In cooperation with the Centre Européen de la Négociation (CEN), we have for several years trained the buyers of Danone in Europe (eastern and western), the Middle East (Saudi Arabia), Latin America (Brazil), and Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore). We conducted these negotiation workshops together with a management member of the procurement team as co-trainer (a different manager for each workshop). This approach proved very effective. The managers were able to include many concrete real-life examples, which increased the practical relevance of the training even further.

Because it was important to Danone to conduct the training in China in the local language, we recruited a Chinese partner on behalf of CEN and set up the collaboration with this company. This was a highly interesting process with many relevant insights - you can refer to the think piece "Managing relationship-related issues in negotiation: an experience in China" for these insights.