GM Adds Some New Steps to the “Chicken Dance”

In September 2009, I posted a blog entitled “Is the Chicken Dance Continuing or Is It High Stakes Poker?”  The focus of the commentary was to highlight the chicken dance GM was employing in the sale of Opel.   At that time, GM already had accepted an offer from Magna International, but appeared to be leveraging its position to obtain a higher price for its Opel and Vauxhall business units.

In November 2009, GM announced that it was not going to sell to Magna International and the consortium put together by Magna.  GM had decided to proceed on its own.  Apparently, proceeding on their own involved obtaining aid from several European governments.

Today, the Associated Press announced that “GM’s Opel withdraws European aid applications.”  Now it appears that, GM now believes the fact that they finally have reported a quarterly profit — even though they continue to lose money in Europe — they are in a position to take control of their own destiny without any government aid or any other party involvement.

This shows that the “chicken dance” can continue indefinitely if all of the parties do not understand the actions and antics that are being employed to gain power and position.  In this case, it appears that GM kept adding new steps to keep the dance in motion until such time as they could bypass the bidders, the politicians and the governments and take control of their own destiny.

Makes you wonder if they ever really had any intention of selling Opel and Vauxhall!

A High Stakes Showdown

As I have learned over the years, every negotiation is preceded by a “chicken dance.” During the dance, the parties go through a series of antics and actions they believe will enhance their position at the negotiating table by gaining power over the other party or parties.

Watch how this plays out at a high stakes level.  Pay attention to what is going on preparatory to, and during, the June 17th meeting of the European politicians regarding economic growth for the EU, the future of the EU itself, the future of the Euro and overall fiscal policy for the member countries.