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Zopa Case Study: How Zopa Is Creating a New Financial Services Exchange

Peer-to-peer lending and borrowing for “freeformers”.

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Zopa is a lending and borrowing exchange designed for freeformers—people who want to control their own lifestyles. These are people who do not value 9-to-5 jobs and who do not expect to retire on company retirement plans. Zopa is a new business designed specifically to meet their needs: a peer-to-peer exchange for borrowing and lending money. Here’s a description of what the Zopa team did to meet their target audiences’ key scenarios and to design their business once they clearly understood those scenarios.

Zopa is a U.K.-based peer-to-peer exchange for borrowing and lending money. Zopa challenges the financial services industry by providing an alternative, less expensive source of borrowing. For lenders, Zopa offers an interesting way to help others while making money.

Case Study Focus:

• How to spot a new customer segment and engage those customers in co-designing their own offerings.
• How to turn a customer need into an emarket whose products are supplied by customers to customers.

Target Customers:

Zopa is designed to meet the borrowing needs of “freeformers”--people who value control over their time and their money; people who have assets and incomes, but who do not necessarily work for a single employer.

Zopa is also designed to meet the investment needs of freeformers who want a good financial return on their money and, at the same time, to help others improve their lifestyles and realize their dreams.

Customers’ Issues:

Freeformers hate borrowing from banks. They don’t like high-interest credit cards. They resent being rejected for credit because they have chosen unconventional lifestyles.

Freeformers want control over the money they invest. They want to know what rate they’ll receive and how their money is being used.

Customers’ Results:

Borrowers with unconventional lifestyles can get loans from Zopa. Their loans are several percentage points below the rates charged by banks or credit cards.

Lenders receive higher interest rates than a bank savings account, a money market fund, or a municipal bond, but with a more predictable return than they would receive from investing in equities.

Business Results:

Within nine months, and with very little marketing, Zopa attracted 45,000 members, with an average of £2 million available for borrowing on any day.

Loans arranged by Zopa were increasing by 80 percent month-on-month--with more than £500,000 of loans arranged in December 2005--and not a single borrower had missed a single payment.

Roles that Customers Play in Co-Designing Zopa:

• Customizers--They’re configuring their own products
• Co-Designers--Lead customers have been involved in co-designing Zopa’s Exchange
• Market Makers--They’re co-evolving a financial exchange
• Change Agents--They’re changing the financial services industry’s business model

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Understanding ZOPA: The Zone of Possible Agreement

• 14 Sep 2017

Have you ever wondered what it takes to effectively prepare for negotiation success ? An understanding of the Zone of Possible Agreement (ZOPA) is critical to a successful outcome. Where there is a ZOPA, people usually reach an agreement.

What Is the Zone of Possible Agreement?

The Zone of Possible Agreement , or ZOPA , is the range in a negotiation in which two or more parties can find common ground. Here, the negotiating parties can work toward a common goal and reach a potential agreement that incorporates at least some of the other’s ideas. ZOPA is also sometimes referred to as the “bargaining range" or "bargaining zone."

Positive Bargaining Zone

When the terms that both parties are willing to agree to overlap, there is said to be a positive bargaining zone . That is, the terms the buyer agrees to clearly align with the terms the seller is willing to accept.

Take the sale of a used car, for example. The buyer is hoping to purchase a vehicle for a price between $2,500 and $3,000. The seller is willing to sell for a price between $2,750 and $3,250. In this scenario, a positive bargaining zone exists between $2,750 and $3,000, where both the buyer and the seller’s terms can be met.

Negative Bargaining Zone

When the terms that both parties are willing to agree to don’t overlap, there is said to be a negative bargaining range—also called a Negative Zone of Possible Agreement or Negative ZOPA . In these instances, a deal can’t be reached under current circumstances unless one or both parties are willing to adjust their view of what is acceptable.

In the case of the used car, a negative bargaining zone would exist if the buyer and seller could not reach an agreement. If the buyer is willing to pay no more than $3,000, yet the seller is willing to accept no less than $3,500, then neither party’s terms can be met.

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

In addition to understanding the ZOPA and negative ZOPA in a negotiation, you should also consider your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement , or BATNA , before any discussions take place. The BATNA is the course of action a party will take if no agreement can be reached during a negotiation. In other words, a party’s BATNA is what they plan to fall back on if a negotiation is unsuccessful.

