Negotiation Dynamics: Analysis, Concession Tactics, and Outcomes

Given that a negotiation outcome is determined to a large extent by the successive offers exchanged by negotiating agents, it is useful to analyze dynamic patterns of the bidding, what Raiffa calls the “negotiation dance”. Patterns in such exchanges may provide additional insight into the strategies used by the agents. The current practice of evaluating a negotiation strategy, however, is to primarily focus on fairness and quality aspects of the agreement. There is a lack of tools and methods that facilitate a precise analysis of the negotiation dynamics. To fill this gap, this paper introduces a method for analysis based on a classification of negotiation steps. The method provides the basic tools to perform a detailed and quantified analysis of a negotiation between two agents in terms of dynamic properties of the negotiation trace. The method can be applied to well-designed tournaments, but can also be used to analyze single 1-on-1 negotiation. Example findings of applying the ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: IAT
• Authors: Koen V. Hindriks, Catholijn M. Jonker, Dmytro Tykhonov
• Keywords: IAT 2007, Intelligent Agent, Negotiation, Negotiation Dance, Negotiation Outcome