4.1 Ritual
When a distributive negotiation strategy was utilised in an arm’s length relationship,
both purchasers and suppliers described the negotiation situation as a ritual to be
performed by both parties.
As an arm’s length relationship has relatively low-switching costs compared to the
more strategic partnership, both parties expressed an indifference towards the other
party when considering the outcome of the negotiation. That is, should the counterpart
in the negotiations demand a too unrealisable price when compared with the market
price, the negotiator would simply exit the negotiation and contact other
suppliers/buyers. This was also evident in the fact that both parties considered an
arm’s length relationship as a more one-off relationship, in which one factor was more
dominant than any other, namely the price. Negotiators would, therefore, claim that a
distributive negotiation strategy was expedient, as it all came down to the price and
how far the parties could argue the price either up for the supplier or down for the
buyer.
During the interviews, it became evident that both parties were also performance
judged based on their ability to negotiate prices and as a consequence would go to
great lengths to secure a good price for their respective companies. This also included
the manipulation of otherwise objective facts. Buyers would explain how they often
turned to quite questionable practices in order to manipulate the suppliers. For
instance, the development of market prices for a standard commodity would often be
heavily debated in the negotiation setting. Here, buyers and suppliers would often
manipulate numbers and statistics by presenting them in Excel spreadsheets that were
at best confusing for the counterpart, only to be briefly presented in the negotiation
setting. Graphs of for instance the recent price development of a standard good would
often be manipulated, so that curves would be represented as flatter or steeper
depending on the point, buyers or suppliers wanted to make.