Example of ZOPA in Negotiation

Harvard Business School Online Professor Mike Wheeler tackles this and other important negotiation concepts in his Negotiation Mastery course. To start, let’s listen to Professor Wheeler as he gives us a quick introduction of the Bridport case, highlighted in the course, and the concept of ZOPA:

In this example, a successful bed and breakfast called the Easterly is negotiating with Brims, a chain of coffee shops in the area, to prevent the construction of a building which would impede the inn’s view. As such, the Easterly is attempting to buy the neighboring land from Brims at a reasonable price.

Of course, the seller wants to drive the price up while the buyer wants to push it down. Here, the ZOPA exists where both the buyer and the seller are willing to settle the deal. That's what makes real-world negotiation interesting: Sometimes multiple outcomes could work for all parties, where there may be limited options in other scenarios.

The actual size of the ZOPA depends on how the perceptions of particular pairs of negotiators line up, especially in regards to their walkaway numbers. A price that could work in the first example might be rejected in the second, even though both pairs are negotiating the same problem.

Finding the Zone of Possible Agreement

Here are some key points to keep in mind when assessing ZOPA that will help you be better prepared when it comes to negotiating, and ultimately increase your chances of reaching a deal.

1. Your Success Depends on More Than Just Skill

Luck, good or bad, plays a role. You don't always know who you'll negotiate with on a given day. Some people will be unreasonable while others may be willing to offer more than you'd ever hoped. While you should always employ your best negotiation tactics , remember that some circumstances will always be out of your control.

2. Know Your Limits

It's a huge advantage to know the upper and lower boundaries of a ZOPA. A negotiator is understandably reluctant to disclose their walkaway, or bottom line, as it’s the least attractive deal they would accept before walking away from the negotiation. By knowing the boundaries of a ZOPA, it's possible to push your counterpart close to their limit to reach a favorable deal.

3. The Situation Can Change

The ZOPA can grow, shrink, or disappear during the course of a negotiation as parties refine their own priorities and reassess each other's walkaways. When preparing for a negotiation, remember that the situation can always change. Being able to adapt to these changes is a key factor to being a successful negotiator.

4. The ZOPA Can Be Shaped

As shown throughout the Negotiation Mastery course, much of the interaction in a negotiation is about shaping perceptions of the ZOPA through persuasion and other tactical moves, as this is more likely to lead to an agreement.

5. Preparation Matters

Studies have shown that, in cases like Bridport, the parties’ initial aspirations and expectations before they ever get to the bargaining table have nearly the same impact on the final outcome as whatever they do and say once they get there. That's why rigorous preparation is essential.

Going into a negotiation, you seldom know how big the ZOPA is or whether there's room for agreement at all. If you’ve prepared well, you'll have set a provisional walkaway line. That establishes one boundary of the ZOPA, but the other boundary, your counterpart’s walkaway, will be obscure at best, just as your walkaway will be uncertain to them. That mutual uncertainty underlies much of the dance of offers and counteroffers that follows.

Related: How Emotion Can Impact a Negotiation

Mastering the Art of Negotiation

Negotiations are complex, with many factors contributing to the final outcome, but they don’t need to be an agonizing experience. Proper preparation and a solid understanding of key negotiation concepts and strategies can help you create maximum value in the agreements you reach .

Do you want to deepen your understanding of negotiation dynamics? Explore our eight-week online course Negotiation Mastery and learn how you can develop the skills and techniques needed to effectively close deals and reach agreements.

This post was updated on February 18, 2020. It was originally published on September 14, 2017.

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Zopa.com: From a Hot Idea to an Established Market Player? – Case Solution

Zopa.com was launched in 2005 with the aim of providing an accessible, reliable, peer-to-peer lending service to those who are underserved by the traditional banking system. It is an online brokerage system matching up individuals who have the resources with those needing those resources. This case study allows students to think beyond the traditional banking system and how such innovation can serve the same purpose as the banks. It also gives students the opportunity to look into the possible recourse of the banks at the onset of new technologies tending to compete with the banking industry.

