Anchor Points and Bargaining Range in a Negotiation - Explained
How to Anchor and Establish the Bargaining Range
Written by Jason Gordon
Updated at April 15th, 2022
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What is the bargaining range in a negotiation?
The parties generally open up a negotiation with an offer by one party and a response to the offer or counteroffer by the other party. The opening offer and response are known as the parties anchor points. As the name implies, these opening proposals be each party generally anchors their positions.
The parties generally will not (or cannot) seek more value than they request or seek in their initial offer. As such, the anchor points establish the bargaining range for the negotiation.
Rarely do parties arrive at a negotiated agreement outside of this range. All of the options within the bargaining range, however, might not represent an acceptable outcome to both parties. That is, either partys anchor point may be outside of the other partys acceptable range or below her reservation point.
If the parties are not willing to make concessions that bring the terms of the negotiation within the zone of potential agreement (ZOPA), the negotiation will fail.
Back to: Negotiations & Communications
Discussion Question
Why do you think parties are rarely able to achieve greater value than is requested in their initial offers or proposals? How do you think it affects each party's negotiation strategy or tactics if the anchor points by each party is already within an acceptable zone of potential agreement (ZOPA)?
Related Topics
- What is negotiation?
- What scenarios or situations lead to a negotiation or cause parties to negotiate?
- What characteristics are common to all negotiations?
- What are the differences among negotiators that affect the negotiation process?
- What is a conflict and how does it give rise to negotiation?
- How is a negotiators disposition toward conflict resolution related to negotiation strategy?
- What is the level of dependence in a conflict negotiation?
- What are integrative, distributive, and compatible bargaining scenarios?
- What is the BATNA and what is the significance of alternatives in negotiation?
- What is the significance of the reservation point and ZOPA in a negotiation?
- What is the significance of concessions or adjustment of the bargaining position?
- What are anchor points and the bargaining range in a negotiation?
- What personal and situational factors are commonly understood to affect negotiation?
