• Identify who the decision maker is.

• Deep understanding of buyer’s need.

• Once you have made the sale, shut up.

Standard strategies for negotiation often leave people dissatisfied, worn out, or alienated — and frequently all three. People find themselves in a dilemma. They see two ways to negotiate: soft or hard. So there is a third way to negotiate. The method of principled negotiation developed at the Harvard Negotiation Project is to decide issues on their merits rather than through a haggling process focused on what each side says it will and won't do. It suggests that you look for mutual gains wherever possible, and that where your interests conflict, you should insist that the result be based on some fair standards independent of the will of either side. The method of principled negotiation is hard on the merits, soft on the people. Principled negotiation shows you how to obtain what you are entitled to and still be decent. It enables you to be fair while protecting you against those who would take advantage of your fairness.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

• Quality.

• Quality management. Defining quality.

Quality isn't something that can be argued into an article or promised into it. It must be put there. If it isn't put there, the finest sales talk in the world won't act as a substitute. When you're out of quality, you're out of business. Quality is like a measure of some good. For me really high-quality product should be reliable, long-lasting and well-designed.

Nowadays every big company has its quality-control department. Quality control involves checking for faults before selling goods, testing the product under controlled conditions and looking for market feedback. If a product launch failed company can redesign the product and relaunch it in the market.

Quality is the elimination of variation or, to put it another way, conformity to specification.TQM was a watchword of the 1980s. This often involved employee participation, with quality circles of workers encouraged to suggest ways of making things in better ways. A related objective is that of zero defects, where things are made right first time, eliminating the need for inspection and reworking.

TQM gave way in the 1990s to BPR, then companies were told by their consultants not just to tinker in a piecemeal way with how goods or services are produced but to be prepared to abolish everything and to start it again from scratch.

It was also 1990s that benchmarking emerged: process of determining who is the very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard is. If you don't know what the standard is you cannot compare yourself against it.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO 9000: The ISO 9000 family of standards relates to quality management systems and is designed to help organizations ensure they meet the needs of customers

The current iso 9000 Family is:

ISO 9000:2005 Fundamentals and Vocabulary used in the ISO 9000 Standards

ISO 9001:2008 contains the actual requirements an organization must comply with to become ISO 9001 Registered. The standard helps you achieve consistent results and continually improve the process

ISO 9004:2009 Managing for the sustained success of an organization. The sustained success of an organization is the result of its ability to achieve and maintain its objectives in the long-term. The achievement of sustained success for any organization is a complex and demanding challenge in an ever-changing environment.

One of the most important specialist of high-quality management defines quality as managing the activities needed to achieve the quality objectives of an organization. He begins from two principles. First managers have to realize that they must shoulder most of the responsibility for the performance of their companies. Second are financial impacts that can be realized once quality is made a priority (for example Miele, a global leader in high-quality domestic appliances such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners bases nearly all its manufacturing in high-cost Germany and is self-sufficient to a high degree. Keeping the manufacturing base in the company’s own place is, Miele believes, essential to maintaining its quality standards (I suppose it’s the right idea because just one year ago Chinese workers were on strike at the Japanese auto company Honda. They shut down an auto plant and four factories. This strike highlights some of the vulnerabilities of the supply chain. Honda didn't have a second supplier of auto parts in China. It’s a very good example of bad influence of outsourcing) Miele has built up a tremendous loyalty among consumers who know that the brand stands for quality. Delivering good quality is absolutely fundamentally important to any business not just to Miele. The best way to define quality is to look very closely at customers expectations and then look at the ability of a business to meet or exceed those expectations, consistently. You should be sure that you understand your customer requirements very clearly. Quality improvement should be measured consistently over a period of time, and very accurately, so that everybody believes in the reports and the figures that are circulated round an organization.

• How can manufacturers guarantee product quality.

Quality control is a process that is used to ensure a certain level of quality in a product or service. It might include whatever actions a business deems necessary to provide for the control and verification of certain characteristics of a product or service. Most often, it involves thoroughly examining and testing the quality of products or the results of services. The basic goal of this process is to ensure that the products or services that are provided meet specific requirements and characteristics, such as being dependable, satisfactory, safe and fiscally sound (to ensure they meet a standard guideline).

Companies that engage in quality control typically have a team of workers who focus on testing a certain number of products or observing services being done. The products or services that are examined usually are chosen at random. The goal of the quality control team is to identify products or services that do not meet a company's specified standards of quality. If a problem is identified, the job of a quality control team or professional might involve stopping production or service until the problem has been corrected. Depending on the particular service or product as well as the type of problem identified, production or services might not cease entirely.