​Jamie Anderson, Martin Kupp, Michael Raith Harvard Business Review ( ES1541-PDF-ENG ) August 15, 2014

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Zopa.com: From a Hot Idea to an Established Market Player? Case Answers

Introduction – zopa.com.

ZOPA.com has the value proposition to provide an accessible, reliable, peer-to-peer lending service to those who are underserved by the traditional banking system. They provide an online platform that connects lenders and borrowers allowing lenders to give money directly to the borrowers without the traditional intermediary role of the bank.

Their online platform allows people to easily register as either borrowers or lenders, with borrowers being assessed using their Equifax-based credit rating, the same one used by retail banks (p.5). ZOPA only provides services to those with A*-, A-, or B- ratings. Those who are assessed and have the appropriate credit rating are put into pools with others with the same rating and allows lenders to choose which pool of borrowers they would like to lend to (p.5).

ZOPA.com has a default rate of less than 1%, which is lower than any other UK lender, giving people confidence in the platform and a sense of security (p.5). Their platform also connects people by allowing borrowers and lenders to send messages to each other, having a user blog, borrower and lender profile pages, and chat rooms for members (p.8). Some members would even meet offline in their communities. This adds a social aspect to the platform, with a particular member even saying that “if [they] borrow from real people… [they’re] more likely to pay back than if [they] borrow from a faceless bank” (p.6).

In addition, ZOPA’s value is highly reliant on direct network effects. As a platform that connects lenders and borrowers, the more lenders there are, the better for borrowers as it gives them more opportunities to borrow, more rates to choose from, and the opportunity for bigger loans. The more borrowers there are the better for lenders because they have more choice as to who to lend to, what rates and the time frame they want, and they do not have to worry so much about their money sitting idly by with no one to lend to.

ZOPA.com is targeting free-formers, which they define as “self-employed, project-based or freelance workers who were not in standard full-time employment” (p.4). This type of lifestyle does not result in the stable income that banks value above all else, leading to them being underserved by the traditional high street bank. Their research indicated that there are about 6 million people in the UK with this kind of lifestyle, and they project that in 10-15 years most people will work this way (p.4-5).

Free-formers tend to have a more independent culture and lifestyles, which ZOPA caters to through its accessible online platform, no penalty for early repayment, and the freedom it provides users from traditional banking (p.5). However, some of ZOPA’s consumers are simply entrepreneurs who had the money and used it to diversify their portfolio and mitigate risk (p.8).

The competitive advantage of ZOPA.com comes from…

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How to Find the ZOPA in Business Negotiations

Careful preparation in a business negotiation includes an analysis of the zopa in business.

By Katie Shonk — on February 1st, 2024 / Business Negotiations

In a business negotiation, two polar-opposite errors are common: reaching agreement when it wouldn’t be wise to do so, and walking away from a mutually beneficial outcome. How can you avoid these pitfalls? Through careful preparation that includes an analysis of the zone of possible agreement , or ZOPA in business negotiations.

The Agreement Trap

The “agreement trap” describes the tendency to agree to a deal that is inferior to your BATNA , or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. That is, we sometimes reach agreement even though a significantly better deal is available to us elsewhere.

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Negotiators can fall victim to the agreement trap for a number of reasons, according to researchers Taya R. Cohen (Carnegie Mellon University), Geoffrey J. Leonardelli (University of Toronto), and Leigh Thompson (Northwestern University). First, one party may successfully hide the fact that a proposed deal would not be in the other party’s best interest. For example, a contractor might attempt to significantly overcharge a homeowner when bidding for a renovation project.

Second, parties may be reluctant to walk away from a subpar deal due to the significant time, money, and energy they’ve invested in the negotiation process. This phenomenon, known as escalation of commitment, was first identified by the University of California at Berkeley professor Barry M. Staw. Because past negotiation costs cannot be recovered, we shouldn’t consider them when deciding whether to commit further in a negotiation, economists tell us. Yet abundant research suggests that we will be driven to try to recoup our losses.

Third, a desire to strengthen the relationship and please the other party may prevent us from recognizing that it’s time to walk away, according to Cohen and her team.

The Mythical Fixed Pie of Negotiation

What causes negotiators to walk away from deals that are superior to what they could achieve elsewhere?

