Business negotiations in the context of strategic relationship development

Despite a multitude of papers on selling and even negotiation, there has been very limited investigation of what leads to successful negotiation. This paper begins to tackle that shortfall and outlines the findings of exploratory research into negotiation styles of customer‐supplier dyads engaged in strategic relationship development. First, it reviews two distinct styles of negotiation approach: the competitive (adversarial or distributive) approach and the collaborative (problem‐solving or integrative) approach. Then it discusses the findings that support the argument that there are commonalities in the adoption of negotiating stances across industries and at different stages of relationship development. In conclusion the paper suggests that negotiation can be seen as a process of information exchange and highlights the practical implications of this research in terms of business development.