of market in future. There can be adverse effect on the negotiation process of the personal dispute between Mitch and Max.

Countermeasures to the negative negotiation tactics

Mitch and Max should plan before starting any negotiation process. Mitch and max should avoid completing negotiation process in hurry, as there is chance of selecting the wrong plan. Negotiation should be done by taking into consideration future scenario. Mitch and Max should try to keep their personal and business matters separate to make their subordinates work properly (Nixon, 2005).Wrong decision regarding the olenge product can create problem in future, so before taking any final decision for supply of olenge product both brothers should plan and discuss (‘Issue Information’, 2013).Mitch and Max should have conversation regarding the final decision. Before deciding anything both brothers should do market survey properly to know the future, present and past scenario of olenge product (Eunson, 2007). For making decision or agreement for supply of olenge Mitch and Max should stop threatening each other. Mitch and max both by combine decision can stop any agreement not by one person decision. Both are having equal authority in organization. Mitch and Max before making decision for supply of olenge should consider the extreme demand and reverse condition. The least expenditure supply method should be decided by Mitch and Max who can only be done when they both talk to each other forgetting the past things. Max and Mitch should understand the importance of conflict management before working together (Corvette, 2007). Mitch should stop threatening Max for the past incident which is related to their personal life not the professional life (‘Issue Information’, 2014). And max should also stop threatening Mitch as it will give a negative impression on their subordinates. The negotiation process has done in hurry, which shows the differences between Max and Mitch. The negotiation done in hurry can affect their work in future as the market rate of olenge in present date will be different from its future rate. May be in future the rate can increase by such a rate which may decrease their profit.

The first thing which Mitch and Max should do is they should solve their personal and profession matters separately. The benefit of doing so will be that they will not combine their personal matter in business matter and the decision taken will be beneficial for organization (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2015). If they will keep there both matters separate then they Mitch will talk to Max by forgetting the 20 years before incident. When Max and Mitch will have conversation the decision take will be beneficial for the organization. Both Mitch and Max can do the planning by considering thoughts, ideas of both which will be helpful for final decision. The decision should not be taken in hurry, both Max and Mitch should do survey research of the market and then decide. Before finalizing both of them should compare the expenditure cost for olenge product of different suppliers (Tracy, 2013). Max and Mitch should maintain the professional environment in the organization which will motivate their subordinates (Zartman, 2008). They should divide their roles and responsibilities before starting work so that they are clear what they have to do to incur the profit. The unprofessional behavior of Max and Mitch towards their work should be changed to improve the working environment of the workplace and to increase their productivity.

Analysis of Max’s interests

Here, after went through the mentioned case, it can be considered that what interest Max is possessing is a very serious one. Being the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, he is intending to use the rare fruit olenge in a very authentic manner. He would like to use the rare fruit resource of olenge to produce a sought of medicine vaccination, this vaccination is very essential to protect peoples from a dangerous daisies caused from Z virus. Olenges are much required to produce the vaccination medicine for Z virus. But most of the olenges goes to a cosmetics producing company, there olenges are used to produce a special facial cream to reduce anti aging fictions. Mainly olenges are used to produce beauty products (Watson, 2009). By virtue of that the cosmetics producing company, Miramas, contracted to most of the olenge fruit producers to deliver their olenges to the company known as Miramas. Because of this Pharmax, the pharmaceutical company could not get enough quantity of olenges for producing that life saving vaccination medicine. According to Max, rare and important fruits like olenges should not be used unethically and unnecessarily, which is done by the cosmetics company, Miramas, which deprived human beings from getting a life saving medicines. Here the main interest from the part of Max is to get most of the olenges by forcing Mitch to cancel the contracts, for production of life saving vaccination (Van den Hoven, 2002). He wants to by the olenges at a very cheap price, irrespective of the fact that Mitch has to suffer from a good amount of loss (Swedberg, 2005). It signifies another interest of Max, though Max’s primary intention is to get the olenges for producing medicines but he also wants to make a good amount of profit, by causing loss to his brother Mitch (Nelmes, 2011). 

As per the information given in the context, it can be assumed that Mitch is the inferior one among the two brothers. He is the CEO of a cosmetics company, known as Miramas, he made a contract with the producers of rare fruit olenges for producing the anti aging facial cream. Mitch’s inferiority show from his attributes, as he did not wanted to make any discussion with his brother unless he get returned back his toy, Mickey, which was hide by Max. Mitch is forced by Max to sell out the in stock olenges at a very minimum price which will cause a good amount of loss to Mitch. Max wanted to comply undue influence upon Mitch by coercing him that he shall make a complaint to their mother. Mitch also wants to earn money but the main motive from the part of Mitch was to get his toy, Mickey back, he did not wanted any complaint to be made to his mother in his name. Apart from all this, Mitch is a business man, he also wants to earn profit, and nevertheless no businessman would like to suffer from any kind of loss. Though he was forced by Max to sell the olenges to him at a very cheap price but Mitch do not wants to sell those olenges as it will not only cause huge loss to the company of Mitch but also it will affect the market position of the company as to the products (Taylor, 2005). He was also forced to cancel the contracts with the producers of the olenges but it might shake the base of the company and the position of Mitch as well, as he is empowered to take such decisions as a CEO (Nixon, 2005). 

References

Bazerman, M. (2005). Negotiation, decision making and conflict management. Cheltenham [u.a.]: Elgar.

Cleary, P. (2001). The negotiation handbook. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.

Corvette, B. (2007). Conflict management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Eunson, B. (2007). Conflict management. Milton, Qld.: Wiley.

Issue Information. (2013). Negotiation And Conflict Management Research, 6(2), i-i. doi:10.1111/j.1750-4716.2013.00105.x

Issue Information. (2014). Negotiation And Conflict Management Research, 7(2), i-ii. doi:10.1111/ncmr.12018

Lewicki, R., Saunders, D., & Barry, B. (2015). Negotiation. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Education.

Menken, I. (2009). The business relationship management handbook. [Australia?]: Emereo.

Negotiation and Conflict Management Research – Call for Papers. (2010). Negotiation And Conflict Management Research, 3(4), 400-401. doi:10.1111/j.1750-4716.2010.00067.x

Nixon, P. (2005). Negotiation. Singapore: Wiley.

Tracy, B. (2013). Negotiation. New York: American Management Association.

Zartman, I. (2008). Negotiation and conflict management. London: Routledge.

Nelmes, J. (2011). Analysing the screenplay. New York: Routledge.

Nixon, P. (2005). Negotiation. Singapore: Wiley.

Swedberg, R. (2005). Interest. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Taylor, M. (2005). Negotiation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Van den Hoven, A. (2002). Interest group influence on trade policy in a multilevel polity. Florence: European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.

Watson, R. (2009). Analysing practical and professional texts. Farnham, England: Ashgate.