Usually, it is not the job of the quality control team or professional to correct quality issues. Typically, other individuals are involved in the process of discovering the cause of quality issues and fixing them. After the problems are overcome and the proper quality has been achieved, the product or service continues production or implementation as usual.

Many types of businesses perform these types of quality checks. Manufacturers of food products, for example, often have employees who test the finished products for taste and other qualities. Clothing manufacturers have workers inspect garments to ensure that they are properly sewn. Service-oriented companies often have representatives who observe the services being performed or who do follow-up checks to ensure that everything was done properly.

Quality control also might involve evaluating people. If a company has employees who don't have adequate skills or training, have trouble understanding directions or are misinformed, the quality of the company's products or services might be diminished. This is especially important for service-oriented companies, because the employees are the product that they provide to customers.

Often, quality control is confused with quality assurance. Though the two are similar, but there are some basic differences. Quality control is concerned with examining the product or service — the end result ‐ and quality assurance is concerned with examining the process that leads to the end result. A company would use quality assurance to ensure that a product is manufactured in the right way, thereby reducing or eliminating potential problems with the quality of the final product.

• Ethics.

Business ethics is the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world. The ethics of a particular business can be diverse. They apply not only to how the business interacts with the world at large, but also to their one-on-one dealings with a single customer and even inside the company.

a) Moral problems connected with colleagues and clients.

Improving employee morale benefits everyone involved in a work place. Boosting employee morale means that people will take more pride in their work, call in sick less often and be more productive. Happier employees mean happier employers, since the employer will not lose money due to inefficiency and lost time. Improving employee morale can be accomplished fairly easily.

Most people thrive on feeling appreciated. You can improve employee morale by showing your appreciation in simple ways, such as rewarding an employee by saying, "job well done," or, "thank you for the good work." It is a grave mistake on the part of employers to only interact with their workers when there is a problem.

Another way to show appreciation and boost employee morale is by being friendly and interested in your employees. A warm smile and a sincere query about how one is doing will in turn motivate employees. Knowing people’s names and personalizing the work environment inspires employees to want to help you.

Encouraging social interaction between employees and immediately resolving conflict is another way to improve employee morale. Social events such as office picnics and softball games create a sense of camaraderie between employees. Social interaction positively influences cooperation and a general enthusiasm about coming to work every day. Isolation, on the other hand, causes depression and a lack of motivation.

A very important factor in improving employee morale is the work environment. Psychological research shows that atmosphere greatly and directly affects the motivation level and feeling of well-being of the employees in a workplace. When possible, providing comfortable and aesthetically pleasing furniture is one way that researchers suggest to motivate people. Lighting, flowers and artwork can also help improve employee morale.

Obviously, providing a pleasant atmosphere is not always possible, for instance in factories or repair shops. In these types of environments, offering a pleasant break room or relaxation area helps to improve morale. In any work environment, safe and comfortable conditions improve employee morale by giving workers a reasonable sense of security.

b) Responsible business. Bank's ethical policy.

Responsible business. Every company or business usually starts out with its own set agenda, which differs from business to business. A lot of businesses exist simply to make money. There are others who seriously wish to provide a needed service to a community or to the world. Each of these businesses has a corporate responsibility to the public, its shareholders and the world it trades in.

In its most basic terms, corporate responsibility can come down to the ethics of a business. Each company has its own set of core values, but the company’s values also touch everyone that the business deals with. Years ago, a company’s corporate responsibility was dictated by its government. There were set laws that had to be adhered to regarding financial and social responsibility. Today, however, corporate responsibility has to take into account the world that we live in on a much wider scale.

The public has become much more globally aware, and there are a number of groups that monitor corporations closely. These groups have the conditions of the world in mind. They think about the social issues of the world, such as labour laws and the exploitation of workers. They are also concerned with environmental issues, such as the rainforests disappearing.

Corporations are now held accountable not just by the government, but also by the public. Corporate responsibility must now take into account how dealings with customers, shareholders and employees are seen by the world. Large global corporations know that people are watching them and that any wrongdoing will not go unnoticed.

Many companies have a social conscience, treat employees fairly and try to do the best for their shareholders while trying to be socially responsible. There are, however, many other corporations who see nothing wrong with employing third world country workers to make their products. It is only due to groups who monitor such activities that these issues become public.

Many corporations have been forced into taking corporate responsibility. They know that it does not make good business sense to be seen as a company that is damaging the world that we live in. Huge penalties and fines also await corporations that break ethical and environmental laws.

Corporate responsibility has a huge impact not only on the local community, but also on the world. Its affects are social, economic and environmental. Bad and good corporate responsibility has effects that reach from the worker in the third world country to the air that we breathe.

