Saturday, February 22, 2020

Negotiation Planning Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Negotiation Planning - Case Study Example They provide an estimate with respect to the direct material and direct labour, and this puts the ball in their court despite the company or the buyer providing their estimates with regard to direct material and labour in order to make the modifications, because the sellers are the ones being used for their services. Furthermore, the sellers are in a better position because they are able to quote a price that covers damages caused during the process of making modifications and, thus, keeping aside a negligible amount for the same. They also have taken into account an estimate for spoilage, new items, etc. in order to be on the safer side, keeping their profit margin at the best possible rate for the buyers. 3. In a contract, each party will do its best to emerge as the winner and have the best possible consideration at his/her end. In this contract, the sellers are in a better position than the buyers; however, it must be understood that the two parties do have misconceptions regardi ng one another. First, the buyers are doing their best to decrease the material and labour costs as much as they can because of the price that they will have to pay. The sellers, on the other hand, are trying to negotiate the same in order to maintain a profit margin, as well as to keep room for damages and arrears. The sellers must understand that the optical instruments require modifications to be done within the best possible cost estimate in order to keep the buyers from shelling out much money. Nonetheless, the misconception that the buyers have that the sellers will give them a quote more than they expect may be considered outside the scope of negotiation because ultimately, the buyers need to look into quality and take into account that they would be ready to pay the estimate rolled out by the sellers in order to be left with the best possible end results which will, in turn, help them cover the investments that they made. It is yet again another misconception for the buyers or the Gilbert Company to estimate the overheads and material costs that will be required for the purpose of modification, because the sellers will be able to provide a better estimate knowing that they have to provide their services while keeping a 10% profit margin. 2. In the second answer, we need to analyse the data carefully to ascertain the elementary assessment of the information. Negotiation Plan for the Buyer: The buyer’s position over here is conceptually taken on a different role than the seller’s position. When Pilgrim asked for a cost analysis programme to be conducted for the product, there was a major difference between the cost analyses of Gilbert and Price Analyst. This catapulted Pilgrim to extract the date based on the report conducted by both the parties and a combination of the report between these two parties was evolved to determine the actual cost elements in the negotiation planning. Pilgrim finally called Price Analyst to conduct a negotiation plan for the company since there was an immense difference coming out of the analyses conducted by Gilbert and Price Analyst. The proposed price by Pilgrim was 225,893 USD. This was the price at which he ideally wanted to sell all his 45 optical instruments to the buyer, which is Gilbert Instruments. Price analyst in its analyses compared the labour rates, the GA rates and the Overhead rates which went in modifying the optical instruments at the peak of their prowess. At the current level which is designed by the Price analyst,

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Structure and Agency in Media and Culture Essay

Structure and Agency in Media and Culture - Essay Example The paper tells that a debate, ongoing for decades is persistent in determining the relationship between structure and agency. There is a constant struggle to bridge the structure-agency relationship void and many approaches and theories have been presented in this regard. This paper suggests that Critical Realism Theory offers a solution by presenting a practical way to encounter the problem of structure- agency relations and contexts. Whether considering the voluntary or planned actions of subjects, or micro/macro analysis of a society or individual, the debate on structure and agency relationship keeps recurring. This critical realist approach contends that structure and agency relationship must be studied in order to better understand and explain society or social actions. This ought to be accomplished to achieve a stable state of society and also to accommodate positive social change encompassing individual innovation. The Critical Theory is born with the assumption that social world needs improvement and reforms, as it is deeply flawed. This theory also refutes prediction and explanation to control the social world. The sole aim of this theory is to study the social world in order to change it for the better. It criticizes and seeks to change the imposing social order. Critical theory is political in nature as challenges and confronts the way people are ruled. It is also critical of the organizations that exercise unleashed power to obtain their goals. The theory believes that the social world is the result of interaction between structure and agency.... In order to get close to the solutions of agency-structure problem, we ought to consider the evolutionary cycles of behavior for each ontological position (Hay). The intertwined relationship between agency and structure presents many solutions in a coherent and systematic manner. Taking a different discourse to the assumption that agency and structure clearly differentiated domains and each action requires a pre-existing structure (Archer, 198), whereas the critical realist theory asserts that condition and medium of agency conduct are necessary pre-requisites for the constitution of structures. Their existence is relationally dialectical and neither can exist in isolation from the other (Hay). We are not in substantial control of the social contexts in which we live in, however it definitely requires the exercise of agency to become someone and be labeled as such (Agency Textbook, 2). The agent’s particular decisions and acts are influenced by contexts in which the decision i s made. Engaging in certain acts is a result of contextual factors and our choices are a by- product of the uncontrollable contexts as we learn to want the things in relation to the contextual surroundings. Rather than an inborn source, our dreams, aspirations, and agency are intertwined with the contextual sources (Agency Textbook, 2). The dynamics of power determine the enabling and constraint of agency as one has to demonstrate a certain amount of power to exercise agency. Power is continually negotiated and shifts frequently with a multiple, decentralized, and diffused structure (Agency Textbook, 3). The complex structure of power influences agency significantly because how power is exercised on us and how we demonstrate power,