Open with your final terms and refuse to move; efficient when credible, and corrosive of the relationship when not.
Named for Lemuel Boulware of General Electric, who used it against unions in the 1950s. GE's broader Boulware system was held inconsistent with the duty to bargain in good faith under US labour law; a firm final offer is not by itself unlawful in ordinary private negotiation.
In practice
- A landlord issues a final offer, means it, and lets the flat in a week; the same tactic from a landlord who always blinks costs three months.
- A supplier who says "this is our price" and holds keeps the contract and loses the relationship, and finds out which mattered at renewal.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- The recurring shapes of conflict and cooperation