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This paper examines the extent of bargaining concessions in recession through investigating the effects of union bargaining on pay, job security and workforce composition.

Drawing on an original survey (n = 400) of workplace level trade union bargaining units in England, the authors employed latent class analysis to establish three groups of bargaining units on the basis of pay outcomes achieved. Linear regression analysis with moderation effects investigated whether pay rises at or above inflation in conjunction with shifts in bargaining priorities was associated with decreases in perceived job security and changes in the composition of the workforce.

Around a quarter of sampled units, concentrated mostly in decentralised bargaining units in the private sector, achieved pay rises at or above the inflation rate during an economic downturn. Pay rises at or above inflation in workplaces severely affected by recession triggered changes in bargaining priorities requiring some concessions, notably in terms of employees' job security. That said, across the sample, achieving pay rises was associated with improved perception of job security and lesser use of contingent labour.

The findings uncover a subset of bargaining units able to secure positive outcomes for workers against a hostile economic tide, whilst demonstrating that concession bargaining is not inevitable but rather contingent on the micro-environments in which union bargaining takes place.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers set bargaining goal when they negotiate price of relatively less expensive shopping products with salesperson. The impact of bargaining goal on bargaining outcomes is also discussed.

To increase realism and external validity, actual transactions in the shopping malls of two cities of China were observed unobtrusively, followed by a matched survey with the consumer to collect data on variables that could not be observed.

Product knowledge, presence of purchase plan and shopping companion, posited to reflect consumer ' s bargaining power, are found to influence the bargaining goal set by the consumer. Satisfaction toward the transaction outcome depends on the extent of goal achievement rather than the ultimate concession obtained or the perceived fair price of the product, and such satisfaction affects future patronage likelihood.

A different research methodology is used to study retail price negotiation. Instead of only using student subjects to understand how consumers negotiate price in a hypothetical setting, the current study collected data from actual transactions. This enables us to study how contextual variables such as shopping companion and purchase plan affect negotiation goal which in turn influences satisfaction and future patronage. A comparison of the reference standards adopted for evaluating bargaining outcome is also performed.

This paper aims to present an analysis of the nature and drivers of company‐level concession bargaining during the financial crisis 2008‐10 in Germany.

The paper is based on five company case studies. Data collection methods include document analysis and semi‐structured interviews.

Using the five cases, it was possible to identify different ways in which companies were affected by the financial crisis itself, by various company‐level adjustment strategies, and by various implications of the crisis and the collective agreements resulting from it. The author found that company‐level social partners, supported by public policies, were able to avoid redundancies and keep employees in work, while helping the company to survive.

The findings show that social partners at company level are able to agree on cooperative solutions to reduce labour costs in order to ensure the company's viability.

The findings are important for understanding key aspects of the German “job miracle” both during and after the global financial crisis.

In recent years, the long-declining U.S. labor movement has refocused in new and promising ways on rank-and-file mobilization, in organizing drives, collective bargaining conflicts and political campaigns. Such efforts are widely viewed as the best hope for revitalizing the labor movement: breathing new life into tired old unions, winning organizing drives and raising membership levels, increasing political influence, pushing toward the power necessary to reform labor law and ineffective labor institutions. The stakes are high and the goals ambitious: to close the “representation gap” at the workplace, reverse growing economic and social inequality, and build new coalitions for expanded democratic participation in local, national and global politics.

States that the involvement of a sales organisation in international business requires sales interactions that transcend national boundaries. Understanding the complexities of cross‐cultural sales negotiations is most important and is a difficult task for sales managers. States that despite the importance and complex nature of cross‐cultural negotiations, the literature is normative and largely disjointed. By using the negotiation process as an analytical framework, this study examines the relevant literature, offers research propositions and indicates additional areas necessitating further research.

The chapter elaborates a critical theoretical narrative about the political economy of European capitalism. It illustrates how precariousness has been exacerbated by the impact of the global financial crisis and the emergence of a new system of European governance. Theoretical accounts in the sociology of work and labor studies have demonstrated the complexity of the outcomes and widely discussed the role of national labor market institutions and employment policies and practices, political ideology, and cultural frameworks impinging upon precarious work as a multidimensional concept. The chapter’s core concern is to illustrate how shifts in power resources, and particularly the weakening and deinstitutionalization of organized labor relative to capital, has acted as a central social condition that has brought about precariousness during the years leading up to and following the 2007–2008 crisis. In so doing, the chapter aims to overcome the existing theoretical accounts of precariousness which have often been limited by one or another variant of “methodological nationalism,” thereby exploring the transnational apparatuses that are emerging across national economies to date, and which impinge upon the structures and experiences that workers exhibit in an age of growing marketization.

