Assignment Task:
Mary Tailored owns a tailoring business in Trinidad in the Caribbean. Her main product line is in mail-order of made-to-measure jackets and trousers. These had been her father's most recent activity before he handed over his business to Mary on retirement; her father's original trade was the general repair of men's clothes, which still accounted for a declining percentage of Tailored Suits' total profit, with most of the rest in mail-order suits. Mary had taken the business to the current mix of products, marketed under her father's slogan, "Tailored Suits You." Recently, Mary had designed a new lightweight suit ('Tailored Specials') which doubled as formal wear for business or smart casual, and this was currently growing towards twenty per cent of total profit.
The Internet had created new marketing opportunities, and Mary found that customers from other parts of the Caribbean were measuring themselves for 'Tailored Suits' (Internet business divided approximately 50-50 between made-to-measure and 'Tailored Specials'). She had invested money and time into her tailored website, acquired a secure credit card facility and took on an extra employee to process the orders and ship them. If Internet demand continued to grow, she would need additional help in the cutting and stitching room; perhaps also new machinery to open another production line.
Two month ago, Tailored Suits received a visit from John Major, the owner of Major Men's Clothes in Jamaica and a talented salesman, who had bought a few of the 'Tailored Specials' and had been impressed with his customers' responses, some of whom also bought other made-to-measure items. He told Mary tailored that he believed he could sell all the 'Tailored Suits' he could import into Jamaica (more if they were manufactured locally) and that he wanted to set up a deal from which they would both make 'mighty profits.'
John said there were several issues to agree upon before they could go into some business relationship. These included, he said: a) pricing; b) Jamaican Internet sales; c) an exclusive distributorship in Jamaica; d) licensed manufacturing in Jamaica.
Tailored pondered her options before responding to Johnj's proposition. She wanted to expand her business but also wanted to retain control of her branded products. She saw the 'Tailored Specials' as the first of several designs she had in mind, and she thought there was a lot of room for growth in developing the mail-order made-to-measure business. Growing through local distributors, such as John Major (who had passed an initial scrutiny of his business and personal affairs), could become a model for the future of Tailored Suits in the Caribbean; hence, Mary Tailored was not keen on granting him exclusivity or a license to manufacture locally until, at least, he had proved himself; also Mary tailored had more knowledge of the prospects for her suits in the Caribbean. On the other hand, depending on the pricing issue, she could use the profits from Jamaica to fund her direct expansion elsewhere via the Internet.
Required:
Question 1: How would you assess the interests of Mary Tailored for these negotiations?
Question 2: How might you set out in a Planner the interests, issues and positions of John Major for the negotiations?
Question 3: Why might it be better for Mary and John to link rather than separate the negotiable issues in their bargaining behaviour?
Question 4: Why are Internet sales to customers in Jamaica a negotiable issue?
Question 5: What degree (if any) of exclusive distribution rights in Jamaica for John major might Mary tailored agree to?