The EDHEC neGO Challenge
Responding to a tender process put out by a construction firm, deciding the details of a promotion for a mass retailer or promoting digital communication solutions for a hotel chain…, each year 650 EDHEC Business School Pre-Master students take part in the neGO Challenge, an exercise that gives them hands-on experience of commercial negotiation through practical cases, submitted and assessed by the School’s corporate partners. Throughout this year’s seminar, 65 business negotiation specialists – from more than 23 companies – shared their knowledge and expertise with the students and assisted them in preparing convincing negotiation arguments.
Learning to lead a discussion
The 2023 edition of the Challenge took place in Lille in early April, in partnership with Négos Consulting, a leading negotiation consultancy that co-produced the seminar. Working alongside the firm’s experts, the students learned techniques that can be used for leading a discussion: “During the neGO Challenge, through contact with professionals, the students develop analytical skills, such as the ability to ascertain the relative strengths of the different parties in a negotiation or methods of working in a group. They also learn how to prioritise a method of communication that seeks to reach an agreement satisfactory for all the parties concerned.” underlines Paul Henri Plantevin, co-founder of Négos Consulting. Hager Jemel, Director of the Pre-Master year explains the contours of the approach: “during the seminar, negotiation is not presented as a situation of conflict or domination. Quite the opposite, it is understood as a way of finding common ground, where the interests of the different parties converge both fairly and equitably.”
Ethical negotiation for beginners
By seeking to create a climate of confidence during negotiations, companies put ethics back at the centre of their professional relations: “It is vital to remind students of the importance of ethics in business negotiation”, underlines Pierre-Yves David, Head of Purchasing France & International, Fnac-Darty. “An ethical framework contributes to building well-balanced and lasting relations with partners”. In this respect, Négos Consulting stresses the importance for students to apply behavioural codes that express respect for the partner, as Jean-Maxence Belquin, co-founder of Négos Consulting explains: “We encourage the students to adopt attitudes and ways of oral expression that convey respect for their negotiation partner, for example, by listening actively to what the partner has to say or by formulating open questions.”
Presenting the stages of a negotiation
This 12th edition of the Challenge provided the occasion for the participating corporate partners to assist the students at each major stage in the negotiation process, “from the initial questioning stage, right through to closing the sale”, explains Céline Lazard, Head of Marketing & Sales Operations, Bouygues Telecom. “We remind them of the importance of clearly reformulating the intermediate agreements reached throughout the discussion, so as to facilitate closing of the deal in the way that offers a win-win solution for all the parties involved.”
Through the neGO Challenge, EDHEC Business School offers students an immersive learning experience “that reproduces the conditions and the procedure of a typical sales negotiation in the business world”, underlines Thierry Leforestier, Head of International Business Development, Savencia. “During the neGO Challenge, in addition to acquiring knowledge and behavioural codes, students improve their ability to manage the stress related to the issues of the companies they represent.”
