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CS Professional · Arbitration, Mediation and Conciliation · Negotiation Skills and Communication

Meera Textiles Ltd and a supplier, Rao Yarns, are negotiating a delayed-delivery dispute. Before the first meeting, Meera's company secretary studies the contract, lists her company's interests, fixes the lowest acceptable settlement and works out what she will do if talks fail. Which stage of negotiation is she working on?

She is in the pre-negotiation or preparation stage. Gathering facts, identifying interests, fixing a walk-away point and planning an alternative if talks fail are all done before the parties sit down, whereas bargaining, closing and implementation happen later.

  1. APre-negotiation (preparation) stageCorrect
  2. BClosing stage
  3. CBargaining stage
  4. DImplementation stage

Explanation

Studying facts, identifying interests, setting a bottom line and working out the fallback option are all done before the parties meet. This is the preparation or pre-negotiation stage. Bargaining involves exchanging offers across the table, and closing involves recording the agreement.

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