Olin teams negotiate wins in Baylor contest

The first weekend in April, a group of four Olin students: Kevin Pung, David Gumins, Jon Goldstein, and Andrew Glantz, along with negotiations professor and PhD candidate Elizabeth Luckman, traveled to Waco, Texas for a negotiations competition. Andrew wrote this post for the blog:

The Baylor Business Negotiations Competition consisted of three rounds (single-elimination) with teams of two people each (12 teams overall). Kevin and I were on a team, and David and Jon were on another team.

The first round was 35-minutes: our role was a pharmaceuticals company hiring two consultants and we had to negotiate a contract with them. Both of our teams made it to the next round (semi-finals).

The semi-final round was also 35 minutes: our role was the in-store sales strategy team at a Walmart-esque company and we had to negotiate a marketing strategy/budget with the online division. Only two teams with the highest scores out of the six semi-finalists made it to finals. Kevin and I ranked 1st after that round; David and Jon ranked 5th.

Kevin and I then competed in finals in an auditorium for a 45-minute negotiation: our role was a development company negotiating a maintenance contract with a large company. It was a close negotiation and we ended up with a beneficial deal, but lost in a 2-1 decision with the judges. Kevin and I each won $150 for placing 2nd in the competition.

This was the first intercollegiate national competition of this nature. WashU is looking to possibly host one in the future in addition to other colleges. It was terrific to see the two teams place 2nd and 5th from WashU! I look forward to seeing WashU continue this in the future.

Guest Blogger: Andrew Glantz BSBA ’17