International Negotiation Tactics

Hi guys, we're back in action & this time a little bit smarter & wiser....

On Tuesday, we were exposed to quite an inspriring lady guest speaker/ facilitator named Isabelle Dreuilhe who is a master faciliatator for global negotiations for international corporate conglomerates. Three teams of 11 persons each were formed, each team comprising 2 sales team members & 2 customer team members. We role-played the Dinotis case study whereby the firm is a French based parent company specializing in non-woven medical supplies like theatre gowns, face masks, etc. and this French parent company has now decided to open a manufacturing facility in Algeria to service the African continent, more specifically a SA public hospital based in JHB.

Myself & Albertyn, albeit in different groups, drew the long straw & had the easy task of being customer in the negotiations & so we were off to a good footing, being able to scrutinize & question every aspect of the sales pitch. Out of the 3 workgroups, 1 winning team emerged from each facilitators class & they challenged each other in the finals, attended by the GM of the Dinotis firm & lots of other high profiled Business School associates & affiliates. In fact, there were questions like, why did you only establish in Africa 20 years later, etc? The GM of Dinotis took serious note of some of the sales blockers which the teams presented & he was truly moved, some of the things which looked like he himself did not contemplate, given the look on his face.

The day played out well & we were exposed to all possible elements one encounters when negotiating on an international level where nationalities, cultures & communication barriers could add to the mix of difficult negotiating criteria... certainly not an easy task, with most of the delegates stuttering, sweating, etc. but still managing to maintain composure.

At the end of the day, the hosts, facilitators, associates & affiliates of the business school were all very impressed by the high calibre of the South African delegates attending the programme, we made sure that our national  flag flew high, the flags which our French hosts brought to the table, I might add, this even after our Bafana Bafana beat them in the 2010 SWC knock-out stages, which still seems to be a sore point for them. This bode well for us, including our respective firms which we represent & most of all the country whom most here believe is in some deep dark corner of the globe, you know that some of the French are still of the view that we as South Africans are still running around with loin cloths, beating our hunt to death for mealtimes each day (caveman style) & that the BIG 5 run around us all day long in what can be considered a big backyard.

Exploring Paris.

Dear All,

The game plan for this weekend was to see as many of the “have-to-see’s” in Paris as possible.  We managed the following:

·         Notre Dame (A church that the French started building in 1163, it was only completed in 1272 – 109 years later).  If you see the amount of detail and magnitude of this structure one would understand why it took so long.  To think that the poor contract manager that started this contract never saw the end product is very sad!! 

·         The Grande Louvre (The world’s most famous museum).  This building dates back to 1200.  One of the most famous art pieces housed at the museum includes the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, painted between 1503  and 1505.  Apparently he loved this piece so much that he always carried it with him.  Mr Miller, we do appreciate your passion for art much more after this visit.

·         The Eiffel Tower.  Say no more. 

·         The Avenue Champs Elysees (This is the road where the Tour de France ends).  Such a vibey road!  The old buildings and rich architecture are awesome, not to mention all the famous brand name shops – Keith and I were extremely glad that the wives weren’t with us to abuse the credit cards!  Expensive doesn’t even begin to describe it – we even had to pay 2 Euro (R18) to make a wee!!!!.

One can write paragraphs on all four of these awesome historical masterpieces, but words won’t do them justice.

In between visiting these historical venues, we tried do some shopping, but did not manage to find anywhere that was feasible for our SA rands.  There were four in our “tour of Paris” group (Pravan- Chemical engineer from Sasol, Deon- Kelder Meester from Distell, Keith and Albertyn).  The general consensus amongst us was that  as South Africans we have a very good life back at home – quality, value for money, and reasonable service..  

We arrived back at the hotel at 7:30pm on Saturday evening and you guys won’t believe it, but we decided to head for the nearest laundry to do some washing (for some of us it a was a first experience – we won’t disclose any names)  with a few beers thrown in of course!. 

We spend a total of about 18 hours on our feet exploring this week-end.  Albertyn also managed to get in a few early morning runs . Keith’s excuse is still that he forgot his running shoes back at home and he hasn’t found a bargain buy for a new pair of running shoes. We will sort him out this week though. 

This week’s lectures include 2 half day sessions of French classes, lectures in international negotiations and project management, a site visit to the world’s biggest market for fresh products, and 2 cocktail parties with our host company and the French Chamber of Commerce.  A busy week!

We did manage to pick up in the media that Mr. Malema’s nationalization strategy did not succeed, what a relief!

See attached photos of the weekends visits.

Keep well and chat soon.         

Keith brings subway to a standstill

It's Friday morning & once again we're back on the hamster-wheel, boarding the tube at 8am at at Ecole Veterinaire de Maisons-Alfort platform on line 8 which is approx 2mins walk from our hotel, heading for Republique station where where switch over to line 3 heading towards Porte de Champerret where we disembark for Advancia Negocia, the business school where we are based for 2 weeks ending Friday 1 -Oct-10.

Long story short, trains as full as it is and people pushing like you cannot believe, I reach out for wht looks like a hook for a coat hanger to anchor myself for the G-Force of the train ride. What I did not know was that this little coat-hanger-looking-hook thinga-mijighy was in fact the emergency brake which halted the train for approx 10mins whilst the technical crew tried to trace & rectify the emergency device triggered. Needless to say, the whole of line 3 headed for Porte de Champerret was mad as hell because every split second counts here in the subway & the knock-on effect of such is delay is unimaginable. Needless to say, I was officially considered @$$hole of the day/ month/ year or ever in Europe & the looks from all aboard confirmed my suspicion. I kept thinking, the d@mn thinghy-majighy wasn't even painted in red or something to warn someone, or was it just me that missed the point..... again?

What can I say, I would much rather have been in SA braaing on Heritage Day rather than causing such a marrakkas!

Albertyn is not going to let me live this one down so I had to come clean to you guys.

Site Visit at Nuclear Power Plant of Penly

Dear beloved family & friends,

As promised, we bring you the latest on our experience here in France. On Thursday morning we departed our hotel at 8am for a site visit cheduled at the Nuclear Plant of Penly (approx 4hrs by bus from our hotel).The site is located on the Manche Sea Coast, employing approx 800 people. The Plant is one of the newest French Nuclear Plants by AREVA NP, the leaders in this industry. It was originally built in 1990 & produces 2,600MW of of power compared to Koeberg's 1,800MW. Two new EPR reactors are being built and is anticipated to start-up in 2017. We've been told that it takes approx 12yrs to build one of these Plants from start to finish and it is quite capital intensive both from a CAPEX & OPEX perspective, in our view perhaps one of the reasons why SA has put it on the back-burner. Uranium input (yellow-cake) comes from SA (nogal), Gabon, Niger, Malawi & Canada. Perhaps an idea to buy some uranium shares & stocks given the outlook from this side.

We also learned that there are currently 50 Nuclear Reactors across France, generating 88% of the local electricity. The 12% balance is sold off to London which is only about 120km across the channel from where the Plant is situated.

Containment & disposal of used uranium/ radioactive materials (iron rods)was a question that Albertyn did not get an answer on, the host pussy-footed around this point in the Q&A session, however, the fuel assemblys are serviced annually during shutdow we were told.

Very interesting stuff, learnt alot and still under quarantine for radioactivity which is why we're in the hotel at this hour on a Saturday night in Paris ;-)

Hamster wheel and French classes.

Dear Friends,

As per Keith`s  statement today, we truly feel like hamsters on a hamster wheel spinning like you won’t believe!  Yesterday (Mardi), we  started classes  at 9:30am with some French classes. Our group was divided into 3, with  each group being assigned a local French tutor, they take no prisoners.  Two hours into the session one of the guys plugged up some courage and politely informed the tutor that we were only exposed to 3 days of French classes back in SA, she was pitching the session on a very high level.  She appreciated his comment and proceeded to slow down and used some Anglais to accommodate us.  The French classes went on until lunch.  The afternoon`s lecture revolved around international marketing, lectured by Monsieur Henri Simonet.  This session included the fundamentals of building a brand, CRM, etc. very interesting. 

Our classes ended at around 6pm.  We then decided to go to one of the local shopping malls to do some grocery shopping, as only lunch is catered for on this programme (breakfast and dinner prepared by ourselves).  This shopping experience was quite challenging as everything is in French.  Our choices were mainly based on the pictures of packaging.  I guess time will tell if we made the correct choices (trial and error).  We got back to the hotel at about 10pm.  Both of us checked up on our mails and met up at 11pm for a night cap.

This morning the hamster wheel started turning at  8am, catching the first tube to the business school.  The day was dived into 2 sessions, French classes in the morning and French and European economics in the afternoon.  Monsieur Thierry Coiville`s lecture predominantly focused on the  recent recession, role of the European Union, fiscal policies, French education programs etc.  The irony is that the whole French population is striking tomorrow, affecting all means of transport.  The reason for this strike is governments proposal to change legislation. They are proposing  that the official retirement age must be increased from 60 years of age to 62.  The total number of people that will be striking is estimated at 6 million.  Luckily we will not be affected as we will be going on a day trip to one of the French’s latest nuclear plants, located on the Manchea Sea Coast.  This plant was built in 1990 and comprises of the latest nuclear technology by AREVA.  To give you an idea, Koeberg delivers 1800 Mega Watts, this plant delivers 2600 MW.  The drive is about 2 hours from our hotel by bus, we will be leaving at 7:30am on Jeudi.

