Publications

2019
Working Paper

The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira

Many online stores are designed such that shoppers can easily access any available discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing small obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and even... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Online Retailing; Friction; Effor; Search Costs; Price Discrimination; Consumer Behavior; Price; Search Technology

November 1999
Case

Doyle's Dealmaking Dilemma: Negotiating the Job Search

By: James K. Sebenius

MBA student Doyle Williams searches for his ideal job in a private equity group and uses his negotiation skills to try to attain the best possible compensation package. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Job Interviews; Job Search; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics

October 2000 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Doyle's Dealmaking Dilemma (A): Negotiating the Job Search

By: James K. Sebenius

MBA student Doyle Williams searches for his ideal job in a private equity group and uses his negotiation skills to try to attain the best possible compensation package. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Job Search; Negotiation Process; Personal Development and Career

December 2012 (Revised January 2015)
Technical Note

Early Career LBOs Using the Search Fund Model

By: Howard Stevenson, Michael Roberts and Jim Sharpe

The funded search model is one alternative for individuals who, at some point in their career, want to run their own companies. This note looks at the funded search, as a means to entrepreneurship through acquisition and describes the path to buy and run a business... View Details

Keywords: Search Funds; Search; Entrepreneurial Finance; Investor Behavior; Career Planning; Entrepreneurial Management; Fundraising; Negotiation; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Personal Development and Career; Private Ownership; Acquisition; Finance; Leveraged Buyouts

05 Mar 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Impacts of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Keywords: by Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira, and Thales Teixeira; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products

2020
Working Paper

How Do Private Equity Fees Vary Across Public Pensions?

By: Juliane Begenau and Emil Siriwardane

We study how investment fees vary within private-capital funds. Net-of-fee return clustering suggests that most funds have two tiers of fees, and we decompose differences across tiers into both management and performance-based fees. Managers of venture capital funds... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Fee Dispersion; Search And Negotiation Frictions; Private Equity; Investment Funds

SSRN

April 2024
Article

Fee Variation in Private Equity

By: Juliane Begenau and Emil N. Siriwardane

We study how investment fees vary within private-capital funds. Net-of-fee return clustering suggests that most funds have two tiers of fees, and we decompose differences across tiers into both management and performance-based fees. Managers of venture capital funds... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Fee Dispersion; Search And Negotiation Frictions; Private Equity; Investment Funds

07 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Negotiation and All That Jazz

parties creatively search for mutual gain, and hardball, where each party ruthlessly presses its own advantage. "Win-win has much to say for it," Wheeler says. "But it's not appropriate in every case. If the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2022
Working Paper

Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market

By: Zach Y. Brown, Mark Egan, Jihye Jeon, Chuqing Jin and Alex A. Wu

Index funds are one of the most common ways investors access financial markets and are perceived to be a transparent and low-cost alternative to active investment management. Despite these purported virtues of index fund investing and the introduction of new products... View Details

Keywords: Mutual Funds; Passive Investing; Asset Management; Financial Markets; Investment Funds; Financial Management; Financial Services Industry; United States

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services

01 Sep 2004
News

Inside Executive Search

hard to get, to make the search firm and client recruit you. Finally, prepare for the interviews by writing notes about your relevant responsibilities and achievements against... View Details

2017
Article

Frictions or Mental Gaps: What's Behind the Information We (Don't) Use and When Do We Care?

By: Benjamin Handel and Joshua Schwartzstein

Consumers suffer significant losses from not acting on available information. These losses stem from frictions such as search costs, switching costs, and rational inattention, as well as what we call mental gaps resulting from wrong priors/worldviews, or relevant... View Details

Keywords: Information; Consumer Behavior

14 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Optimal Auction Design and Equilibrium Selection in Sponsored Search Auctions

Keywords: by Benjamin G. Edelman & Michael Schwarz

October 1987 (Revised January 1989)
Background Note

Purchasing a Business: The Search Process

Describes the steps necessary to purchase a small to medium size company. Provides an eight-part analytical framework. Issues covered in the framework include the following: the self-assessment, deal criteria, deal sources, resources necessary to purchase a business,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Framework; Resource Allocation; Negotiation Deal; Business Processes; Valuation

June 2012 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Home Nursing of North Carolina

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Ari Medoff's (HBS '11) goal was to control his own professional destiny by owning his own company. His search identified a suitable acquisition in Home Nursing of North Carolina, and he had negotiated a purchase price of $3.5 million, or 4.2x trailing EBITDA. Medoff... View Details

Keywords: Search Funds; Small Companies; Acquisitions; Negotiation; Medical Services; Negotiation Process; Valuation; Investment; Acquisition; Health Industry

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Building Bridges: New Dimensions in Negotiation

MBA course in negotiation as well as advanced dealmaking electives and Executive Education programs), has developed a model with former HBS faculty member David A. Lax called "three-dimensional... View Details

Keywords: by Anita M. Harris

30 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations

A simple view of negotiation presents a cold transaction between what one person has and what the other person is willing to pay for it. If the price is right, the deal gets done. As anyone who has recently... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation; Sports

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 05 Oct 2016
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Negotiating the Impossible: Break Deadlocks and Resolve Conflicts (without Money or Muscle)

Some negotiations are easy. Others are more difficult. And then there are situations that seem completely hopeless. Conflict is escalating, people are getting aggressive, and no one is willing to back down. To top it off, you have little power or other resources with... View Details

11 Sep 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change

from the "lack of a clearly defined goal, lack of coordination, unclear or complicated plans," and other signs of ill preparation, according to Marine doctrine. Mental and organizational View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler; Sports

2017
Book

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business: Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Find, acquire, and run your own business. Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: you can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small... View Details