I co-authored an article "New Star and Blue Bio Negotiation: Merger and Acquisition Scenario" with Anjan Chhetry of Euromed Management MBA program. The scenario shows how tribes work in the big picture. This is from the abstract: This merger and acquisition scenario explores negotiation through several lenses: preparation, negotiation as an art, valuation, tribal marketing and the freak factor. Preparation, especially with a best alternative to negotiated outcome is critical in setting the stage for negotiation. Negotiation as art presumes a need for practice and personal understanding of the situation. Valuations are never perfect, with each party having a bias. Tribal Marketing looks at the organizational dynamics and considers how firms can create support by letting stakeholders integrate themselves into the company. The Freak Factor assesses that a firm's strength is found in its weaknesses, success is found in magnifying strengths rather than balancing outs a weakness. The working paper uses fictional corporations to simulate and apply real situations. New Star Technologies is a venture capital backed biotechnology firm specializing in developing antigens for vaccines. The firm is loosing five million Euros a month, internally valued at 200 million Euros, and is developing a promising antigen for use in an AIDS Vaccine. New Star must become cash flow positive. Blue Bio is a publicly traded firm with a market capitalization of fifteen billion Euros; its research and development projects span many aspects of biotechnology. Blue Bio is expanding through acquisitions of smaller firms to develop research synergies and to build and international brand.
Download the full article at The Social Science Research Network.
