Material Detail

Land of Opportunity: Negotiating for Ashwood Junction is a multi‑party negotiation simulation set around the potential sale of a 2,500‑acre legacy property with deep historical, environmental, and community significance. Participants step into the roles of the Ashwood Junction Family Trust and six diverse buyers—including conservation groups, government agencies, and high‑impact private developers—each armed with confidential instructions, hidden constraints, and competing visions for the land.

Designed for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and professional learners, the case pushes students beyond simple price haggling. They must diagnose stakeholder interests and constraints, identifying each party’s true motivations, must‑haves, and red lines rather than accepting stated positions at face value. As key information remains private (internal price anchors, funding limits, rumors, political pressures), students practice designing negotiation strategies under real information asymmetry.

Throughout the simulation, participants grapple with how to balance financial, environmental, and community objectives. They evaluate competing proposals along multiple dimensions: price, land‑use impacts, legacy, public access, and long‑term risk. Ethical questions are front and center: when is withholding information a defensible tactic, and when does greater transparency build trust and joint value?

Unlike bilateral deal‑making exercises, Land of Opportunity immerses students in a true multi‑party environment. They must engage in coalition thinking, reason about trade‑offs across several potential partners at once, and resist the impulse to search for a single “perfect” deal. Ultimately, they are challenged to reflect on walk‑away decisions—articulating when the seller (or a buyer) should decline even an attractive financial offer in order to protect core values, relationships, and the future of Ashwood Junction.

This will delete the comment from the database. This operation is not reversible. Are you sure you want to do it?

Thank you for reporting a broken "Go to Material" link in MERLOT to help us maintain a collection of valuable learning materials.

If you feel this material is inappropriate for the MERLOT Collection, please click SEND REPORT, and the MERLOT Team will investigate. Thank you!

You are being taken to the material on another site. This will open a new window.

Do not show me this again