Although a change in political leadership can usher in new and different ideologies, to the onlooker, and as an entity, \u201cthe Government of the Bahamas\u201d remained cohesive and unchanged. Hence in altering its stance regarding\u00a0the sale of BTC, the Government would have appeared insincere, which could have contributed to the country\u2019s downgraded outlook from international credit rating agencies.<\/p>\n

Lesson: <\/b>Although it is important to continually reassess your situation and the implications from previous decisions, reversing a decision within a relatively short period and without a significant change in the environment, can signal indecisiveness or poor decision-making skills. Businesses (and people) typically thrive when there is consistency and predictability in decisions. \u201cShifting the goal post\u201d can lead to uncertainty and loss of confidence by affected parties, from which it might be difficult to recover.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Have a Plan B, plus a Plan C.<\/h3>\n

Without a doubt, the BTC\u00a0was a cash cow for the Government of the Bahamas, as it would have full control over not only the company\u2019s operations but also its profits. Similar to most Caribbean countries, the Bahamas has been experiencing\u00a0a number of economic and fiscal challenges. Hence the loss of revenue from the BTC has been a significant loss to the Government, and possibly part of the impetus to recover a controlling stake in the company.<\/p>\n

Lesson: <\/b>Following any major decisions, changes from the previous circumstances or mode of operation are virtually\u00a0inevitable. It is critical to try to anticipate\u00a0what those changes might be, make adjustments and identify possible alternatives.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Do not underestimate your rival.<\/h3>\n

C&W may not be one of the world\u2019s largest telecoms companies, but it is a respected firm, is well-resourced, and would generally be considered a legitimate contender in any situation in which it expresses an interest. Although the Government of the Bahamas\u2019 negotiation strategy was not made public, it appeared that engagement with C&W broke down relatively soon after it commenced. Hence it must be questioned whether the Government fully understood its rival, or was adequately prepared to realise successful negotiations.<\/p>\n

Lesson:<\/b>\u00a0 Do not be cavalier in preparing for a potentially adversarial situation. It is important to understand your rival\u2019s negotiating position and bargaining power, in order to\u00a0ensure\u00a0that you are properly equipped to address the contention or situation at hand.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Recognise how the situation has changed.<\/h3>\n

In the almost two years since CWC took control of the BTC, the focus has been on upgrading and expanding the latter\u2019s network and introducing new services, for which considerable\u00a0sums have been spent. As a result, the value of the BTC, as company \u2013 in terms of investment, revenues, impact on the market, customer base, etc. \u2013 would have appreciated considerably, and would have affected the extent to which the Government could successfully regain control of the company.<\/p>\n

Lesson:<\/b>\u00a0 The parameters\u00a0and context under which an earlier decision was made\u00a0might not apply in present day. To improve your preparation, do ensure that you fully recognise and understand how the situation under scrutiny has changed, and consider the likely impact on your decision-making.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Understand your own limitations.<\/h3>\n

Although the Government of the Bahamas might truly have wanted the BTC\u00a0to revert to 100% ownership, it sought to\u00a0recover at least 2% \u2013 to secure majority interest. In light of the following factors, it is likely that from the outset, the Government’s bargaining position would have been relatively weak:<\/p>\n

\n
• CWC\/C&W had not expressed an interest in selling any of its BTC stock<\/li>\n
• C&W has been concentrating its focus on strengthening\u00a0its Caribbean assets<\/li>\n
• C&W had publicly taken the position\u00a0that for any company in which it has a stake, it must hold majority interest<\/li>\n
• considerable\u00a0investment and improvements had been made\u00a0to the BTC, and<\/li>\n
• the Government\u2019s weakened financial position.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Lesson:<\/b>\u00a0Be realistic about your own bargaining power \u2013 what you bring to the table, as well as the\u00a0elements\u00a0you can leverage. Brutal honesty can result in a more rigorous assessment of a situation, which may lead to more creative alternatives that might not otherwise have been considered.<\/p>\n

  6.\u00a0 Pick your battles.<\/h3>\n

  The return of BTC\u00a0shares to the Government was a commitment made by the current administration, for which at a future date it may be called to answer. Although pursuing the matter might have appeared futile from the start, the Government might have felt somewhat compelled to try to fulfil its campaign promise. However, the fallout, based on press reports, suggested that the Government: did not understand the situation; did not have a plan for the Bahamas\u2019 economic recovery; and was pursuing a matter that it could not win.<\/p>\n

  Lesson:<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Taking all earlier points into consideration, it is important to identify\u00a0the situations that are likely to be\u00a0resolved in your favour and those that will not. It is ill-advised to try to battle every contention, but rather to use your resources prudently to maximise your overall gains.<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

  Image credits: The Elutheran;<\/em><\/p>\n

  ______________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Government of Bahamas\u2019 failed attempt to regain control of the incumbent telecoms company offers many lessons. Six are discussed. If you are a regular reader of our news roundup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82,17,11,33,18],"tags":[100,71,34,55],"class_list":["post-9966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-caribbean","category-ict-tech","category-lists","category-telecoms-2","tag-bahamas-telecom-btc","tag-businesses","tag-lists-2","tag-mergers-acquisitions","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/BTCLogo-The-Eleutheran.jpg?fit=274%2C162&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-2AK","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9966"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9985,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions\/9985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}