Wow! Its been a long time. I guess I will just have to live with the fact that I am not very disciplined when it comes to blogging.
Anyways, this time its about a Movie -

LIFE OF PI 

I don't want this to be another review of the movie so I will keep it brief.
I liked the ending where same stories with two different set of characters is told. Also, when I read the book, almost 8 years ago, I was fascinated by it, but I don't remember reading much of the religious discussion that was shown in the movie. I have always believed in the idea of one god, and this movie portrayed that concept in a beautiful way. How impressionable a kid's mind is.This movie may go on to win an Oscar, but I still think this movie can not substitute the excitement that comes from reading the book.

2 hours well spent.

Negotiations - Corporate

I am back! Armed with a book this time and hopefully for the next few posts.

Book: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution - Harvard Business Review

Negotiate as a corporate while keeping good customer relationships.

An interesting and counter-intuitive thought floated by the writer is that discounts that are offered to customers during negotiations solely for the purpose of retaining the customer is a move that most often backfires. Customers tend to devalue the company and its product. The worst of all it actually ruins the chances of a good long term relationship. A cycle of constant discounts and suspicion build up over time. The best strategy is to adopt a method where a deal and a relationship with a customer are not intertwined.

"BATNA" - Best Alternative to Negotiated Argument.

This is a useful concept whereby every negotiator before heading into the negotiation phase researches and finds alternatives. Thus giving them more leverage in a negotiation.

Author encourages the Managers to take an active role in this process and thereby increase their salesforce's confidence that saying "NO" to a customer is alright as long as they have evaluated some BATNAs.

In my view it makes better business sense to build confidence and trust in your customers and maintain a strong position by having alternatives to the current deal.