Today's class was mind-blowing, in the best possible way. Once in a while, all too rarely, you'll get a case that looks just so simple, so easy... and then as you think about it, it becomes more and more complex. You peel away layer by layer, discovering that the case is really like a set of Russian dolls, and not so simple after all. My mind is abuzz.
"OK, let's look for valuation for end-of-aisle displays. Gillette is introducing a new shaving system - the Mach V. The Mach V is revolutionary - it shaves subcutaneously."
"Politically correct pricing: 1. Price reflects cost. 2. Price is transparent. 3. No discrimination."
"I want my students to be independently wealthy. Why? Not because money is an end in and of itself. It's because wealth... is freedom."
"The German method of negotiating is systematic but uninspiring. How do they do it? One by one."
"Instead of the German method, we will use the Italian method: creative but chaotic. We bundle, bundle, bundle..."
"You need to leave your negotiating partner an adequate amount. What is adequate? Epsilon more than they can get without you."
"Cash has a lot of interesting properties, one of which is that it lets you redistribute value without destroying it."
(On why the current fascination with 'expanding the pie' is short-sighted) "The fact that value is created should not obscure the fact that you have to claim it."
(On what it means to be a 'principled negotiator') "Money has a civilizing effect on people. When people know how much something is worth, they are much more pragmatic."
At this point, Prof. Dierickx launched into a 20-minute meandering harangue, touching on government reallocation of wealth, daycare for single moms, telephone rates for the blind, the Comité d'Entreprise at Insead, and the parking situation at school. "You may have concluded that I am slightly conservative... you would not be wrong."
(extending the vampire metaphor) "Your strategy is to give oxygen, so you can take blood. You have to give in order to enhance your victim's chance of being taken."
"Never, ever make an open-ended commitment. Always have caps."
"Loose language is indicative of a sloppy agreement."
"Lawyers provide a good counterbalance to a common affliction of businesspeople - 'big picture disease'."