It looks like we will be spending our weekend in Paris, visiting the Du Louvre (museum),  Avenue Champs Des Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tour.   We also need to do some washing and Keith kindly offered to sort out this week’s washing (no washing services offered by the hotel).  Our plan is to pop over to London next weekend with the Eurostar, if Albertyns visa is sorted out in time.

Trez-vous bien et chat rapidement.  Vous manqué beaucoup .  Cant attendre un braai (Keep well and chat soon.  Can`t wait for a braai).

Albertyn and Keith         

Advancia Negocia - 1st day of French Business School, Paris.

Fortunate enough to have flown on the brand new "double-decker" Boeing A380, total passangers +-538 people on board. Landed at Paris - Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport at 6h10 Sunday morning same time-zone as RSA. We were welcomed by our French hosts (CCIP & French Consulate members) & were transported to Hotel Citea at Maison Alfort approx 15 mins from Paris CBD. On arrival, we were treated to a welcome breakfast and check-in was scheduled for 15h00 so we investigated the surroundings i.e. eateries, patisseries, le biere, etc. We established an indian cell-phone shop acorss the road as well as an indian supermarket right next to it - negotiations, negotiations (6 week stay, good prices, 34 people, bulk deal, Keith designated as chief negotiator). Further down the drag, we plonked down for a cold one & only then realised it was a Chinese bar with tote office, a tad bit better than the gay bar we happended to stumble across just minutes earlier, a visit which was short-lived, thanks to Albertyn for noticing the corny smiles.

Monday morning, making our way to line 8 approx 2mins walk from the hotel, we boarded on line 8 to Republique to catch a connecting line to Porte de Champerret where we were being hosted (travel time from hotel to business school approx 50 mins). On boarding the first train, Albertyn waltzing along rather smoothly, was caught smack-bang in the closing doors of the coach. Luckily one of our colleagues familiar with the train-line operation came to his rescue & the doors were forcefully opened to rescue him - needless to say, the average Frenchman was not amused. On arrival at Advancia Negocia, we were again treated to a welcome breakfast with our Business School hosts (croissants galore - was hoping for a greasy Wimpy farmhouse though, but equally pleased for a warm & hospitable welcome).

The day's lecture mainly comprised on International Marketing & Strategy presented by Monsieur Dan Denville who is exceptionally well qualified in his field of expertise which made for some interesting debate & discusssion. On completion of the day's seminar, we made our way to St-Michel, Notre Dame which was very interesting from an architectural, historical & cultural perspective. Needless to say, we happened to come across "happy-hour" at one of the local bars accompanied by Samir (ABI Sales & Marketing Manager) & Andriette Fourie (NEF Financial Manager). We bounced off 11 beers between the 4 of us at EUR42 (this during happy-hour "half-price")? Keith, given his indian mentality, managed to negotiate some free peanuts at least for the table so we didn't each have to order a pita for EUR7,50.

Kindly see attached photo's of the Notre Dame experience. Chat tomorrow.

Regards,
Albertyn & Keith.       

Keith and Albertyn at the National Empowerment Fund`s offices, getting ready for the cocktail party!

Dance lessons!

Jean Baptiste (french tutor), busy teaching us some dance moves!

First day of French classes

Today was our 1^st day of French classes.  We all met at the National Empowerment Fund`s office in Sandton this morning at 8:15am.  We got the opportunity to meet the rest of the 34 delegates, a very interesting group.  Professions ranges from Nuclear advisers to gents that manufacture brandy in the Worcester region, guess who Keith and I will be befriending??   J

We started the classes with the bare basics this morning, ie Bonjour (good day).  This term you can apparently only use from early morning till 6am.  Bon meaning good and jour meaning day.  After 6am the jour turns to soir (evening).  I thought, what a simple language, I can easily get use to this.  Short- lived was my excitement. 

We ended the afternoon’s classes with each delegate having to introduce himself and give a brief explanation of his family to the rest of the class, IN FRENCH. Intimidating is an understatement…

My speech went as follows:  Je’em app’ele Albertino (My name is Albertyn) ; J’ai un un mon p’ere  et un m`ere (I have one dad and one mom); J’ai un la femme (I have one wife); J’ai zero enfants (I have no children);  Jai deux chien (I have two dogs); Merci beucoup (thank you).

Tomorrow night we have a cocktail evening with the press and the CEO of the NEF (A member of the Group Five board in fact).

Off to bed, need to get up for an early run in the morning before class.

Bon Voyage...

I (Albertyn) arrived in  Jo'burg this afternoon and caught my first ride on the Gautrain - very cool!  Rather nervous about the French classes thst start tomorrow; rumour has it that we need to write 2 tests - not my forte...  Luckily I've got Keith sitting next to me (he's quite a boff).  I spent the first part of the evening repacking my bags and off-loading the excess weight (I was 6kg over the 20kg limit) before joining my wife, Kirsty, for dinner (she is also in Jo'burg this week).  So tomorrow it all starts...