Ett nytt perspektiv på förhandlingar : En studie av ”sanningens ögonblick” mellan detaljhandelshyresgäster och fastighetsägare

This master thesis is exploring the strategic dynamics and challenges in rent negotiations between retail tenants and real estate owners – with game theoretical concepts and models as an analytical tool. The starting point of the study is the challenging status quo that is facing both retail tenants and real estate owners – where lower revenues, digitalisation and changed customer behaviors could be seen as the new normal – forcing both parties to rethink. By applying central game theoretic concepts, such as the prisoners' dilemma, information asymmetry and Rubinstein-bargaining, the study analyses how unequal bargaining positions and inefficient sequential negotiation processes contribute to pareto-inefficient outcomes. Methodologically, the study builds upon a qualitative case-study in a local center in a suburb of Stockholm – where two semi-structured interviews were conducted – with a retail tenant, RT, and the real estate owner, REO – jointly compiling the empirical foundation of the study. The results show how the REO, through strategic information acquisition and exit-threats, succeeded in obtaining a stronger bargaining position, while the RT, who had limited experience and was emotionally invested, had a weaker bargaining position. The sequentialstructuring of the negotiation agenda further restricted the possibility of accommodating the joint interests – ultimately leading to non-optimal outcomes for both the REO and the RT. The study also discusses potential measures for improvement – such as increasedtransparency through legislations, a reconstruction of the rent negotiation disposition, but also the utilisation of tenant representative services – with the aim of fostering more sustainable, and symbiotic results. By combining established theoretical concepts with practicalobservations, the study contributes with a deeper understanding of retail rent negotiations and its challenges, as well as its dynamics. In summary, the study highlights the importance of rethinking the contemporary, non-collaborative approach to negotiations – in order to obtain astable and long-term development of the brick-and-mortar retail and commercial real estate.