Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Courses
  • Home
  • Business Management & Operations
  • Business Communications & Negotiation

Resistance Point in Negotiations - Explained

Written by Jason Gordon

Updated at January 25th, 2021

Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Marketing, Advertising, Sales & PR
    Principles of Marketing Sales Advertising Public Relations SEO, Social Media, Direct Marketing
  • Accounting, Taxation, and Reporting
    Managerial & Financial Accounting & Reporting Business Taxation
  • Professionalism & Career Development
  • Law, Transactions, & Risk Management
    Government, Legal System, Administrative Law, & Constitutional Law Legal Disputes - Civil & Criminal Law Agency Law HR, Employment, Labor, & Discrimination Business Entities, Corporate Governance & Ownership Business Transactions, Antitrust, & Securities Law Real Estate, Personal, & Intellectual Property Commercial Law: Contract, Payments, Security Interests, & Bankruptcy Consumer Protection Insurance & Risk Management Immigration Law Environmental Protection Law Inheritance, Estates, and Trusts
  • Business Management & Operations
    Operations, Project, & Supply Chain Management Strategy, Entrepreneurship, & Innovation Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Global Business, International Law & Relations Business Communications & Negotiation Management, Leadership, & Organizational Behavior
  • Economics, Finance, & Analytics
    Economic Analysis & Monetary Policy Research, Quantitative Analysis, & Decision Science Investments, Trading, and Financial Markets Banking, Lending, and Credit Industry Business Finance, Personal Finance, and Valuation Principles
  • Courses
+ More

What is the resistance point?

A resistance point is the bare minimum terms that a negotiator is willing to accept in a negotiation. 


Next Article: Open the negotiation - Anchor Point?Back to: NEGOTIATIONS

What is the significance of understanding the resistance point of both parties?

One should always establish a resistance point prior to beginning a negotiation. To do so, a negotiator should seek to understand herself, the counterparty, and the negotiation situation. 

Understanding each party's interests, objectives, and resistance point allows a negotiator to development a strategy and select tactics to achieve that strategy. 

Any factors that may provide useful information in the negotiation or influence a counterparty's negotiation strategy are relevant. 

Such understanding allows a party to establish a reservation point and proceed with the negotiation process. 

The reservation point may affect the negotiation process, and it is strengthen by an understanding of: 

  • The nature and strength of each party's interests, 
  • Each party's BATNA, and
  • Each party's cost of delay or non-agreement. 

The BATNA is generally the guiding force in determining the resistance point. It can also be a primary source of a party's negotiating power. 

Each party to the distributive negotiation is advised to guard or conceal information about themselves while trying to find out as much information as possible about the other party. 

Should a Negotiator Disclosure the Reservation Point? 

Generally, parties will seek to make concessions and selectively reveal information to determine the other party's reservation point or other useful information. 

Strategy Note: Be aware of the goal-setting paradox. Pursuant to this theory, a negotiator who focuses on her ideas or principles in the negotiation rather than the reservation point may feel less satisfied in an outcome than a negotiator who focuses on her own reservation point. 

Discussion: Do you think the resistance point is always closely related to the BATNA? Can you think of other necessary considerations when setting the resistance point?

Was this article helpful?

Yes
No

Related Articles

  • Negotiation Strategic Planning - Situational Aspects
  • Mental Models in Negotiation
  • Trust in a Negotiation - Explained
  • How do relationships affect negotiation dynamics?



©2011-2021. The Business Professor, LLC.
  • Privacy

  • Questions

Definition by Author

0
0
Expand