This error tends to be rooted in a phenomenon that Harvard Business School professor Max H. Bazerman calls the mythical fixed pie of negotiation. We often approach negotiations with the assumption that the pie of resources is fixed, a mindset that leads us to interpret most competitive situations as purely win-lose.

It’s true that a small percentage of negotiations are distributive—that is, parties are restricted to making claims on a fixed resource, such as the price of a rug at a bazaar. However, in most business negotiations, many more issues than price are involved, such as delivery, service, financing, bonuses, timing, and relationships.

Negotiators fall victim to the mythical fixed pie mindset when they fail to recognize that they have the ability to make tradeoffs across issues. That is, one party could compromise on an issue she values less in exchange for a concession from the other party on an issue she values more.

BATNA and understanding your ZOPA

Avoiding these twin perils—either accepting a subpar deal or walking away from a great one—begins with thorough preparation for negotiation, including reaching an accurate understanding of the ZOPA in business .

Your ZOPA analysis should begin with a consideration of your best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, write Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton in their seminal negotiation text Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In . Your BATNA is the course of action you would take if you do not reach agreement in the current negotiation. For example, if you decide not to accept less than $70,000 per year for a particular job offer, your BATNA if you cannot negotiate this salary might be to accept a different job, to look harder for other opportunities, or to go back to grad school.

Your BATNA is “the only standard which can protect you both from accepting terms that are too unfavorable and from rejecting terms it would be in your interest to accept,” according to Fisher, Ury, and Patton.

In addition, analyze the other party’s BATNA. By exploring the other party’s alternatives—whether through research or by asking him questions directly—you can gain a realistic sense of what to expect from the negotiation.

BATNA analysis helps you determine each party’s reservation point, or walk away point, in your negotiation. If there is a set of resolutions that both parties would prefer over the impasse, then a ZOPA exists, and it would be optimal for you to reach a settlement. For example, if a job candidate would accept an offer between $70,000-$80,000 per year, and an organization is willing to pay between $65,000-$75,000, then a ZOPA of $70,000-$75,000 exists. (Issues other than price can and should be incorporated into the ZOPA as well, such as vacation time and work assignments.)

If, by contrast, there is no overlap between the two (or more) parties’ reservation points—for example, if the job candidate will accept no less than $70,000, and the organization will pay no more than $65,000, then no ZOPA exists, and both sides would be better off pursuing their BATNAs.

Through a rational analysis of the ZOPA in business negotiations, you will be better equipped to avoid the traps of reaching an agreement for agreement’s sake and viewing the negotiation as a pie to be divided.

Leave a comment below and tell us when finding your ZOPA in business has helped you reach an agreement.

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No Responses to “How to Find the ZOPA in Business Negotiations”

One response to “how to find the zopa in business negotiations”.

Tks the article. The concept of ZOPA is pretty evident. What matters in a particular negotiation is recognizing when the discussion has come into this zone. Professional purchasers or salespeople will not tell you that ‘now’ a level has been achieved which they could accepted. To get the best outcome for your side it is essential you read the other party and come to the conclusion that you are in the ZOPA, so now no meaningful concessions need making and you can conclude more or less at the position which you have last stated. Body language is the key. I have observed that once you come into the ZOPA you can most often detect this by a sense of relief, and stress reduction setting in.

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One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

• McKinsey examples
• BCG examples
• Bain examples
• Deloitte examples
• Other firms' examples
• Case books from consulting clubs
• Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

• Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
• Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
• Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
• GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
• National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
• Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
• Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
• Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
• McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

• Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
• Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
• BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

• CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
• FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
• Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Written case interview tips (Bain website)
• Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

• Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
• Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
• Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
• Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
• Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

• Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
• Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

• Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
• Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

• Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

• Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
• Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
• AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

• Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
• Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
• Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

• Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
• Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
• Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

13. Consulting clubs case interview examples

• Berkeley case book (2006)
• Columbia case book (2006)
• Darden case book (2012)
• Darden case book (2018)
• Duke case book (2010)
• Duke case book (2014)
• ESADE case book (2011)
• Goizueta case book (2006)
• Illinois case book (2015)
• LBS case book (2006)
• MIT case book (2001)
• Notre Dame case book (2017)
• Ross case book (2010)
• Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

The IGotAnOffer team