A Day of Nothing and a Day of Activity

From what I can recall, I did nothing of particular interest on February 8, so I shall elect to skip talking about it. To make up for the lack, I shall write an excruciatingly long entry for today.

As is typical of an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai, I awoke only to begin my journey over to my Japanese class. In class, we played 'Who's Pen Is This?' in order to practice our previously learned grammar lesson. Next, we planned a pretend trip in order to practice another grammar lesson. Finally, we learned a new grammar point before departing.

My next activity was to wait 40 minutes so that I could meat Saki and Chiaki again for lunch. This time, I brought my laptop along so that I could share photographs from back home. While waiting, I was joined by Wayne, a Chinese student who I had previously met, and Keisuke. At first, Keisuke swore that Wayne was a Japanese person, but after some effort to convince him otherwise, he believed that he was not.

Come 11:30, I took my leave from the boys to join the girls in the cafeteria. Since it was rainy and drab awful outside today, Saki and Chiaki were waiting inside the cafeteria instead of the outside area where they usually wait. After getting food, we ate and talked some. Once finishing, we made our way to the CIE lounge so I could plug in my laptop and begin the show. A wise move plugging it in, I might add, as the presentation lasted about four hours. I began by showing pictures of my house that I took prior to my departure. Next, I moved onto pictures of school and work. After exhausting my home pictures, I went into my picture archives to show them various pictures of older events that I went to before coming to Japan. Having no more pictures of home to show, I entertained them with pictures of the things I have done in Japan. As a follow up to that, I showed them the humorous pictures that I had collected from the internet.

Next, I showed them a game that I used to play as a child, Fire 'n Ice. I chose this game because it was simple and universal among the sexes. The game is comprised of fire that had to be extinguished by ice. This task had to be performed in a logical order so to extinguish all of the fire and not get stuck. I let them play through the first two levels before changing the activity to avoid boredom. They recognized my Kirby icon, so I played Kirby for them for two stages. Next, I had them do an IQ puzzle game where they had to get a family across the river with certain parameters. They played for awhile before giving up and then I finished for them. By that time, I was misfortuned by having to go to class, so we bid farewell as I climbed the stairs to class.

Today was negotiation day. Aside from that term defining which class I was going to it also meant that we were going to do an actual negotiation. I was a little nervous to be thown to the art after only two weeks of class. The negotiation procedure was surprising to me. We would have time to read an information packet and ten minutes to prepare a tactic. Next, we would leave the classroom with our partner, find somewhere to talk, and do the negotiation. We had to finish before the class would normally be over, but we could finish well before then as well. In order to preserve the experience, I shall now become masochistic and type the page and a half packet so you can follow along with the activity (please excuse any typos):
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The Excalibur Engine Parts Company has been involved in the production of advanced engine parts for little over a year. It seems that the demand for their specialized pistons has not been as great as anticipated, and some shareholders are beginning to become concerned about the company's disappointing revenues. It appeared that the situation was about to improve six months ago, when the government of Switzerland placed an order for 20,000 of their Series 2.1 Intensaflus (Class "A") pistons. This contract with Switzerland was considered a real coup, because there are several other more established companies that produce the same type of piston. Unfortunately, the contract in question was not approbated by the Swiss legislature and was therefore considered to be null and void under Swiss law. By the time that Excalibur learned of the contract's imperfections, 10,000 pistons had already been produced and packaged. Since Excalibur had no legal recourse, it was stuck with an extra 10,000 pistons in a market that already had a very dissatisfying demand. Financial analysts were predicting that this latest setback would lead to a major loss in this quarter unless Excalibur's management acted quickly.

As fate would have it, a representative from Knight Engines Inc. contacted Excalibur recently and asked whether it would be possible for them to process a rush order for 8,000 fo their Series 2.1 Intensaflux (Class "A") pistons within two weeks. Representatives of Excalibur stated that this might be possible, but that certain conditions would have to be attached to such a rush order. First, in order to get some free advertising, Knight would have to agree to indicate on the chassis that their engines were fitted with Excalibur pistons. Second, a rush fee of at least 5% over the selling price would be charged for the extra costs involved for the processing of such an order.

Excalibur's random testing program ensures the maintenance of the high quality of their products. However, even with their strict standards, test have revealed that 4 to 5% of pistons manufactured contain some sort of defect. Excalibur does offer an excellent quality-control insurance program that guarantees that all pistons delivered will be free from defects. Under the conditions of this guarantee, all pistons are individually tested before delivery. Due to the extra costs involved, Excalibur charges an extra 10% over the selling price for this service. If this particular guarantee is not purchased, defects in the products delivered are the responsibility of the purchaser. As well, prospective customers are usually asked whether they require additional units, in order to provde for situations where replacements are required urgently.

