Asking questions the right way is both an art and a science. Ask the question the wrong way, and the other negotiator might act like a turtle, becoming defensive and withdrawing into their shell. Ask the question the right way, and the other negotiator might "spill the beans.".
Closed Questions: How and when to use them?
Closed questions are those thatrequire a short and focused answer, and are especially helpful in the beginning stages of the negotiation to encourage interaction. They can be used to clarify a point, or to reconfirm certain facts. For example, you can use a closed question to confirm the amount of units the company can produce in a week, or to clarify that what they are really saying is that they don't feel comfortable outsourcing their accounts to India. Most closed questions only require a simple "yes" or "no" response, so there reallyisn't much room for misinterpretation - great for finding out where both you and they stand.

There are 3 major costing methods:
Marginal costing
* Uses marginal cost of producing addition units
* Uses variable cost to derived a unit cost (does not include fixed cost)
* Fixed cost treated as a 'period cost' and deducted, as a total amount, from total contribution to profit for the period, in the firm's profit and loss account Absorption costing
* Calculates total cost of producing product
* In addition to variable cost, a fair proportion of fixed cost is allocated to (absorbed) eachunit of output, as a fixed cost per unit Activity based costing
* Similar to absorption costing but with fixed cost allocated to products on the basis of the cost of activities used in producing them LO 2, AC 2.1

In 1959, French and Raven described five bases of power:
1. Legitimate - This comes from the belief that a person has the formal right to make demands, and to expect others to be compliant and obedient.
2. Reward - This results from one person's ability to compensate another for compliance.
3. Expert - This is based on a person's high levels of skill and knowledge.
4. Referent - This is the result of a person's perceived attractiveness, worthiness and right to others' respect.
5. Coercive - This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance.
Six years later, Raven added an extra power base:
6. Informational - This results from a person's ability to control the information that others need to accomplish something.
In the scenario, Neville attracts and keeps good relationship with his colleagues not because of neither position nor reward nor coercion. He has good skills and kindness, which increase his charisma. His source of power is referent power.

The objective of the buyer here is to improve supplier cost structures over time, which requires them to have insight into supplier's current cost information. Purchase price cost analysis (PPCA) can help here. PPCA is a method for gathering, analysing and using price and cost information in asystematic way. The process allows the identification of future savings and opportunities to improve current costs.
STEEPLE analysis is used to analyse the macro environment that may have impact on an organisation.
Competitive rivalry is a part ofPorter's Five Forces which is a tool for strategy making.
Volume concentration is a way to increase the purchasing quantities in order for a buying organisation to improve its leverage in negotiation.

Absorption costing is an approach to allocating overheads in which indirect costs are loaded or absorbed into direct costs related to specific jobs, processes or outputs, using an estimated basis of allocation.
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