Publications

October 2009
Supplement

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case follows the A case and describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Distribution Channels; Distribution Industry

August 2008 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Real Property Negotiation Game (A): Seller Case, Raleigh Commons

By: Arthur I Segel and John H. Vogel, Jr.

The Real Property Negotiation Game simulates the experience negotiating the sale, purchase, or financing of a property. The class competes as either a lender, buyer, or one of two groups of sellers, Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the seller... View Details

Keywords: Price; Negotiation; Property; Sales; Financing and Loans; Real Estate Industry; Raleigh

February 2006 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Negotiating on Thin Ice: The 2004-2005 NHL Dispute (A)

By: Deepak Malhotra and Maly Hout

On September 15, 2004, the existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) expired. Because the two sides had failed to negotiate a new CBA by that date, NHL... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Trust; Sports; Compensation and Benefits; Sports Industry; United States

July–August 2016
Article

How to Negotiate with a Liar

By: Leslie John

People, including negotiators, lie every day, so when you're trying to make a deal, it's important to defend against deception. The best strategy, says the author, is to focus not on detecting lies but on preventing them. She outlines five tactics that research has... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants

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2007
Working Paper

Paths to Equality: Walking the Talk in Multi-party Negotiations

By: Kathleen L. McGinn, Katherine L. Milkman and Markus Nöth

Past research has shown that communication in negotiations heightens social awareness, facilitates coordination, increases the utility for the other's positive outcomes, and thereby leads to more equal payoffs. But the role of specific communication strategies in... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Fairness; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Types; Behavior; Competition

January 1986
Article

Interests: The Measure of Negotiation

By: James K. Sebenius and David Lax

Keywords: Negotiation

August 1978
Exercise

Streaker: Negotiating Exercise - Buyer

By: Howard Raiffa

Keywords: Negotiation

March 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Background Note

A 'Rich-vs.-King' Approach to Term Sheet Negotiations

By: Noam Wasserman, Furqan Nazeeri and Kyle Anderson

This note offers a new approach to venture capital term-sheet negotiations, with actionable steps based on insights from Professor Wasserman's "Rich-vs.-King" approach to founder decisions. A core thesis of this note is that trying to negotiate all terms in a term... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Framework; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

01 Jun 2002
News

HBS Students Negotiate a Victory

Chung and Kapadia: winning teamwork. (photo by Thomas J. Fitzsimmons) Chung and Kapadia: winning teamwork. (photo by Thomas J. Fitzsimmons) Two students in the MBA/JD joint degree program took top honors at Harvard Law School's 79th annual Williston Competition in... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Transportation

09 Apr 2015
News

How to Negotiate Nicely Without Being a Pushover

August 5, 2016
Article

A Definitive Guide to the Brexit Negotiations

By: Deepak Malhotra

In this article I offer an analysis of the negotiation landscape facing UK and EU negotiators, along with advice on how they might navigate the "Brexit" process more effectively. For the record, I have not (at the time of this writing) been asked by either side to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Economics; United Kingdom; European Union

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October 2009
Case

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success along with several of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Retail Industry

08 Mar 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Successful Negotiation

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions To Be Answered: How is negotiation evolving? How important are opening talks in determining... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

2016
Working Paper

Henry Kissinger: Negotiating Black Majority Rule in Southern Africa

By: James K. Sebenius, R. Nicholas Burns, Robert H. Mnookin and L. Alexander Green

In 1976, United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger conducted a series of intricate, multiparty negotiations in Southern Africa to persuade white Rhodesian leader Ian Smith to accede to black majority rule. Conducted near the end of President Gerald Ford’s... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Negotiation Process; Race; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Government and Politics; Africa; United States

SSRN

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Research Summary

Negotiation Analysis and the Structuring of Financial Transactions

Jay O. Light is developing materials that will explore how negotiation analysis and related techniques can be used in structuring financial transactions in the context of entrepreneurial situations, and how they might be used to enhance value in private equity... View Details

09 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Five Steps to Better Family Negotiations

Negotiations between family members who own a business are different—different from negotiations between non-family members and also different from negotiations between family... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis and Deepak Malhotra

December 2019
Article

Communicating with Warmth in Distributive Negotiations Is Surprisingly Counterproductive

By: M. Jeong, J. Minson, M. Yeomans and F. Gino

When entering into a negotiation, individuals have the choice to enact a variety of communication styles. We test the differential impact of being “warm and friendly” versus “tough and firm” in a distributive negotiation, when first offers are held constant and... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Communication Strategy; Perception; Performance Effectiveness; Outcome or Result

01 Mar 2008
News

Sarah Talley’s Key Negotiation Principles

statements you know, can we do this better and so forth. If the relationship with Wal-Mart is truly a partnership, negotiating to resolve differences should not endanger the tenor of the partnership. Don’t spend time griping. Be problem... View Details

Keywords: General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

Winter–Spring 2024
Article

Grand Bargain: Negotiating Toward a Better Middle East

By: James K. Sebenius

How can sophisticated negotiation bring about a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East? While a "grand bargain" to accomplish this lofty goal may seem implausible, the potential value of such an agreement would be vast for most Israelis, Palestinians, and key... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; War; Conflict and Resolution; Israel; West Bank