Writing the Deal: Statistical Analysis of Brazilian Business Negotiations on Intangible Assets

In times of coronavirus pandemic, and consequently, lockdowns, home office, social isolation, delta, and omicron variants, the development of writing negotiation skills are critical for success in business negotiations. These days, instant messaging and e-mail, two ubiquitous forms of electronic communication are used on a large scale, as an alternative to face-to-face negotiations. However, business asynchronous negotiations have their difficulty levels and pitfalls. This article addressed the challenges of asynchronous communication through the statistical analysis of N=1,400 Brazilian business negotiations on intangible assets. Key findings pointed out a strong, positive correlation between open and close value deals (ρ = 0.939, p < 0.010). The linear regression analysis showed significant non-parametric residuals. Moreover, the average between open and close values is 11.4 percent. We found evidence that anchoring is significant in business asynchronous negotiation on intangible assets. The conclusions are limited to the data set under investigation. The article provides scholars, negotiators, and practitioners with a perspective on the writing negotiation through e-mail or instant messaging.