A recent report stated that major investors are now more likely to invest in a corporation that has shown corporate responsibility. Investors are aware of the customer’s strength of opinion regarding unethical companies. The customer is now in a better position to shape corporate responsibility than ever before.

Bank's ethical policy. Banking ethics are the moral or ethical principles that certain banks chose to abide by. There isn’t an ethics ombudsman or a universal code of ethical conduct, but the banks that vaunt their ethical credentials vet the ethical standing of potential investors and partners and also choose the companies that they in turn invest in with their ethical policy in mind. This means that a typical ethical bank will require potential investors to complete an Ethical Policy questionnaire. Should the nature of the investor’s business run counter or in some way compromise the bank’s ethical policy, they will refuse to accept the investment. Similarly, an ethical bank will often seek out investment opportunities that encourage environmental or social enterprises.

The number of ethical questions that the banking industry faces are many and multifaceted, but in broad brush strokes an ethical bank must have a policy that takes into consideration those questions that twenty first century globalization and the social and environmental issues attendant thereon pose.

Banking ethics and profitability are not mutually exclusive, but being an ethical bank does sometimes mean that they maintain their moral rigor at the cost of profitability. This was the case with the Co-operative bank who in 2005, turned away investments totaling $20 million US Dollars (USD) because the investors were involved in what they considered unethical enterprises. These included a company who made traditional Scottish sporrans from fox pelts and a shoe-making company that decorated its footwear with sable.

In the United States ethical banks such as ShoreBank, Wainwright and RSF have sought out investment opportunities in those under developed areas and communities that are perhaps unattractive to banks with fewer ethical imperatives. ShoreBank has prospered within this moral framework and has seen its assets grow to $2.1 billion (USD). Equally, RSF has loaned in excess of $100 million (USD) and has reaped profits of over $50 million (USD), with an annual growth rate of 60%.

Banks that are known to have functioning ethical policies are found all over the world, and include the following: Triodos Bank (UK), the Co-operative Bank (UK), ShoreBank (USA), RSF Social Finance (San Francisco and New York, USA), Shared Interest (UK) based in the United Kingdom, Wainwright Bank (USA), La Nef (France), GLS Bank (Germany), Banca Popolare Etica (Italy and Spain).

• Leadership.

a) What makes a great leader? Give a list of characteristics and explain why they make a great leader. What features should be avoided?

A leader can be described as a person at the head of a group of followers. To achieve and maintain such a position, there are certain leadership qualities that a person generally needs. These include honesty, integrity, and receptiveness.

There are some qualities that can enhance leaders, but without which they can still be effective. Strong character is one the leadership qualities that is essential to all leaders. Character is a wide range of traits that collectively identifies a person. This includes values, morals, and methods. In order for a person to be a good leader, he must generally have a clear and distinct identity, and he must be aware of it.

Character usually needs to be accented with integrity. This is a quality that allows outsiders, including followers, to know what to expect from a person. This does not necessarily mean that a leader is wholly predictable. Rather, it means that his words, actions, and decisions will be bound to certain standards that are defined by his character.

Receptiveness is one of the leadership qualities that can allow a leader to grow. Being at the head of a group does not make a person all-knowing. This is why most great leaders are surrounded by great advisers. A leader typically needs to be able to listen. He also needs to be able to observe what is going on around him.

With receptiveness comes decisiveness. A leader needs to take in information, but ultimately many final decisions will be his own. When the time comes for decisions to be made, he must be able to do so. The decisions that he makes should be based on solid characteristics and not on unleashed emotions.

Certain leadership qualities can be difficult to uphold at all times, but it is important that a leader strives to do so. One example is honesty. Many of the things that a leader encounters may not be easy to share with his followers, but still, he should not deceive them. Doing so not only could result in a setback to a cause or organization, but it could also damage the level of respect that people have for the leader.

Another of the leadership qualities that may be difficult to uphold at all times is the need to display humility. Leaders should have causes and objectives. This means that at all times they are aware that they are not in a position to serve and cater to themselves. A good leader must be able to put others first and to prioritize the needs and concerns of others above his own. He must also be able to admit faults and difficulties.

Qualities to have: decisive, charismatic, cautious, magnetic, informal, passionate, adventurous, energetic, accessible, thoughtful, flexible, persuasive, motivating, open.

Qualities to avoid: aggressive, ruthless, impulsive, opportunistic.

b) Do you think leaders are born or made?

For centuries people have debated whether leaders are born or made. Several decades ago researchers started trying to answer the question. The debate goes on, even though we know the answer.