A Hijacking –

Movie Analysis

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 Tactics/ Strategies used and its Effectiveness
Low Ball: Piracy Tactic:

 Peter (CEO) got them come down by a
large margin
 Pirates main motive - to extort money,
no risk of walking away
 Pirates were not skilled negotiators
 By mentioning about the Captain’s health.
 Somalia Pirates - famous for using this
tactic and therefore the expertise hired by
the company came handy in this situation
 The company had the medical history of its
workers.

TA

S
C
C

TI
TI

C
C

TA
S
 When Omar (transmitter) lured Mikkel
(cook) into calling his wife so as to
 Pirates used this when they made
pressurize the company through family

ST
S
the cook – Mikkel, call the CEO –

IE

R
angle

AT
Peter, through transmitter, put
E
AT

EG
 Pirates used threat as a source to make psychological pressure on Peter by
R

IE
ST

S
Peter (CEO) surrender by shouting and making him feel guilty
firing gunshots
 very transparent that it is a baseless
 Hiring an expert for the negotiation call and the fact that no fatalities
process occurred till now
 Approach
• Used the highball tactic by demanding a huge
amount 3 times the current market price of
the ship
• Used the intimidation tactic by threatening the
life of the crew and claiming that the captain
is sick
• Tried a bogey tactic - to intimidate Peter by Peter (CEO)
firing gunshots
• Used the lowball tactic in the negotiation by

The Pirates offering only $250,000 – which worked in his

favor
• Tried to not get emotionally invested in the
negotiation, to be level headed and firm with
the pirates
• Used a tactic of desperation to convey they
have gone above and beyond their
reservation value
 Process of Negotiation
Pre-negotiation:
The company hired a specialist who suggested –
• First offer not to be accepted • More towards deal making which is
• Cultural differences a forward type resolution process
• Recommended use of an outsider to • Both tangible and intangible issues
negotiate at play

01 •

•
Circumstance facing the three
parties critical
Principal-agent conflict
• Typical distributive negotiation -
steps similar to the ones we learnt in
the course

02
Bargaining/negotiating
process:
• Both parties offered prices in Agreement:
negative ZOPA • The deal finally reached in the positive ZOPA
• Pirates used intimidation and
bogey tactics to emotionally
sway the company
03 for the parties in question
• Lars suggested they use a tactic of
desperation to convey to the pirates which
• Difficult to estimate BATNA worked in their favor
 Impact of Personality/ Past experiences on
Choice of Strategy and Implementation

• Peter decided to take up the responsibility
rather than hiring a third party – also seen in
negotiation with Japanese partners
• Advised his confidante to call him in critical
need
• Cognitive and emotional bias as well
o Peter lashed out and exhibit signs of
impatience
o Equated Omar to be just another
pirate
o Reacting with anger towards Omar
when he was being threatened with
killing of the crew
• He knew exactly what sort of negotiation this
would be and what to reasonably expect
• Did not exhibit over-confidence bias
• Active listener but he was not empathetic to the
other party – considered them enemy
• Adopted peripheral route of influence
• Source credibility and authority conveyed, being
the CEO and also sole point of contact between
crew and family, wouldn’t have worked with hired
negotiator
• Worked on the relationship building part of the
negotiation – friendly yet professional
 Learnings
• Waiting improves the situation when you are in a time
crunch

• Difference in time may also create different values for
the parties
• Tangibles and intangibles should be negotiated
• Mutual adjustment is important for the negotiation to
progress
• Opening offer and stance may determine what path
the negotiation may take
• Different hardball tactics may be used by the parties
• An integrative negotiation looks to value creation as
an option rather than to value distribution
• In multi-party negotiations inter- and intra- party
interests may vary
• Calculated Incompetence: A tactic used to manage
the amount of information conveyed during
negotiations
What could have been done differently?
1. The conflict that led to a shooting and the
drop in communication: The protracted
nature of the negotiation added to the
stress
2. The final squabble between the captain
and the pirate: The last disagreement led
to the captain’s death which could have
been avoided
3. The choice of an external negotiator: to
bring an external negotiator may or may
not have benefited the negotiation
Thank You!