Putting MESOs on the table allows you to diagnose what is important to your counterparty, which is then the raw material for identifying value-creating trades across issues.

the risk that some bidders (even high-value bidders) will not play if the field is so wide open. The latter risk is particularly likely if bidders must incur costs—real or intangible—to make a bid.

In general, differences in expectations about the future often create value in negotiations.

(1) the degree of certainty as to who the potential bidders are; (2) the bidders’ incentives to participate; and (3) the likely difference in valuations among these bidders.

MBOO analysis revealed that the sales reps were systematically destroying value by bidding too low, which increased their chance of winning the business but reduced the profits to the company

To sum up, if you are buying or selling a commodity, by all means use an auction. Or if your asset is not a commodity but you can construct a scoring system that accurately captures your preferences, a multi-attribute auction can work well. But if neither of these conditions is met, you should be more inclined to negotiate privately with one or mor

An auction is a mechanism in which the seller is a passive participant after the process has been set, and the primary source of competitive pressure arises from competition among the buyers.

A negotiation is a mechanism in which the primary source of competitive pressure arises in across-the-table dynamics between buyer and seller.

When deciding whether to hold an auction or negotiate privately with potential buyers, you should consider four factors: (1) the profile of potential bidders; (2) asset characteristics; (3) your own profile, as the seller; and (4) contextual factors.