WHAT I REALLY WANT

To some people, life is hard, cruel and merciless. These set of people see life as punishment
throughout their entire lives. They therefore resigned themselves to fate, believing all is
finished. To them, nothing that they do can ever be good. They take delight in committing
crimes and maiming others to avenge their ill-fortune. They lost every sense of direction and
most times, some of them go as far as committing suicide, just to escape the injustice life has
meted out to them.
But there are those who see life as a challenge, a channel of discovery and innovation, a
prospect for success and a gateway to wealth. To them life is sweet, colorful and kind. No
matter the situation these people find themselves, they keep pressing on, believing in a cause,
a cause to succeed and get the most out of life. No wonder an adage says, Where there is
life, there is hope.
The will to succeed or fail lies within an individual jurisdiction. You can live life to the
fullest with utmost satisfaction and fulfillment if you determine with all your mind, body and
soul to succeed. On the other hand, life can be miserable to you if you take everything for
granted and wait on fate to play itself out.
Setting of goals and strategic plans that will strive no matter the odds which may move
against you is one of the basic things needed to get the best out of life. These goals which
must be result oriented, should be followed up consistently even if things seem blurred or
unyielding at first.
Also, the mind is the centre of everything. It controls your thoughts and beliefs. A focused
mind has never fail. A positive mind helps one to discover his talents and potentials. Great
men and women, both living and dead, had their minds focused on something and nothing
deterred them from achieving their dreams. Each of them had a belief, should I say faith,
which they held onto, they nurture the belief, focused all their attention and live on it. And
today, we have benefited in one way or the other from their inventions and great ideas.
All the great men of today, has one way or the other tasted the other side of life but they did
not cower. Instead, they were renewed to redefine their goals; they ride on with faith,
believing in their potentials, focusing their mind on something, knowing fully well that in
every black cloud there is always a silver lining.

BEST ALTERNATIVE TO A NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT

DEFINITION OF 'BEST ALTERNATIVE TO A NEGOTIATED AGREEMENT

(BATNA)
The course of action that will be taken by a party engaged in negotiations if the talks fail and
no agreement can be reached. The term BATNA was coined by negotiation researchers Roger
Fisher and William Ury in their 1981 bestseller "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement
Without Giving In." A party's BATNA refers to what they can fall back on if a negotiation
proves unsuccessful.

Introduction
In negotiation theory, the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement or BATNA is the
course of action that will be taken by a party if the current negotiations fail and an agreement
cannot be reached. BATNA is the key focus and the driving force behind a successful
negotiator. A party should generally not accept a worse resolution than its BATNA. Care
should be taken, however, to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account all
considerations, such as relationship value, time value of money and the likelihood that the
other party will live up to their side of the bargain. These other considerations are often
difficult to value, since they are frequently based on uncertain or qualitative considerations,
rather than easily measurable and quantifiable factors.
The BATNA is often seen by negotiators not as a safety net, but rather as a point of leverage
in negotiations. Although a negotiator's alternative options should, in theory, be
straightforward to evaluate, the effort to understand which alternative represents a party's
BATNA is often not invested. Options need to be real and actionable to be of value however
without the investment of time, options will frequently be included that fails on one of these
criteria. Most managers overestimate their BATNA whilst simultaneously investing too little
time into researching their real options] This can result in poor or faulty decision making and
negotiating outcomes. Negotiatiors also need to be aware of the other negotiator's BATNA
and to identify how it compares to what they are offering.
BATNA was developed by negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury of the
Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), in their series of books on Principled

negotiation that started with Getting to YES, unwittingly duplicating the game theory concept
of a disagreement point from bargaining pioneered by Nobel Laureate John Forbes
Nash decades earlier. Equilibrium theory explains that, if in a group of players, each player
has in consideration the other players decisions, then no one will benefit from altering their
decisions, if the other players havent either. For example, Amy and Phil are in Nash
Equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil's decision,
and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy's decision. Likewise, a
group of players are in Nash Equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or
she can, taking into account the decisions of the others.
A ruthless, aggressive and cold blooded negotiation style is the framework approach most
people have when it comes to negotiation, a theoretical example of that is Adversarial
Approach Style Negotiation[ But in reality, as mentioned by experts and researchers such as
Fisher and Ury it doesnt have to be that way. As the world moves to more sophisticated
platforms of communication, negotiation follows the trend and Problem-Solving Approach is
in a way, the "antidote" of Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. Getting to YESsuggest
an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving Approach. Interest-Based Model
focus on separating the person (positional) from the problems (resolution)and then
concentrate on the resolution. This lets each party attain its goals in a distributive way.
Attractive Alternatives is needed to develop a very strong BATNA. In Getting to YES, the
authors give 3 suggestions of how you can accomplish this:
1. Inventing a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached
2. Converting some of the more promising ideas and transforming them into tangible
and partial alternatives
3. Selecting the alternative that sounds best

BATNA rules: A BATNA is not disclosed unless it's beneficial.

