Power in Negotiation

Components of Successful Negotiations

There are many occasions when a smaller company will want to form a negotiation partnership with a larger organization to further their business objectives. There are two hurdles that the smaller company might have to overcome to succeed in the negotiation process.

The first problem is to get the larger organization’s attention, as they may express little or no interest in the partnership. The second problem revolves around the prickly issue of negotiating from a much weaker power base. There exists the danger that the smaller party’s business goals aren’t overwhelmed by the more powerful negotiating partner.

Although the following case study entails a similar problem faced by two countries, the lessons learned can be applied to any similar business negotiation model. On October 3, 1987, representatives of Canada and the United States signed The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) after two strenuous years of intense negotiations.

Reasons for Power Negotiations

Canada could be described as a medium-sized economy. Its population is 1/10th the size of the US, which is considered an economic superpower in comparison. Canada is economically dependent on the United States. The reason is mainly due to its small domestic market, scattered over a vast geographical locale. More than 75% of its exports go to the US, making the US Canada’s prime trading partner. By contrast, the US was exporting less than 20% of its products to Canada.

In the 1970s, Canada’s economic health rose and fell like the proverbial yo-yo. It was too resource based and needed to add some revenue to its manufacturing industry to stabilize the economy. A Royal Commission concluded that Canada’s only means to achieve this stability was to engage in an open free trade partnership with the United States.

The problem was that the United States wasn’t especially interested in such a free trade partnership agreement. The US was, in addition, also becoming increasingly protectionist during this time period. The result was that Canada was facing a whole host of penalties and countervailing actions against Canadian goods. Canada clearly needed a plan to gain power leverage.

Profitable Proposition

The first step that Canada took was in the form of preparation by developing a succinct plan. A chief negotiator, Simon Reisman, was appointed by the Canadian Prime Minister himself. He established an ad-hoc organization called the Trade Negotiations Office (TNO). This organization reported directly to the Canadian Government Cabinet and had access to highest levels of bureaucracy. It established in no uncertain terms its negotiation goals and objectives. These included a strong dispute resolution mechanism that the Canadians felt was vitally important to their success.

In contrast, the United States did not consider the FTA to be especially important. So, the US let Canada do all the initial work. The only reason why the US Congress even considered the FTA proposal was that they liked the idea of a bilateral approach to trade. They were also tired of the previous mechanism that failed to settle a host of trade dispute irritants between the two countries known as GATT.

It would also allow freer access to other segments of the Canadian economy. President Ronald Reagan decided to fast track the negotiations and appointed Peter Murphy to represent their interests. The US was also concerned about the growing hegemony of the European economy.

Strong differences in interests and approach dogged the negotiations. The Canadians used every advantage available, including the use of Summit negotiation meetings between the leaders of both countries to emphasize their concerns at every opportunity. Yet, the political powers in the US dragged their feet to such an extent that the Canadian negotiators walked away from the talks to express their displeasure. This put some heat on the US administrators to the extent that US Treasury Secretary Baker took over the negotiations.

The Largest Bilateral Trade Relationship

As a consequence, the talks between the two countries were successfully concluded. Several concessions were made by both countries. The US opened up a larger investment segment in the Canadian economy and removed some of the more time-consuming trade irritants. The Canadians achieved their main goals of getting freer access to the US economy, while implementing a strong trade dispute resolution method.

The Free Trade Agreement between the two countries created the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world. Canada achieved its objectives because of its detailed planning and the intense focus of its negotiating team despite the asymmetry in power between the two nations.