Negotiation Case
Does Vinod Khosla have a real chance at changing Computervision’s decision? Does Sun have a better product? Can Sun be regarded as a reliable longterm vendor?
If I understand well the case there is many obstacles for Sun to be chose by Computervision such as: * The fact that the company is quite new and Sun don’t have the reputation of Apolo * There is also the problem that Apalo has the industry standard and the good amount of employees when Sun has only “40 person” as said in the phone call from the president. * And the sun product is seen as incomplete.
So if we stay on those elements, Vinod Khosla don’t really has chance to change the decision of Computervision. But if we look more in detail, there is also argument in favor of Sun: * The advantage of Sun is that they have an open product which can be modified by the user, this is the reason why in the case the software developers are attracted by their product. It also mean that the product will be a part of the improvement of computer technology and may grow with it while the product of Apolo for example is nonstandard so it is not flexible as the Sun machine.

* The price of the Apolo product is also higher so for the long run benefit, the Sun computer may be more interesting because more competitive.

* The Sun machine is already adopted by university which mean that the product is viable and well appreciate

* Moreover, in the phone call of the president, it is mentioned that the number of employees of sun doesn’t play in their favor but considering that the computer industry is growing more and more, it will become easy to find workforces such as engineers, marketing or sales forces.
So in my opinion, Sun have a real chance at changing the Computervision’s decision by highlighting the fact that with the appropriate financial resources, the actual issues can be solve and that the Sun product has biggest opportunities in the future.
How should Vinod Khosla respond to Computervision’s president? What should his long-term and short-term objectives be? Specifically, what should he offer to Computervision?

So Vinod Khosla should answer to the president by saying that * The open system are superior and more attractive that proprietary system especially in this case where the 2 products have similar performance. (p 22). *

* In addition as I said, the issues mostly come from the lack of financial resources so it can be easily fixed. And then the Sun capabilities to conquer a wild market will grow. Also because of the price of Sun’s product, which is cheaper than Apolo, it provide a comparative advantage into the competition game if Apolo cannot offer their model at the same price.

* Sun already earn the educational market, so the next generation of worker who were students at the time of the case will be accustomed to the sun station because they learned on it at the university. For these reason they will more able to choose the Sun station in their life and this station can become the standard.

* With Cadlinc example (p21), Khosla can show that the product is not that incomplete and represent a big opportunity.

* This same example of Cadlinc show that Sun have huge chance to conquer the OME workstation market.

* Sun is also positioned in the Silicon Valley which is a better place for the facilities than the Apollo’s localization.

* For the number of employees and the financial resources, Sun have great future plan such as a recruitment plan and an improvement of the funds. P19

What are the consequences of not doing this deal?
If the deal not appear, Computervision may lose something because by choosing Apolo they will lose possible market share because the Apolo’s system is not standard so they are limited to their actual market customers who like this specific system, it is like a niche market. While with Sun they may be able to conquer all the market and become the standard of all the industry because it is an open system.