DELIVERS THE ULTIMATE LEARNING EXPERIENCE THE FIRST NEGOTIATION Time was running short to secure a contract manufacturer to partner with the new student academy at OSU-Cascades. With deadlines for 2024-25 product lines looming, two companies had responded to the academy’s request for quotation. A negotiation was scripted and rehearsed. A finance executive was trained to deliver the pitch. The academy would be delighted to work with an interested domestic supplier of outdoor products. But that supplier also was entertaining a compelling bid from overseas. Help was needed to close the pricing gap. Then, the longest 30 seconds of uncomfortable silence was answered: A better price to deliver the product for launch. A C-suite of undergraduate academy students – mere months into their executive jobs – closed a six-figure order deal with their new supplier. Call it winning in negotiation. Welcome to SnoPlanks Academy. SnoPlanks Academy SnoPlanks executive team (from left to right): Riley O’Brien, Caitlin Colgin, Jacob Smith, James Nicol (in foreground), Ryan Henkel and Tristan Brown – photo by Marek Leavenworth Story by Becky Barrett 6 | College of Business
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