In negotiations involving different cultures, all parties need to account for cultural cognitive
behaviors and not allow judgments and biases to affect the negotiation. The individual should
be separate from the objective.
The purpose here, as Gulliver mentions, is for negotiation parties to be aware.[
Preparation at all levels, including prejudice-free thoughts, emotion-free behavior, bias-free
behavior are helpful according to Morris and Gelfand.

Examples
Selling a car
If the seller of a car has a written offer from a dealership to buy the seller's car for $1,000,
then the seller's BATNA when dealing with other potential purchasers would be $1,000 since
the seller can get $1,000 for the car even without reaching an agreement with an alternative
purchaser.
In this example, other offers that illustrate the difficulty of valuing qualitative factors might
include:

An offer of $900 by a close relative

An offer of $1,100 in 45 days (what are the chances of this future commitment falling
through, and would the seller's prior BATNA (the $1,000 offer from the dealership) still
be available if it did?)

An offer from another dealer to offset $1,500 against the price of a new car (does the
seller want to buy a new car right now, and the offered car in particular?)

Purchasing
Buyers are often able to leverage their BATNA with regard to prices. This is done through
buying from the lowest cost or best value seller.

My Home Work about a Company

Starting a small business requires tremendous time and effort. There are business plans,
budgets, projections, market research, hiring staff and acquiring licenses. What most small
businesses dont realize is the sheer amount of market research required to reach their
intended audience. In fact, many small businesses blindly open without due diligence, solid
market research or innovative target marketing strategies. These small businesses are playing
rush and roulette with their investment and brand. We all have come across awesome small
businesses sitting idle without a strong customer base. You know your favorite corner bar or
local coffee shop.
The fact remains there is much promise for todays small business owner properly using
technology, networking and marketing. The Internet and social media marketing allow small
business to compete nationally or even worldwide. The key to success is understanding the
make-up of marketing, the Internet and networking. Here are some serious points for small
businesses to consider.
1. Have you done your homework?
Many business owners are so driven by their concept and budgeting they forget the basics.
Do your homework! Research the market, location, products and consumer needs. Market
research provides a detailed picture of the current market, trends and key success factors
required.
2. Focus on gaining competitive advantage in your target market.
Once market research is accomplished find consumer trends or unmet needs. Tailor your
business to unmet needs and now your business has a competitive advantage. The goal of
competitive advantage is discovering values your business delivers unmatched by
competitors. The more advantages the better.
3. Focus on niche marketing.
What is your companys niche? In this day and age companies boasting specialization skills
are top performers. Find out what your company does great and become the best. Instead of
providing a broad array of services focus on one and perfect it. Niche market that
specialization and watch sales skyrocket.
4. Write a list of your key success factors.
Key success factors are necessary steps to reaching business goals and milestones. Write a
detailed list of marketing, budgeting and research key success factors. Use this list to
formulate strategic success steps in each area.

5. Use technology to the max.

Take classes at your local community college to truly grasp using social media marketing to
your advantage. Classes are reasonable and worth the time and investment. Dont let your
fear of technology hinder your business profits.
6. Networking!
So, youve done your homework but forget the most important step NETWORKING. A
good friend told me the key to success is networking. He sure was right! Networking builds
relationships, puts a face to the name and enlarges your circle. What good is research if no
one knows your name or brand? Although you may feel uncomfortable at first get out there
and network. Try networking at socials, happy hours, meet-ups or conferences.
Change your thinking.
I learned a very important fact being a business student. Profitable businesses typically
research supply & demand, markets and consumer trends before business conception.
Analyzing market research allows companies to discover consumer demands. Afterwards,
products and services are crafted based on market trends. Design your business and
marketing plans based on supply & demand or niche specializations. Remember small
businesses the sky is the limit if you do your homework first.