Your negotiation team, consisting of members of the top management group of the Twin Lakes Mining Company, has the autho
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:32 pm
Your negotiation team, consisting of members of the top
management group of the Twin Lakes Mining Company, has the
authority to enter into any agreement that it deems to be in the
best interest of the company. Twin Lakes has several mines in
northern Minnesota and Canada; the Tamarack operation is second in
both "productivity" and contribution to corporate profit. Your
negotiating team includes the top person from the Tamarack
operation, along with others from corporate headquarters in Duluth,
Minnesota
Most of the problems that were described in the "Background
Information" have existed for a long time. Officials of the company
have met with city officials several times to discuss these
problems. Although you agree with community concerns, you frankly
think that the city has overstated the problems in order to get you
to pay for public improvements. Hence you have agreed to remedy
several of the most obvious concerns in the past, but have not had
to incur major costs up to this point. Now that the state and
federal agencies have mandated a cleanup, things have changed
considerably. Some major improvements will have to be made in order
to keep the Tamarack operations running.
You are committed to keep the Tamarack mine and plant open
if possible, but not at all costs. You do not want to spend large
sums of money to keep this operation running. Some of the newer
mining operations in other areas have revealed rich deposits, but
will require large investments to gain access. If the costs of
continuing the Tamarack operations are too high, you could close
this mine and plant and invest in other operations. You want the
city to help with the improvements, especially because they will
benefit the city as well as the company. In addition, everyone
involved knows that keeping the Tamarack area operations running is
very important for the Tamarack economy. Naturally, you would like
to settle as cheaply as possible.
Several options for each of the issues have been discussed in
the last few meetings between the city of Tamarack and the Twin
Lakes Mining Company. Both parties have agreed on which options for
each issue are the most feasible. A detailed explanation of each
issue, including the available options, is provided in this
confidential memorandum. In addition, a point system has been
devised so that all of the issues can be rated on a common metric,
to assist you in negotiating. The point system allows you to
combine several interests - minimizing expenses and maximizing
current and future revenues, while incorporating opportunity costs
and legal considerations - into a single "currency." Each option
has been assigned a point value to indicate the quality of that
option to you. Within each issue, an option with a high point value
is a better outcome for you than options with lower point values.
Across the five issues, more important issues are assigned a higher
maximum level of points than less important issues. The more total
points you gain, the better the outcome is for you. Your
task is to try to earn as many points as possible in this
negotiation.
Air Quality - Paving Dirt Roads. You have already agreed to make
significant investments to reduce dust around the plant. The major
problem with the city concerns reducing road dust by paving the
dirt roads around the outskirts of the city. An increasing number
of tourists are using the dirt roads that need to be paved, many of
which are owned by the city. Your company has been instrumental in
constructing many roads throughout the region. Several of these are
now used more by tourists than by the company's trucks. Your trucks
currently use most of the dirt roads around the city. There are
some dirt roads, however, that you have used in the past but no
longer need to use. The mining trucks obviously stir up a lot of
dust because of their size, but smaller tourist vehicles vastly
outnumber the mining trucks, and account for what you feel is a
substantial portion of the dust. Although getting the roads paved
is now a necessity for your company because of the air pollution,
it will also be a nice improvement for the city, both as a
practical and an -3- aesthetic matter. All of these roads have to
be paved for your company to stay in business in the Tamarack
region. The options for paving the roads that have been discussed
prior to this negotiation, and the point values for each option,
are:
• City paves all roads 60
• Company paves roads on company-owned land / City paves other
roads 46
• Company paves roads it has constructed / City paves others
32
• Company paves all roads it currently uses / City paves others
16
• Company paves all roads 0
management group of the Twin Lakes Mining Company, has the
authority to enter into any agreement that it deems to be in the
best interest of the company. Twin Lakes has several mines in
northern Minnesota and Canada; the Tamarack operation is second in
both "productivity" and contribution to corporate profit. Your
negotiating team includes the top person from the Tamarack
operation, along with others from corporate headquarters in Duluth,
Minnesota
Most of the problems that were described in the "Background
Information" have existed for a long time. Officials of the company
have met with city officials several times to discuss these
problems. Although you agree with community concerns, you frankly
think that the city has overstated the problems in order to get you
to pay for public improvements. Hence you have agreed to remedy
several of the most obvious concerns in the past, but have not had
to incur major costs up to this point. Now that the state and
federal agencies have mandated a cleanup, things have changed
considerably. Some major improvements will have to be made in order
to keep the Tamarack operations running.
You are committed to keep the Tamarack mine and plant open
if possible, but not at all costs. You do not want to spend large
sums of money to keep this operation running. Some of the newer
mining operations in other areas have revealed rich deposits, but
will require large investments to gain access. If the costs of
continuing the Tamarack operations are too high, you could close
this mine and plant and invest in other operations. You want the
city to help with the improvements, especially because they will
benefit the city as well as the company. In addition, everyone
involved knows that keeping the Tamarack area operations running is
very important for the Tamarack economy. Naturally, you would like
to settle as cheaply as possible.
Several options for each of the issues have been discussed in
the last few meetings between the city of Tamarack and the Twin
Lakes Mining Company. Both parties have agreed on which options for
each issue are the most feasible. A detailed explanation of each
issue, including the available options, is provided in this
confidential memorandum. In addition, a point system has been
devised so that all of the issues can be rated on a common metric,
to assist you in negotiating. The point system allows you to
combine several interests - minimizing expenses and maximizing
current and future revenues, while incorporating opportunity costs
and legal considerations - into a single "currency." Each option
has been assigned a point value to indicate the quality of that
option to you. Within each issue, an option with a high point value
is a better outcome for you than options with lower point values.
Across the five issues, more important issues are assigned a higher
maximum level of points than less important issues. The more total
points you gain, the better the outcome is for you. Your
task is to try to earn as many points as possible in this
negotiation.
Air Quality - Paving Dirt Roads. You have already agreed to make
significant investments to reduce dust around the plant. The major
problem with the city concerns reducing road dust by paving the
dirt roads around the outskirts of the city. An increasing number
of tourists are using the dirt roads that need to be paved, many of
which are owned by the city. Your company has been instrumental in
constructing many roads throughout the region. Several of these are
now used more by tourists than by the company's trucks. Your trucks
currently use most of the dirt roads around the city. There are
some dirt roads, however, that you have used in the past but no
longer need to use. The mining trucks obviously stir up a lot of
dust because of their size, but smaller tourist vehicles vastly
outnumber the mining trucks, and account for what you feel is a
substantial portion of the dust. Although getting the roads paved
is now a necessity for your company because of the air pollution,
it will also be a nice improvement for the city, both as a
practical and an -3- aesthetic matter. All of these roads have to
be paved for your company to stay in business in the Tamarack
region. The options for paving the roads that have been discussed
prior to this negotiation, and the point values for each option,
are:
• City paves all roads 60
• Company paves roads on company-owned land / City paves other
roads 46
• Company paves roads it has constructed / City paves others
32
• Company paves all roads it currently uses / City paves others
16
• Company paves all roads 0