Scripts: What to Do When Big Bad Companies Won't Negotiate

Abstract

The authors reprise and update their earlier work “Last Plane Out” to examine the state of the art of negotiation with large companies who are repeat players in negotiation (airlines, Amazon, government agencies, retailers and others), analyzing past practices of “customer is always right” to current efforts to routinize and “electronocize” negotiations with customers, who are sometimes “one-off” negotiators. The authors analyze how both problem solving and more routinized negotiations must be adapted to new conditions. The authors analyze some Online dispute resolution strategies and offer some suggestions, from empirical study and personal experiences, for more effective ways to successfully negotiate when repeat players use inflexible “scripts and playbooks” for their negotiation processes. Issues of social justice, publicity, transparency and modern “aggregation” of claims are briefly reviewed.