Monday 10th : Canada-China Panda Negotiation
For this roleplay, I was teamed up with Nina and Bogoljub, and then Souriko and Helena joined us. Nina played the part of Wang Zhongping, the vice-president and Secretary General of the Chinese association of zoological gardens (CAZG). Bogoljub and Helena played the part of Wu Hong, representative of the Chongqing municipal committee (of the Communist Party), and Souriko and I played the part of Ma Zhong, deputy secretary general of the CAZG.
During the first part of the session, we all discussed our positions, our interests, and our strategy.
We agreed that we would offer them a loan fee from $1.2 million to $800,000, which would be our last offer. However, we gave it more thought, and came up with another offer that we thought was better : 10 years, at the rate of $1 million a year, would have gotten us $10 million, so we decided to lower the fee for a longer period of time, so that it would still equal $10 million at the end. As a result, a 12 years deal would cost them $840,000 a year, and a 15 year deal would cost them $670,000. We would also offer them a 10% discount on bamboo for 10 years, and a 15% discount for 15 years. Bogoljub and Helena specified that we needed to try to get a discount ourselves, on raw materials.
We decided we would offer them to give the pandas to Toronto zoo first, since we had signed an agreement letter with them in 2004. Also, as the one concerned with the pandas' well being and safety, I said I preferred not to 'split the deal' in 5 years and 5 years because it would have been tiring for the animals. I added that I did not trust Calgary zoo because so many of their animals had died in 2009. My team agreed that we would push for Toronto zoo for as long as possible.
Then, we discussed the conditions of the research performed on our pandas : they would have to be co-led by a Chinese scientist, we would let the Calgary specialists take part in them, and the intellectual property would be equally shared between Canada and China. Moreover, they would have to pay for our specialists who would stay for the first 3 months the pandas would be in the zoo, and then when they would visit twice a year (including during the female's fertility period to ensure nothing was forced on it).
Regarding eventual panda cubs, the zoo would pay $400,000 a year per cub and have a Chinese specialist stay there as long as needed to make sure the baby would develop right. After 3 years, if we would see Calgary fit, we would give them the babies, and from age 3 to age 6 they would have to pay $500,000 a year. The loan fee and duration would have to be renegotiated with Calgary after that.
In terms of strategy, Bogoljub and Helena decided that they would only speak to members of our team, and that we would insist on being respected by our opponents. We also decided that, since we played the part of Chinese people, we would embody aspects of their culture as much as we could : this meant letting the opponents come to us, not talking or unveiling too much, staying calm and respectful -- and insisting the Canadians do the same.
At the beginning, we thought it would go well. The topic of the research performed on the pandas was agreed on right away, we didn't even had to ask !
However, when it came to which zoo... The representatives from both zoos told us the only one we could give our pandas to for the moment was Calgary zoo : we had gone to the negotiations table with the idea that the pandas would not go to Calgary before having spent at least 8 years in Toronto. When they told us Toronto did not have the necessary facilities to welcome the pandas yet, we shared or disappointment : we had promised them in 2004 that we would give them pandas but they couldn't even take them. We dwelled a lot on this issue, because many of us were talking at the same time.
Then Chiara, who played the Chinese specialist in the 'panda taskforce' with the Canadians, suggested we discussed another matter : the price.
We told them our offer, the 10, 12 and 15 year version, but they said they wanted to do 4-4. Bogoljub/Helena really didn't agree with that, they really wanted to make the partnership longer so that Canada would be keener to sell China raw materials. We refused the 8 year offer. We said we wanted at least 10 years, which they said they couldn't afford, even at the price of $670.000 (and not $1 million a year for 10 years, finally). Since members of their team weren't being quite serious about the roleplay, we stayed put in our roles and told them we did not appreciate their attitude and were reconsidering whether we should make a deal at all. They took a break to discuss their strategy. We did the same in the room.
When they came back, we said we agreed to let the pandas go to Calgary, that we were willing to ask for $600.000 a year, with the additional expenses due to the specialists who would have to go there at the beginning, but that what we needed them to compromise on : we really wanted them to keep the pandas for 10 years, and not just 8.
During the negotiations, we did all we could. We tried to stay calm when our very little serious opponents were laughing at us, we tried to be nice and understanding, to keep in mind that the goal was to reach an agreement regarding the pandas. When I couldn't stay calm, we switched seats so that we would all have a new perpective on the discussion.
