Publications

January 2001 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Return Logic, Inc. (B)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Michele Lutz

Highlights how multiple rounds of financing work in practice and illustrates how terms agreed to in early-stage financing deals have an impact in later financing rounds. Also illustrates ethical issues that entrepreneurs confront as they build "dot-com" ventures. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Private Equity; Internet and the Web; Negotiation Deal; Entrepreneurship; Ethics

03 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

need to know more than ever how consumers are redefining value and responding to the recession. Price elasticity curves are changing. Consumers take more time searching for durable goods and negotiate harder at the point of sale. They are... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

January 1991 (Revised November 1994)
Supplement

Black Caucus Groups at Xerox Corp. (B)

Describes the compromise worked out between Xerox and the black caucus groups. The implications of this arrangement for Xerox and black employees over the next 16 years is also described. View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Employee Relationship Management; Race Characteristics; Consumer Products Industry

July 1986 (Revised March 1989)
Case

Jim Southern

By: Howard H. Stevenson

A recent MBA graduate has reached tentative agreement for an LBO of a forms-printing business with $43 million sales. At the eleventh hour, however, the seller has demanded that the buyer personally guarantee $4 million of accounts payable. View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Leveraged Buyouts; Accounting

May 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

The Kashagan Production Sharing Agreement (PSA)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Florian Bitsch

When discovered in the 1990s, the Kashagan oil field was the second largest oil field in the world. The project sponsors (equity investors) signed a 40-year production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Kazakh government in 1997, with the expectation the field would... View Details

November 2005 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Tad O'Malley: December 2004

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon and Sean Klimczak

Tad O'Malley, a second-year student at Harvard Business School, must choose among three offers from private equity firms. Each firm presents a unique combination of history, culture, and compensation. Traces Tad's strategy in obtaining these offers and lets students... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Compensation and Benefits; Job Offer; Negotiation Tactics; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career

13 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

‘Humblebragging’ is a Bad Strategy, Especially in a Job Interview

vulnerability. For instance, when teaching a Negotiation class to first-year MBA students, she shares the story of the time she flubbed an important negotiation situation in her own life. "I tell them about... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

918-044 Stoy Foods: Role Information for Danijela Stoyanovic In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer, or should the family... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

October 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

W. R. Hambrecht & Co: OpenIPO

By: Andre F. Perold and Gunjan D. Bhow

OpenIPO is a new mechanism for pricing and distributing initial public offerings. The system, which is based on a Dutch auction, represents an attempt by the investment bank W.R. Hambrecht + Co. to change the manner in which IPOs are underwritten. The case provides a... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Debt Securities; Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Price; Information; Auctions; Agreements and Arrangements; Distribution; Internet; Netherlands

February 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Exercise

Congo River Basin Project: Role for Dr. Campos

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Anne Starks Acosta, Deborah M. Kolb and Cailin B. Hammer

The director of a research coalition and the founder/coordinator of an NGO consortium meet to discuss the possibility of jointly drafting a proposal for an integrated research and development project in the Congo River basin. Approved projects will receive an annual... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Process; Projects; Research and Development; Non-Governmental Organizations; Cooperation; Congo Basin

24 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Tax Reform is on the Front Burner Again. Here’s Why You Should Care

this proposal that is appealing to those Trump voters. Desai: The other aspect you might have expected to see his fingerprints on is not in terms of the agenda but in terms of the process. Part of the Trump promise was negotiation and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2002 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Canary Wharf

By: William J. Poorvu, Arthur I Segel and Camille Douglas

On September 25, 2002, Peter Anderson was due to meet with Morgan Stanley in ten minutes. Anderson had been the finance director of Canary Wharf Group (CWG) since Paul Reichmann and a group of investors had repurchased Canary Wharf in 1995. Anderson had joined Olympia... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Business or Company Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Success

September 2011
Teaching Note

Aguas Argentinas: Settling a Dispute (TN)

By: Louis T. Wells

Teaching Note for 705-019. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Negotiation; Contracts; Rights; Strategy; Utilities Industry; Argentina; France

February 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Case

"Lather, Rinse, Repeat": FeedBurner's Serial Founding Team

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Eric Olson

"Is this the right time or is it still too early?" Dick Costolo wondered as he reflected on the latest acquisition offer. He had been building FeedBurner with his three co-founders for almost four years and was staring at the details of an acquisition offer from... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Groups and Teams

12 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Michael Porter’s Prescription For the High Cost of Health Care

billions of dollars of administrative and legal costs from the system. National List of Minimum Coverage. The current system of individual negotiation and litigation over coverage is expensive. A better system would mandate a minimum... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

21 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 21

was undergoing the non-tradable share reform. Its current controlling shareholder, private equity firm Newbridge Capital LLC, needs to negotiate with its diverse minority shareholders to find a compromise on the terms of the conversion of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

China Construction America (A): The Road Ahead

How did a Chinese state-owned construction company strike one deal after another in South Carolina despite political backlash and in New York where well-established competitors dominate? The case examines the U.S. market entry strategy of the CSCEC, China's leading... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Negotiation Deal; State Ownership; Construction Industry; China; United States

May 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Tribune Company, 2007

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Eric Seth Gordon

This case describes the proposed acquisition of Tribune Company by Sam Zell in 2007. Tribune Company is one of the largest newspapers and broadcasting companies in the United States. Zell's proposed acquisition is unusual in several respects. It is two-tiered, employs... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Markets; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Negotiation Offer; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry