Sales Negotiations in Professional Service Firms [electronic resource] : An Exploratory Study on Agenda Setting and Issue Management /
Prat, Mireia.author.
This research study brings theoretical insights on real-life negotiations in sales of professional services in Spain and Germany. From the interview data obtained through an exploratory study based on a grounded theory approach, several factors that affect and determine agenda setting and issue management have emerged. It has been spotted that industry standards rather than negotiation strategy determine agenda setting and that issues about content are usually agreed on before negotiating price and bureaucratic conditions, being the degree of "productization" of Professional Service Firms a variable that needs to be taken into account. Moreover, a pattern has been found in sales negotiations of consulting companies dealing with client companies with an organized purchasing department, which has been labeled as "multi-party sequential negotiation model".   Contents Agenda setting Issue management Multi-party sequential negotiation Productization of Professional Services   Target Groups Researchers and students in the field of business management and negotiation Professional Service Firms' decision makers, Sales Managers, Purchasing Managers and professionals dealing with negotiations   The Author Mireia Prat studied Business Management at Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona, and obtained her Master of Science degree in Management and Marketing at Freie Universität of Berlin.
Description based upon print version of record.
Foreword; Table of Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Abbreviations; 1. Real-life negotiation research in Spanish and German professional service firms; 2. Theoretical foundations; 2.1 Negotiations as cooperation and competition; 2.2 Professional service firms as a suitable object of study; 2.3 Characterization of Spanish and German cultures; 2.3.1 Hofstede and GLOBE cultural dimensions; 2.3.2 High and low-context communication; 3. An exploratory study based on qualitative interviews
3.1 Qualitative research study following an interpretative paradigm according to a grounded theory approach3.2 Data collection through qualitative in-depth interviews; 3.2.1 Qualitative in-depth interviews; 3.2.2 Interview guide; 3.2.3 Theoretical sampling process; 3.2.4 Sample characteristics; 3.3 Data analysis and interpretation; 3.3.1 Data treatment: transcription and coding; 3.3.2 Overview to data results; 4. Results; 4.1 Which are the negotiation issues?; 4.2 When and how are negotiation issues introduced?; 4.2.1 First stage: contact initiation
4.2.2 Second stage: proposal and negotiation preparation4.2.3 Third stage: proposal submission and closing the deal; 4.2.4 Issue introduction in banking; 4.2.5 Issue introduction recapitulation; 4.3 How are issues negotiated?; 4.3.1. Agenda setting or the order in which issues are negotiated; 4.3.2 Issue management or the negotiation strategies involving issues; 4.3.3 Agenda setting and issue management in banking; 4.3.4 Multi-party sequential negotiations in consulting companies dealing with clients with organized purchasing departments; 4.4 Which factors influence the negotiation of issues?
4.4.1 Institutional guidelines and performance evaluation4.4.2 Focus on long term relationships and trust building; 4.4.3 Negotiation power and switching costs; 4.4.4 Emerging cultural differences; 5. Discussion; 5.1 What needs to be reconceptualized on our understanding of negotiations; 5.2 Towards a productization of professional services; 5.3 Attenuation of cultural differences in sales negotiations in professional service firms; 5.4 Conclusion: limitations and future research; Exhibits; Exhibit 1: Interview guide; Introduction: information about the company and the person
Part 1: Initiation of the negotiation situation/process to closing a dealPart 2: The negotiation preparation; Part 3: The negotiation; Conclusion: other insights and summary; References
Includes bibliographical references.
This research study brings theoretical insights on real-life negotiations in sales of professional services in Spain and Germany. From the interview data obtained through an exploratory study based on a grounded theory approach, several factors that affect and determine agenda setting and issue management have emerged. It has been spotted that industry standards rather than negotiation strategy determine agenda setting and that issues about content are usually agreed on before negotiating price and bureaucratic conditions, being the degree of "productization" of Professional Service Firms a variable that needs to be taken into account. Moreover, a pattern has been found in sales negotiations of consulting companies dealing with client companies with an organized purchasing department, which has been labeled as "multi-party sequential negotiation model".   Contents Agenda setting Issue management Multi-party sequential negotiation Productization of Professional Services   Target Groups Researchers and students in the field of business management and negotiation Professional Service Firms' decision makers, Sales Managers, Purchasing Managers and professionals dealing with negotiations   The Author Mireia Prat studied Business Management at Universitat Pompeu Fabra of Barcelona, and obtained her Master of Science degree in Management and Marketing at Freie Universität of Berlin.
Marketing.
Marketing.