According to the authors of Getting to Yes, “Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement” (BATNA) is the most important step that a negotiator can take to address apparent power differences during the negotiation process is to clearly identify and plan for their BATNA. In other words, they need a solid Plan B that they can compare to any negotiated agreement that they reach. This BATNA is an expression of “the consequences of not reaching agreement,” and it is actually one of a negotiator’s most important tools: in any negotiation, the party with the strongest BATNA has the least intrinsic incentive to come to an agreement, which means it can easily walk away from any agreement that it does not consider adequate. Accordingly, in their sixth chapter, the authors argue that a negotiator’s BATNA—not their access to money or influence—is their principal source of power in a negotiation.
BATNA Quotes in Getting to Yes
The Getting to Yes quotes below are all either spoken by BATNA or refer to BATNA. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6
Quotes
If the other side has big guns, you do not want to turn a negotiation into a gunfight. The stronger they appear in terms of physical or economic power, the more you benefit by negotiating on the merits. To the extent that they have muscle and you have principle, the larger a role you can establish for principle the better off you are.
Having a good BATNA can help you negotiate on the merits. You can convert such resources as you have into effective negotiating power by developing and improving your BATNA. Apply knowledge, time, money, people, connections, and wits into devising the best solution for you independent of the other side's assent. The more easily and happily you can walk away from a negotiation, the greater your capacity to affect its outcome.
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BATNA Term Timeline in Getting to Yes
The timeline below shows where the term BATNA appears in Getting to Yes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: What If They Are More Powerful? (Develop Your BATNA—Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement)
...they have? In other words, they should determine their “Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement,” or BATNA for short.
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Like setting a bottom line, identifying a BATNA helps negotiators recognize if an offer is truly worth accepting or not. But unlike a...
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...wire,” or an idea of an imperfect agreement that is still somewhat better than the BATNA. People can be relatively certain that an offer better than their “trip wire” is worth...
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...assets.” First of all, people’s greatest asset is not their money or power—it is their BATNA, which explains the cost of not making an agreement. For instance, a poor souvenir seller...
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For BATNAs to be useful, negotiators have to actively plan them out. This means brainstorming all their...
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Finally, negotiators should examine the other side’s BATNA. In some cases, people can change the other side’s calculation by acting to make this...
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...possible to make principles and merits the basis of the negotiation. By developing an attractive BATNA, people lower the cost of walking away from unequal negotiations.
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Chapter 7: What If They Won’t Play? (Use Negotiation Jujitsu)
...the Rent Control Board’s idea, so as not to seem personally combative. In reality, his BATNA is probably just to take the loss rather than dealing with a lawsuit, but mentioning...
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Chapter 8: What If They Use Dirty Tricks? (Taming the Hard Bargainer)
...by pointing out how negotiations would collapse if everyone used the same dirty tricks. The BATNA to dirty procedural tricks is to walk out of the negotiation, which can be useful...
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