Negotiation

by Gavin Kennedy, David Thorpe (Reader)

The new essential guide from The Economist. Almost every aspect of business—and indeed human life—involves negotiating skills, whether you are striking a deal, organising a team working on a project, seeking a pay rise or a pay-off, or simply settling such important matters as who is going to do the shopping or the household chores. This witty and intelligent guide looks at the theory and practice of negotiating and provides a wealth of illuminating insights into the skills and psychology of negotiation that can make all the difference to how successful you are. Its entries cover such topics, terms and jargon Avoidance-Avoidance Model, Bagatelle, Compromise Agreement, Dirty Tricks, Expectations, Frontal Assault, Guanxi, Hooker's Principle, Interpersonal Orientation, Killer Questions, Listening, Mother Hubbard, Noah's Ark, Offer They Must Refuse, Pendulum Arbitration, Quivering Quill, Russian Front, Salami, Tit-for-Tat, Unconditional Offer, Vulnerability, What If?, Yesable Proposition, and Zeuthen's Conflict Avoidance Model. Gavin Kennedy is Emeritus Professor at Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, and the author of several successful books on negotiation, including Everything is Negotiable and Strategic Negotiation.

Genres: Business

MP3 CD

Published March 15, 2016

About the author

Gavin Kennedy was a Scottish economist and founder of Negotiate. He was a leading figure in the world of negotiation and was involved in many high profile consultancy cases for governments and businesses. He was a Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh.

Kennedy studied economics at Strathclyde University, graduating with a BA in 1965 and then studying for an MSc. After taking a Ph.D. at Brunel University in London, he returned to Strathclyde as a senior lecturer in 1973. In 1980 he left Strathclyde for a professorial chair at Heriot-Watt University, and in 1986 he founded a company, Negotiate, to commercialise what he was teaching. He trained thousands of managers in the techniques he had developed.

Kennedy also wrote biographies of William Bligh (1978) and Adam Smith (2005).

In the 1970s, Kennedy became active in the Scottish National Party (SNP). In 1976 he wrote a paper entitled A Defence Budget for Scotland and edited a book of essays entitled The Radical Approach: Papers on an Independent Scotland. In the General Election of 1979 he was the SNP candidate in Edinburgh Central and he subsequently joined the left-wing 79 Group.