You are the VP of Sales for Excalibur, and it is your responsibility to negotiate a contract with Knight for the sale of the pistons that they desire. In order to determine the contract price, the following should be kept in mind:

1. The Swiss government was willing to pay $600 per piston before that particular contract was annulled. If the Swiss thought that this was a fair price, shouldn't Knight find it reasonable as well?

2. The total cost to produce this type of piston at Excalibur is $480 per piston. Excalibur's list price for this type of piston is $560.

3. You are aware that some of your competitors sell inferior pistons of the same size for as low as $400 per piston. You believe that Excalibur's prices are justified due to the higher standards of quality that are maintained at your plants. However, there is a rumor that Knight will be using your company's pistons in order to build engines that will be sold to the goverment under government contract. If this goverment could be made aware of the high quality of your pistons, it might work to your advantage the next time the government requests submissions for the supply of engine parts. Obtaining such contracts would certainly quell the complaints of Excalibur's rather timorous shareholders. This goal could certainly be achieved if Knight were to indicate that their engines were fitted with quality Excalibur parts. It is likely that Knight will not do this without some sort of concession on the part of Excalibur. Perhaps a cut in the profit margin today would reap greater benefits in the future.

4. As mentioned before, the market for this type of piston does not seem to be as large as originally projected. If this Knight deal falls through, Excalibur might be forced to sell its pistons to the only other prospective customer who has shown any interest. Hank's Super Monster Tractors Inc. has offered to take all the Intensaflux pistons off Excalibur's hands for a paltry $100 per piston.

Your success during the negotiation process will be determined by the total score that you achieve. The score is determined by multiplying the number of pistons sold by the price per piston that was negotiated.
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I was paired with one of the Japanese students. Before we went to negotiate, we took some time to plan our approaches. Considering the story, I calculated the highest price to be $690 with the rush fee and insurance included. From there, I went down in price according to each subractable item. The lowest price that I hoped to achieve was the market price of $560, but I was willing to go lower if needed since the alternative was to get $100.

Once the negotiation began, my partner, Maya, began since she was the buyer. During her explanation of the situation, she included that she heard about Excalibur's interest to have its name branded on their cars. After being asked what I could do in exchange for this, I decided to offer removing the rush fee. Next, Maya expressed her concerns about how some of their previous pistons were defective. At this point, I introduced the insurance and explained how it worked. I was worried about disclosing the price of $660, but I was able to convince her to accept it. The last hurdle was to convince her to buy from Excalibur instead of a cheaper competitor who would take longer than wanted to get the pistons ready. I explained that this deal was more important than she was giving it credit for since it was with the government. By taking the higher price, she would not only get the quality that she desired, but she would also receive the products on time so that her company would not look bad for being late. After we were ready to close the deal, we signed a fake contract to sell 8,000 pistons (what Knight needed) for $660 (desired price + insurance).

Although my company may have won more, I still think that both companies won. Not only was the deal closed in my favor, but it also ensured the quality and speed that Knight needed which should also help in the two companies' relationship. We turned the contract in to the teacher and parted ways.

Next, I sought Albert out so we could grab some food. Before going, we waited in the lounge since it was pretty early. I showed him some of the pictures of home as well while we waited. For dinner, we went to the ramen shop again. After eating, we went back to our dorms.

When I got to my dorm, I heard excessive noise emanating from the walls. When I discovered that the door was locked, I knew that I was in for a treat. After entering the unit, I found a whole slew of people eating dinner as well as Mitch with alcohol on the table (which is prohibited in the dorms). The dinner party did not last too long since they were almost done when I got there. As the dinner guest of Will and Daan left, they were quickly replaced by noiser guests of Mitch and Aaron. These guest played loud music and eventually funneled into my room to smoke on the balcony. After what was probably an hour and a half, they all left for the pubs as I started the ventillation up to get rid of the cigarette smell that now enveloped the room. (Smoking is also prohibited in the dorm.) From there, I answered some questions about my negotiation from the teacher and went downstairs to print them.

When I went downstairs, I saw the caretaker and two RA's talking. After I printed my work, I went to talk with them just because. The caretaker, Yamamoto san (aka Okaa san), expressed her delight that I was here doing homework while everyone else was out playing (playing was meant in a derogatory way) - all in Japanese of course. As the conversation continued, I was glad to have the English-speaking RA, Megumi, there to help translate. Okaa san told me that if my roommates (she knows who they are) get too loud, I should go get her. She also had me practice bowing and said that I did it perfectly.

This interaction was exactly what I was looking to find. Before this, I was afraid that she might group me with the rest of my roommates and hence think that I was some savage and barbaric fool who didn't belong here. Our interaction tonight, however, verified that the exact opposite was the case. Satisfied with my success, I went back upstairs and typed you all a novel.