MIT Lecture: Introduction to the Art of Business Negotiations

The ability to negotiate is of high significance in business, especially when one is vulnerable due to asymmetry of information and other resources. Professor Ofer Sharone’s lecture on the art of negotiations was very inspiring in enlightening the students on the proper way to conduct negotiations in practical situations.

Professor Sharone began with his own early experience, revealing the reason for him to get interested in the art of negotiations. Then he highlighted the value, the wide presence and multiple types, and the increasing importance of negotiation in nowadays business world. He pointed out that the skills of negotiations should be advanced in practice besides theory-study. That’s why he chose 3 cases and did simulations in the lecture. They are a car-selling case between a salesman and a client, one PR crisis encountered by Mr. Roosevelt’s campaign manager, and a job offer between a recruiter and a potential employee. These mocking negotiations with distinct situations and relationships among players did enhance students’ understanding on the core of this lecture.