However, after we made them our final offer, our opponents went out for a short break and when they came back, Chiara announced that one representative of Toronto zoo did not want to agree to the deal, even though it was very generous of us.
We said that maybe we would organize new negotiations with Calgary only, and left it there.
During the first part of the session, we all discussed our positions, our interests, and our strategy.
We agreed that we would offer them a loan fee from $1.2 million to $800,000, which would be our last offer. However, we gave it more thought, and came up with another offer that we thought was better : 10 years, at the rate of $1 million a year, would have gotten us $10 million, so we decided to lower the fee for a longer period of time, so that it would still equal $10 million at the end. As a result, a 12 years deal would cost them $840,000 a year, and a 15 year deal would cost them $670,000. We would also offer them a 10% discount on bamboo for 10 years, and a 15% discount for 15 years. Bogoljub and Helena specified that we needed to try to get a discount ourselves, on raw materials.
We decided we would offer them to give the pandas to Toronto zoo first, since we had signed an agreement letter with them in 2004. Also, as the one concerned with the pandas' well being and safety, I said I preferred not to 'split the deal' in 5 years and 5 years because it would have been tiring for the animals. I added that I did not trust Calgary zoo because so many of their animals had died in 2009. My team agreed that we would push for Toronto zoo for as long as possible.
Then, we discussed the conditions of the research performed on our pandas : they would have to be co-led by a Chinese scientist, we would let the Calgary specialists take part in them, and the intellectual property would be equally shared between Canada and China. Moreover, they would have to pay for our specialists who would stay for the first 3 months the pandas would be in the zoo, and then when they would visit twice a year (including during the female's fertility period to ensure nothing was forced on it).
Regarding eventual panda cubs, the zoo would pay $400,000 a year per cub and have a Chinese specialist stay there as long as needed to make sure the baby would develop right. After 3 years, if we would see Calgary fit, we would give them the babies, and from age 3 to age 6 they would have to pay $500,000 a year. The loan fee and duration would have to be renegotiated with Calgary after that.
In terms of strategy, Bogoljub and Helena decided that they would only speak to members of our team, and that we would insist on being respected by our opponents. We also decided that, since we played the part of Chinese people, we would embody aspects of their culture as much as we could : this meant letting the opponents come to us, not talking or unveiling too much, staying calm and respectful -- and insisting the Canadians do the same.
At the beginning, we thought it would go well. The topic of the research performed on the pandas was agreed on right away, we didn't even had to ask !
However, when it came to which zoo... The representatives from both zoos told us the only one we could give our pandas to for the moment was Calgary zoo : we had gone to the negotiations table with the idea that the pandas would not go to Calgary before having spent at least 8 years in Toronto. When they told us Toronto did not have the necessary facilities to welcome the pandas yet, we shared or disappointment : we had promised them in 2004 that we would give them pandas but they couldn't even take them. We dwelled a lot on this issue, because many of us were talking at the same time.
Then Chiara, who played the Chinese specialist in the 'panda taskforce' with the Canadians, suggested we discussed another matter : the price.
We told them our offer, the 10, 12 and 15 year version, but they said they wanted to do 4-4. Bogoljub/Helena really didn't agree with that, they really wanted to make the partnership longer so that Canada would be keener to sell China raw materials. We refused the 8 year offer. We said we wanted at least 10 years, which they said they couldn't afford, even at the price of $670.000 (and not $1 million a year for 10 years, finally). Since members of their team weren't being quite serious about the roleplay, we stayed put in our roles and told them we did not appreciate their attitude and were reconsidering whether we should make a deal at all. They took a break to discuss their strategy. We did the same in the room.
When they came back, we said we agreed to let the pandas go to Calgary, that we were willing to ask for $600.000 a year, with the additional expenses due to the specialists who would have to go there at the beginning, but that what we needed them to compromise on : we really wanted them to keep the pandas for 10 years, and not just 8.
During the negotiations, we did all we could. We tried to stay calm when our very little serious opponents were laughing at us, we tried to be nice and understanding, to keep in mind that the goal was to reach an agreement regarding the pandas. When I couldn't stay calm, we switched seats so that we would all have a new perpective on the discussion.
However, after we made them our final offer, our opponents went out for a short break and when they came back, Chiara announced that one representative of Toronto zoo did not want to agree to the deal, even though it was very generous of us.
We said that maybe we would organize new negotiations with Calgary only, and left it there.
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