Business Conflict Blog

Hans Peter Frick, General Counsel of Nestlé, once offered this guidance for business mediators:  You can either make what you think is a good candy bar and convince people that they “ought to” buy it, or you could go out and ask people what kind of candy bar they want, and go back and make it.

At the IBA in Vancouver, Jane Player of Bird & Bird gave attendees a chance to learn from global companies what kind of candy bar they like: How they consider ADR to add value (or not) in their businesses.  Representatives of General Electric, Swiss Re, Coca-Cola and E.I. duPont spent three hours in conversation among themselves and a the audience of a packed hall discussing relationship management, conflict avoidance, mediation, risk assessment, early case assessment and litigation management as ways to add value to their shareholders.

Candy, anyone?                                  Read more »

Tags: conflict management, Employment, Mediation, systems design

James F. Ring and some colleagues gave a fascinating talk at the recent ABA Dispute Resolution Section on Game Theory.  Where it started was cutting a cake.  Where it ended was cutting out the lawyers, at least by implication.

In addition to his law practice, Mr. Ring runs an enterprise called Fair Outcomes, Inc.  His talk was not so much a “sell job” for his company as it was a discourse on the reasons why conventional approaches to negotiation may have serious limitations.

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Tags: Negotiation, systems design

I had written here in anticipation of the March 29, 2010, Joint Symposium on International Investment Law and ADR, held by UNCTAD and the Washington and Lee School of Law.  It was a smashing and impressive success, due to the remarkable convening powers of hosts Susan D. Franck of Washington and Lee and Anna Joubin-Bret of UNCTAD.  My expectations were very high, and predictably they were variously exceeded and frustrated.  Even among the Great and the Good, and despite a truly inspirational White Paper that preceded the Symposium, we are still a long way from dealing with international investor conflicts as if they were a “problem” and not a “case.” Read more »

Tags: Add new tag, ADR Institutions, Arbitration, conflict management, systems design

From the invaluable BASESwiki comes news of just the development I and others have pounded the table about:  A long-term project that features a formal and permanent ”canary-in-the-mine” that identifies and addresses problems early on, and successfully prevents conflicts. Read more »

Tags: conflict management, systems design