Proactive Contracting in International Trade (5cr)

Objective

The aim of the course is to provide to introduce the proactive contracting approach in international trade, learn about the basic contracting processes and learn basic negotiation skills.

Content

Students learn about the proactive approach to contracting and international trade as well as the basic contracting processes. More importantly, the students learn the basic negotiation skills based on the Harvard Negotiation Project and principled negotiation.

Qualifications

BA, International Sales Law recommended but not necessary

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Pass/fail

Materials

 

Tim Cummins: Strategic contracting as a source of organizational success https://doi.org/10.1177/2055563615579585

Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton: Getting to Yes. Negotiating an agreement without giving in.

https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/773612511

Suvi Hirvonen-Ere (2022). Business contract design via contract management operationalized methodology. In Research Handbook on Contract Design (pp. 294-313). Edward Elgar Publishing. (please see attached. Available also via the Aalto University library as an e-publication; unfortunately the platform only supports one reader at a time)

Further information

The course evaluation is based 50 % – 50 % on the classroom activity and an open-book multiple choice test exam.
For clarity: the classroom activity will be evaluated on the proactivity and activity level, not on the negotiation skill level. This is because the students are welcomed to course to learn; students are not expected and not evaluated based on their negotiation skills, but on their proactivity and interactivity – active participation and willingness to learn.

Accomplishment methods

The course is an interactive Monday-Wednesday classroom course of 2,5 days (Monday 9-17; Tuesday 9-17; Wednesday 9-12).
The course comprises of pre-reading materials before the course, lectures, group work, presentations and negotiation exercises. As the course exam will be held on the last day on the course, it is recommendable to read the materials before the course the gain the best benefit from the course, even though the exam will be an open-book exam. The test will be a multiple choice test.