The job redesign framework is implicit in the Quality Control Circle literature. It separates QCC′s from any policy considerations and creates grave distortions of view. The required broadened conception of American companies′ operations core can only be achieved if the languages of different disciplines merge to confront crucial management issues.

This study aims to determine the optimal value of concession period length in combination with capital structure in build–operate–transfer (BOT) contracts, based on direct negotiation procurement and considering the conflicting financial interests of different parties involved in the project.

The financial model of a BOT project is developed considering all the influencing factors. Then, fuzzy set theory is used to take into account the existing risks and uncertainties. Bilateral bargaining game based on alternating-offers protocol is applied between the government and the sponsor to divide project financial benefit considering the lender’s requirements. Finally, concession period and equity level will be determined simultaneously according to the sponsor’s and government’s share of project financial benefit and the lender’s requirements.

The proposed model is implemented on a real case study, and a fair and efficient agreement on concession period length and capital structure is achieved between the government and the sponsor considering the lender’s requirements. It is revealed that being the first proposer in the bargaining process will affect the concession period length; however, it will not affect the equity level. Moreover, it is shown that considering income tax as a part of government’s financial benefit increases the length of concession period.

The presented model concentrates on direct negotiation procurement in BOT projects where the sponsor and government bargain on dividing financial benefits of project. It is assumed that the product/service price is determined before according to market analysis or users’ affordability. All the revenue of project during concession period is assumed to belong to the sponsor.

The proposed model provides a practical tool to aid BOT participants to reach a fair and efficient agreement on concession period and capital structure. This could prevent failing or prolonging the negotiation and costly renegotiation.

By investigation of previous studies, it is revealed that none of them can determine the optimal value of concession period length and capital structure simultaneously considering the BOT negotiation process and different financial interests of parties involved in the project. The proposed model presents a new approach to determine the financial variables considering the conflicting interests of involved parties. The other novelty aspects of the presented model are as follows: introducing a new approach for calculating the sponsor and the government’s share of project financial benefit that will affect the determination of the concession period length and considering the effect of existing risks and uncertainties on final agreement between the involved parties using fuzzy set theory.

This paper analyses the effect of potential lease expiry on the rental negotiation process and levels of rental agreed. Several observers have noted that tenants may use the threat of lease termination at rental negotiations in order to obtain a rental and/or other concession. It is argued that it will often be rational for the landlord to make a rental concession in these circumstances and a model that identifies a theory‐forecasted concession level for landlords is developed. However, the bargaining process will often cause deviation from an equilibrium solution. The concession level of the landlord will be a function of four variables: expected landlord’s cost of void, probability of tenant relocation, landlord’s risk preference and the effects of the bargaining process. Utility theory is used to illustrate why the risk averse or risk neutral landlord in a potential lease termination situation will always maximise his/her utility by conceding an amount on the open market rental value provided that the landlord perceives the probability of lease termination to be greater than zero. However, although it is possible to identify a positive solution to the calculation of maximum concession, behavioural approaches to bargaining theory suggest that differences in individual negotiator’s attributes, social contexts and cognitive biases will also affect the outcome of a negotiated rent setting process.

The present paper reviews the research literature on trust in bargaining and mediation. Several models of trust within the bargaining process are also described. It is concluded that trust means different things, depending upon the relationship under investigation. Trust among negotiators can refer to a personality trail (how trusting a negotiator is of others) or to a temporary state. Within the state perspective, trust often refers to one of three orientations: (1) cooperative motivational orientation (MO), (2) patterns of predictable behavior, (3) a problem‐solving orientation. Trust between a negotiator and constituents usually refers to a cooperative MO (i.e., shared loyalty) between these two groups. The addition of a mediator can impact both the opposing negotiators' relationship and each negotiator‐constituent relationship; the mediator also has direct and indirect relationships with the parties and their constituents. Future directions for research on trust are identified.