IVEY Publishing For the exclusive use of R. Ismail, 2023. W12258 THE CINNAMON CASE: SALES NEGOTIATION (ROLE PLAY) — (A) THE SELLER Samish Dalal and Rajiv Agarwal wrote this case

solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G ON1; (t) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveycases.com. Copyright © 2012, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2017-02-21 You are the owner of Mahek Masala Products Pvt. Ltd., a trading company that deals in the trading and processing of specialized spices from Kerala. Kerala is a state in Southern India and is considered the spice capital of India. Last year, you achieved a turnover of Rs. 120 crores¹ with purchases of Rs. 110 crores. Yours is an established company, and you have been in this business for many years. As a result, you enjoy a very good reputation in the market. You cater mostly to the premium end of the market, and your product quality and prices are never questioned. Last week, when meeting with your suppliers, your main provider informed you that he had obtained a batch of high-grade cinnamon. You verified this information and found the cinnamon to be of a very rare quality, the best you had ever seen. Your supplier offered it to you at Rs. 290 per kilogram, with the condition that you buy the entire 1,000-kilogram lot. He also informed you that the shelf life of the raw cinnamon bark was three weeks. Impressed with the exceptional quality of the product, you purchased the entire lot immediately. 1 One crore = 10 million rupees. Raw cinnamon bark contains many impurities, and the only way to sell it at a premium is to clean it with natural chemicals. The associated costs of this process are Rs. 70 per kilogram. Thus, after processing, your costs will go up to Rs. 360 per kilogram (including other related expenses). This cost will represent your floor price, which you have not disclosed to anyone; any offer beyond this price would be acceptable to you. Most of your family members agree that this cinnamon is of extremely rare quality, and they feel that its sale represents an opportunity for you to make a lot of money. You know that no one in the market would require such a large quantity of cinnamon unless they have huge catering orders or sweet-preparation orders, or unless they produce canned baby food or Ayurvedic medicines. The market price of second-grade cinnamon powder is Rs. 320 per kilogram. You do not deal This document is authorized for use only by Rawan Ismail in Harvard Case Pack - MBA - IPN Strategy - Fall Two 2023 taught by Saeed Shekari, William Paterson University from Oct 2023 to Apr 2024. Page 2 For the exclusive use of R. Ismail, 2023. 9B12C046A in the second-grade cinnamon powder. Most users do tend to use this grade, however, as it is good enough for their needs. You discover through a reliable source that the government is about to issue an ordinance that will mandate the quality of ingredients to be used in baby foods. One of the involved ingredients is high-grade cinnamon powder, which is the grade that you possess. You are excited by this news since it guarantees your ability to easily sell your current 1,000-kilogram stock of high-grade cinnamon. Furthermore, the government will also announce a price subsidy of 10 per cent to be granted to baby food manufacturers who use this high-grade cinnamon powder. Marex Pharma Ltd., the market leader in the baby food segment, approaches you with an offer to buy 700 kilograms of high-grade cinnamon powder at a price of Rs. 390 per kilogram. You are happy about the offer, but you still have to deal out the remaining 300 kilograms. Even so, you don't want to lose this opportunity, as you know that Marex has a good market reputation, and this is the first time you have dealt with them. You have not yet begun to negotiate with Marex, but, to guarantee the quality of the cinnamon, you have a three-week window of time before the deal must close. You also receive an equally attractive inquiry from Offshoot Intermediaries Limited. Offshoot is a diversified pharma company that enjoys a healthy share of the baby food market. Offshoot's payment terms are better than Marex Pharma's, and while Offshoot has not yet made a specific offer, it has shown a keen interest in purchasing your entire stock of cinnamon powder. Offshoot Intermediaries Limited is a family-run enterprise. Its staff members are believed to be good business people with a smart market sense. You also know that, due to a problem with the quality of one of its drug formulations, Offshoot is not on good terms with the current government. PARTICIPANT'S NOTE: On the way to your meeting, you think about what offer you should make to Offshoot. With all the information you have gathered, and with the offer from Marex Pharma, you consider pitching a price