Sunday, July 15, 2018

David Honig — Trumps's style of "distributive bargaining"


Distributive bargaining is win-lose aka zero-sum. Integrative bargaining is win-win aka compromise.

Distributive bargaining is based on the assumption of conflict between the interest of the parties in dividing a fixed pie, while integrative bargaining is about cooperation on common interests and compromise on other interests to grow the pie.

Trump's bargaining style based on his business background is distributive and based on competition, where there is a winner and a loser at the striking of the bargain. 

The Chinese style of bargaining is integrative and aims at satisfying the interest of all by cooperation in a more open-ended arrangement.

Not a great analysis of Trump's m.o. but worth a read if there's time. It's short, and it's a hot topic now.

Some see Trump's style as simplistic for the international situation and others as being 5-D chess that only Trump can understand.

My view is that Trump is a lot better negotiator in this regard than the opposing side gives him credit for, but I also think that he tends to look at international deals in terms of particulars, so he can claim a win in each case. But the international chess board is more complicated than that. It's like playing chess with the intention of never losing even a pawn in the game. But Trump also knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. The game consists of many hands.

Geopolitika
Trumps's style of "distributive bargaining"
David Honig

2 comments:

Ryan Harris said...

"The Chinese style of bargaining is integrative and aims at satisfying the interest of all by cooperation in a more open-ended arrangement."

China says they are going to be the exclusive domestic supplier in an industry, force all foreign owned companies out, and then define a fixed percentage of world market they will take, produce enough to do it and sell it at any price to take the market share. I guess you could call that integrative bargaining. Similarly on foreign policy, China decides what it wants to do on foreign policy and does it. It wants a border moved, it moves boats and military in and takes the land, kills the opposition and sends the citizens to concentration camps. Very integrative.

China is not a utopia. Don't tell me the US or EU are not also model intl citizens. Obviously but nothing compared to China.

Tom Hickey said...

Maybe a little heavy on the Western POV?

Dakota pipeline? Ferguson? for some whataboutism.

Look at what the Chinese leadership is saying wrt the trade disputes, South China sea kerfuffle, etc., versus what Trump and his negotiators and foreign policy folks are saying.

Their style is to demarcate their red lines clearly and the rest is negotiable. At least they use the language of win-win.

Sure, the Chinese business people around the world, many of whom are not native Chinese for generations but by heritage, are known for skillful negotiation and driving tough bargains. Some even call them "the Jews of the Orient."