Negotiations for Start-ups

Course Director: Erik Wetter**
Examiner:** Valentina Tartari

Background
Everyone negotiates. Whether it is the scientist seeking research grants, the designer looking for a freelance assignment, the engineer discussing her first salary, or a team of entrepreneurs trying to secure financing for their new venture, all of these situations call for skills in persuasion and negotiation. All firms rise and fall with their sales, and most students at SSES partner schools will at some time find themselves in a negotiations and sales role; either as entrepreneurs in their own firms, or employed at e.g. biotechnology companies, creative firms or consulting firms. In addition, holding a management positions in any type of organization is essentially about the identification and resolution of conflicts, and doctors will find themselves dealing with reluctant patients refusing treatment, which also requires an understanding of negotiation, mediation, and persuasion processes.

Aims
Negotiations and sales are here defined as the art and science of securing agreements between two or more interdependent parties. This course will (1) help students to understand the theory and processes of negotiations and sales in a variety of settings, (2) highlight the components of an effective negotiation, and (3) help students to analyse their own behaviour in negotiations. After the course, the participants will have increased knowledge, skill, and confidence relating to negotiations and sales situations.

Teaching and learning activities
This is a 7.5 ECTS credit course. The classes will be based on lectures, literature, teaching cases and exercises. There will be guest lecturers and some multi-media elements. Examples of topics covered in the course, as applied to negotiations and sales:

• Psychology of decision-making
• Game theory and behavioural economics
• Gender effects in negotiations and sales
• How to avoid bargaining breakdown
• Multiparty negotiations

Additional information

The course is offered within the framework of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.

Responsible institution: SSE

Please note that this course will use the SSES Canvas instead of SSE Canvas. All registered students will receive an email with login information to the SSES Canvas approximately 1,5 weeks before their course starts.

All registration queries should be addressed to SSES via info@sses.se

Course administrator: marianne.castren@sses.se

After the course the participants will be able to:

• Understand the process of human decision-making
• Discuss common psychological heuristics and biases
• Explain negotiation frameworks e.g. BATNA & reservation price
• Better prepare, plan, and act in negotiation and sales situations
• Understand the dynamics of bilateral and multiparty negotiation
• Identify usage of different negotiation strategies and approaches

Students must have a minimum of 120 ECTS credits.

Will be announced in connection to the start of the course and communicated to enrolled participants.

The student’s grade will depend on two factors:

• Participation
• Individual literature assignments

Attendance
Attendance is compulsory.

Grading for courses offered within the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES)
Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES) is a collaboration of six schools in the Stockholm area. In order to harmonize the SSE grading scale with that of the other participating schools and to adapt to the pedagogical design of the courses, SSE has decided to use the following grading scale:

90-100 Excellent
75-89 Very good
60-74 Good
50-59 Pass
0-49 Fail

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).