Logo Crowlight Partners

Call us in Germany
+49 228 707 8670

Call us in Switzerland
+41 32 510 4122

We’ll take your call 24/7
Mon-Sun: 0.00-24.00

Category: Negotiation

  • Game Practice #1: The Prisoner’s Dilemma

    Game Practice #1: The Prisoner’s Dilemma

    Are you facing the Prisoner’s Dilemma without realizing it?

    You’ve probably heard of the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Two suspects. One deal on the table. If they both stay silent, they both get light sentences. If one confesses, they walk free while the other gets punished. If both confess, they both lose.

    The twist? Even if they agreed to stay silent beforehand, once separated, each must act alone — with no guarantee the other will stick to the plan. Acting in pure self-interest leads to worse outcomes for both.

    In B2B negotiations, this dilemma shows up more often than you think:

    • Two suppliers independently decide whether to honor a non-compete gentlemen’s agreement — or secretly undercut each other.
    • Two business units must decide whether to share critical knowledge — or hoard information to boost their own standing.
    • Two companies agree to maintain pricing discipline in a fragmented market (without collusion), but each privately weighs whether to defect for short-term gains.

    How to Navigate It

    In Prisoner’s Dilemma settings, trust and relationship structure are key. You need to either remove the opportunity to defect — or change the game.

    Here’s how:

    Limit the possibility to defect: Wherever possible, install contractual safeguards, verification procedures, or auditing rights — so that deviating from the agreement is both risky and costly.

    Increase transparency: Create mechanisms where actions are visible — making betrayal riskier and easier to detect.

    Use contingent agreements: Tie your concessions to verifiable actions (“If you do X, then we will do Y”) to enforce cooperation step by step.

    Build repeat interactions: When players know they’ll meet again, the incentive to defect weakens as there is opportunity to retaliate. Frame deals as ongoing relationships, not one-offs.

    Start by cooperating — but protect yourself: Use the Tit-for-Tat approach: cooperate first, mirror their behavior after. It rewards collaboration without being naive.

    Strengthen shared incentives: Highlight and structure mutual long-term gains, making it more profitable to collaborate than to cheat.

    In negotiations, recognizing when you’re trapped in a Prisoner’s Dilemma — and knowing how to shift the structure — can make the difference between lasting success or destructive outcomes.

    👉 This is the first part in a series on negotiations mindsets through the lens of game theory. Follow along as we unpack more real-world “games” behind B2B negotiations.

    #Negotiation #B2B #Strategy #GameTheory #CreatingSharedSuccess

  • Game Practice: When ‘Game Theory’ Gets Real

    Game Practice: When ‘Game Theory’ Gets Real

    Game theory is the study of strategic interaction — how players make decisions when the outcome depends not just on their own move, but on what others choose to do. It started in economics and military planning, but today is applied in B2B negotiations everywhere.

    Game theory helps us understand hidden dynamics. Instead of delving into abstract theory, we’ll focus on patterns that show up in the real world: in procurement deals, labor negotiations, alliance talks and more.

    In this series, we will explore classic negotiation games:

    Each post will unpack one game: how it shows up in B2B negotiations — and how to respond effectively.

    No jargon. No academic detours. Just practical insight for real-world decision-making.

    Know which game you’re in — or else you might get played.

    Follow this series to uncover the invisible dynamics shaping your negotiations.

    #Negotiation #GameTheory #Strategy #B2B #CreatingSharedSuccess

  • “Surgery: successful. Patient: deceased.”

    “Surgery: successful. Patient: deceased.”

    A classic German wry remark. Grimly humorous — and frighteningly familiar to anyone who’s ever worked in a large organization.

    It describes a recurring pattern:

    ✔️ All processes followed

    ✔️ All boxes ticked

    ✔️ All KPIs met

    🚨 But the actual result? A failure.

    In strategic transformation projects, cross-functional collaboration, and in negotiations, this happens more than we’d like to admit. When procedures take precedence over purpose, the system starts optimizing for compliance — not for outcomes.

    Sometimes, the more complex the organization, the more it celebrates ‘flawless execution of the wrong thing’.

    At Crowlight, we believe in another approach:

    • Begin with purpose
    • Use systems to support it — not to substitute it
    • And never lose sight of the actual goal: the value created for the business

    Because “we followed the process” is not a success story.