Ian Saunders-
Another viewpoint that I think must be considered is, that two parties
(Player) may be partner in increasing "the cake" but will become
competitors when it comes to share "the cake". So the conditions of
sharing (Rules) must be fixed during the negotiations on how to maximise
the mutual benefit (Added Value). Otherwise, there is a big risk that what
started in peace ends up in war.
For details I recommend the book by Barry Nalebuff et.al. discribing a so
called "PARTS"-model based on game theory. (Sorry, I don't know the title
nor the publisher - German publisher is "Campus") PARTS are the parts of
the game: Player, Added Value, Rules, Tactics and Scope.
Of course, if the relationship is based on deep friendship, this would
make a big difference, but in business context and unfortunatly
increasingly also in private context (high rate of divorces), one can not
rely on friendship and in these cases, PARTS is quite helpful.
Hope this helps,
Winfried
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>