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.

Negotiations and sales is 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 analyze their own behavior in negotiations.