Claim negotiation in business relationships

Climate change, the Corona pandemic or the Ukraine conflict make it clear: We are living in a decade of global crises. These global crises are leading to a change in the framework conditions in long-standing business and economic relationships. The changes in the political, economic or legal environment, for example, are forcing companies to renegotiate contracts that have already been concluded. A special form of negotiation, which is now becoming increasingly important in practice, is claim negotiation. Here, one party makes additional demands (so-called claims) after the conclusion of a negotiation. Claims result, for example, from changes in market and/or competitive conditions, such as rising prices for energy and/or resources.

From a practical point of view, on the one hand, comprehensive contracts often leave no room for renegotiation; on the other hand, there may be situations in which claims have to be allowed (for example, for strategic reasons to maintain the business relationship). The NAP research project examines claims from a behavioral science perspective, in the context of which there is no legal right to enforce the subsequent claim. Thus, negotiation situations are considered in which one party actually has no interest in renegotiation. In the course of the investigation, it will also be evaluated which changes in the framework conditions are considered legitimate reasons for initiating claim negotiations. Furthermore, implications for a result-optimized claim negotiation management will be derived both for the active side (= initiator of claims) and the passive side (= recipient of claims) on a strategic and tactical level.