Publications

August 1996 (Revised December 1996)
Background Note

Two Psychological Traps in Negotiation

Two psychological traps, anchoring and framing, and their role in negotiation are described. The anchoring section describes how first or opening offers can be used effectively in negotiation. Examines how opening offers serve as an anchor, changing one side's... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics

Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization

This text offers a unique real-world perspective on laws related to business organization. Logical and flexible chapters can be taught in any order to accommodate alternative teaching approaches. Chapters One through Four cover the fundamentals of organizational law in... View Details

November 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Background Note

A Managerial Perspective on Clinical Trials

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

This note describes the history and regulation of clinical trials, managerial challenges related to pharmaceutical product testing, and current debates regarding prescription drug safety. Since clinical testing takes between five and seven years, and consumes up to 70... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Safety; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

Find at Harvard

Teaching Interest

Scaling Technology Ventures

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

This course is designed for students who plan to launch or join a hypergrowth technology venture, or who plan to invest in growth-stage tech companies. The course addresses key challenges founders and their teams face after achieving product-market fit – and how... View Details

November 1992 (Revised December 1994)
Case

BEA Associates: Enhanced Equity Index Funds

By: Andre F. Perold

BEA's enhanced index fund product uses derivatives and cash market securities to find the most efficient way to "track an index." The considerations involve transaction costs, custodial fees, withholding taxes on dividends, and fees from securities lending. In this... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Portfolio; Management; Investment Banking; Competitive Advantage; Cost Management

January 26, 2017
Article

Executives and Salespeople Are Misaligned—and the Effects Are Costly

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Christopher Wallace

This article discusses the results of a survey of senior executives, middle managers, and sales people from companies across a variety of industries. The survey focused on questions about how well their companies’ strategies informed six critical elements of their... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Sales; Perception

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

New Economy Ethics: YouKnowIt.com

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Kim Slack

Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Media; Networks; Internet

09 Jul 2019
News

Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics

E. Scott Mayfield

Scott Mayfield is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. Prior rejoining the faculty in 2011, Professor Mayfield was an assistant professor and member of the Finance Unit at HBS from 1997 to... View Details

Research Summary

The Strategic Management of Technology

Clayton M. Christensen's research on the management of technological innovation suggests that for leading firms in a wide variety of industries, developing advanced technologies per se is rarely the constraining challenge in technological innovation. Rather, the... View Details

June 1992 (Revised June 1995)
Case

RJR Nabisco Holdings Capital Corp.--1991

By: Peter Tufano

An investment manager notices a large apparent discrepancy in the prices of two nearly-identical bonds issued in conjunction with a major leveraged buyout. The manager must figure out whether the instruments are mispriced relative to one another, and if so, how to... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Financial Instruments