of Rs. 800 per kilogram of cinnamon, which should be fair. No one knows the real price in the market since such a high quality of product has never before been offered and since all previous prices were based on people's best judgment. You are keenly aware that a deal must be negotiated as soon as possible while the quality of the cinnamon stock remains at its peak. As the seller, your goal is to get the best deal for yourself. For the sake of brevity and better understanding, please confine yourself to only those facts mentioned in the case study. Do not make any assumptions or guesses. Any calculation should be rounded off to the nearest rupee. This document is authorized for use only by Rawan Ismail in Harvard Case Pack - MBA - IPN Strategy - Fall Two 2023 taught by Saeed Shekari, William Paterson University from Oct 2023 to Apr 2024. Page 3 Name of the Seller: Name of the Buyer: Did you reach an agreement? 1. Price at which you both agree: For the exclusive use of R. Ismail, 2023. AGREEMENT FORM f you reached an agreement, please complete the following: (Signature of Buyer) YES / NO 2. Any special remark you feel increased the value in the entire deal: (Signature of Seller) 9B12C046A This document is authorized for use only by Rawan Ismail in Harvard Case Pack - MBA - IPN Strategy - Fall Two 2023 taught by Saeed Shekari, William Paterson University from Oct 2023 to Apr 2024./n For your question, follow the following pattern. After reading the assigned readings, start your posting by briefly introducing a business practice or organizational issue you have experienced before or can imagine as the context. Then, continue by choosing and briefly relating an influence or persuasion (mal)practice from the three articles you have read to your context. Make sure the chosen topic is a logical choice for the context. If the relationship is not clear, explain. Finally, pose a question on the ethical issues that might be involved in the process. A brief example could be as follows. Your manager has tasked you to sell a product (or convince others in the organization about an idea). But, you find it against your moral, religious, or ethical code of conduct. Under what circumstances do you think it is honest to follow? Format your posting in the following manner: Include the following subtitles in Bold Font in your posting: A- Background: Explain as needed. B- Theory: The theoretical influence concept you think is relevant in the background section above. This section should be limited to one or two sentences only. The theoretical concepts should be from the assigned readings in module 5. If you find yourself writing a long text, you probably have not been able to identify the core theory here. It calls for deeper thinking here, then. C- Question: In one or two sentences max, ask about the (un)ethical issue you are describing. Note Fill in the questions 1-2 sentences each Need to answer it in the template file/n Case Analysis Questions - Cinnamon Case To demonstrate our understanding of the negotiation topics studied so far, we apply our understanding in analyzing the assigned case. Review the questions below, and answer them in the case analysis response template. You can download the response template using the provided link on Module 3. Important Notes: 1- In answering the following questions, only use the information made available to you in the case. Do not do any outside research. 2- This is an individual assignment. 3- Use this document to see the questions and the hints. Then use the blank response Word document to type in your answers. 4- Upload your final file to the designated folder per instructions on Blackboard's assignment page. 5- Blackboard checks your submission for originality. Answer the questions in your original wording and thinking. If your submission is similar beyond 10% of its content, you will not receive a grade for this submission. Blackboard picks up similarity with other students' submission, the textbook, and anything posted on the internet! Blackboard reveals to you the similarity percentage a while after your submission is processed. If it is above 10%, redo your work and resubmit. 6- Do not copy and paste the questions from this document to the response template. Blackboard picks them up as plagiarism! 