REFLECTION ON “MOUSE” EXERCISE
Geert Hofstede said: “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural
differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster.” “MOUSE” as part of
Cross-Cultural Communications was by far the most interesting MNO exercise for me.
MOUSE was both a lesson on the nuances of cross-cultural communication and also the
art and science of negotiation. I was assigned the role of “the government” (an official in
the Ministry of International Trade”).
Expectations of the meeting:
Before the meeting, my tutor Ms. Wu remarked that the government is key as “most of the
time, if the discussion fails, it’s because of the government”. This really affected my
mindset as I was afraid that there could be no agreement reached at all. I felt a certain
pressure to “facilitate” the discussion well enough such that a favourable agreement could
be reached. That the Government and Mouse executive would be “overpowered” by the
mayors was also one of my concerns.
Proceedings and outcome of the meeting:
As with all negotiations, I felt that it was in my best interest that the mayors seeking
compensation “name their price” first. On hindsight, this was a good move as it provided
me a rough idea of the mayors’ demands. I then proceeded to convince them to lower their
price by explaining EuroMouse’s benefits. My initial proposal was a 1.5% business tax on
Mouse (estimate of 2.25 million Euros/year), on the account that the mayors agreed to
co-operate wherever necessary. At this point, the mayors were reluctant to deal as yet and
wanted direct government compensation. They harped on the issue of the government
profit of the land resale. As I felt that this was my Achilles’ heel, I eventually gave in to
“removing property tax for the locals” as well as obtain a 2% Mouse payroll tax for the
mayors.
Thoughts on hindsight of the discussion:
Each party going into the discussion was tasked with a certain quantitative objective to be
met that was kept secret to the rest. I noticed after the task that each party had initial
walkway options or a Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement (BATNA)[i] that could
be easily satisfied by the other parties! Contrary to what I thought, an agreement was not
difficult to achieve at all and the difference was then “who got the best deal” – who had
surplus on top of his/her minimum acceptable amount. How to maximize personal benefits