7- The ideal word count of your submission is between 500 to 1000 words. Page 1 of 5 Case Analysis Questions - Cinnamon Case The SELLER's side: Complete questions S1 to S12 after reading the seller's part of the case ONLY. S1. What are the issues to be negotiated? [Hint: The bargaining mix as informed in the case. List as many issues as you think are relevant for the seller.] Issues 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Answer questions two to five in the table below. Expand the table as needed. If you identified many issues in the last question, limit the number of issues to the top five important issues. S2. What are the seller's priorities among the issues in the negotiation mix? [Hint: Negotiation or Bargaining mix are the important issues that one party brings to the negotiation table. It pays off to have a manageable number of issues. Two or three issues are ideal; anything above five sounds more impractical.] S3. What are the primary underlying interests? [Hint: Why are you negotiating this issue?] S4. On each issue, what are the seller's target and walk-away point? S5. How many BATNA can you identify for the seller? Elaborate on the BATNAs, and relate them to each negotiation issue. Primary Underlying Rank Order Issue 6. 7. 8. 9. Interest 10. Target Point My BATNA Walk-away Point Page 2 of 5 Case Analysis Questions - Cinnamon Case S6. Who are the important constituencies to whom the seller is accountable if any? [Hint: The Field Analysis - Constituencies are the parties that are not at the negotiation table. They are sitting at the sidelines and watching you or your opponent negotiate. Constituencies have a direct interest in the outcome of the negotiation. Your negotiation outcome affects the constituents or your relationship with them in one way or another.] S7. To what extent does the seller know about the other negotiator's goals, issues, and resistance points? [Hint: Only mention the information that is available to you within the case.] S8. What overall strategy do I want to pursue if I were the seller? [Hint: Integrative or Distributive? Elaborate!] S9. What should be the seller's opening stance? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] S10. What should be the seller's approach to generating solutions or applying tactics? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] S11. How should the seller close the deal? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] S12. What protocol is essential for this negotiation: where to negotiate, when to negotiate, who is present for the negotiation, agenda to be followed, note-taking? Also, what to say and how to say it! [Hint: use your creativity and intuition here!] Page 3 of 5 Case Analysis Questions - Cinnamon Case The BUYER's side: Complete questions B1 to B12 after reading the buyer's part of the case. B1. What are the issues to be negotiated? [Hint: The bargaining mix as informed in the case. List as many issues as you think are relevant for the buyer.] Issues 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Answer questions two to five in the table below. Expand the table as needed. If you identified many issues in the last question, limit the number of issues to the top five important issues. B2. What are the buyer's priorities among the issues in the negotiation mix? [Hint: Negotiation or Bargaining mix are the important issues that one party brings to the negotiation table. It pays off to have a manageable number of issues. Two or three issues are ideal; anything above five sounds more impractical.] B3. What are the primary underlying interests? [Hint: Why are you negotiating this issue?] B4. On each issue, what are the buyer's target and walk-away point? B5. How many BATNA can you identify for the buyer? Elaborate on the BATNAs, and relate them to each negotiation issue. Primary Underlying Rank Order 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Issue Interest Target Point My BATNA Walk-away Point Page 4 of 5 Case Analysis Questions - Cinnamon Case B6. Who are the important constituencies to whom the buyer is accountable if any? [Hint: The Field Analysis – Constituencies are the parties that are not at the negotiation table. They are sitting at the sidelines and watching you or your opponent negotiate. Constituencies have a direct interest in the outcome of the negotiation. Your negotiation outcome affects the constituents or your relationship with them in one way or another.] B7. To what extent does the buyer know about the other negotiator's goals, issues, and resistance points? [Hint: Only mention the information that is available to you within the case.] B8. What overall strategy do I want to pursue if I were the buyer? [Hint: Integrative or Distributive? Elaborate!] B9. What should be the buyer's opening stance? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] B10. What should be the buyer's approach to generating solutions or applying tactics? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] B11. How should the buyer close the deal? [Hint: refer to your textbook for typical approaches.] B12. What protocol is essential for this negotiation: where to negotiate, when to negotiate, who is present for the negotiation, agenda to be followed, note-taking? Also, what to say and how to say it! [Hint: use your creativity and intuition here!] Page 5 of 5