Publications

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May 2020 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Gavi and COVID-19: Pandemic of the Century

By: Tarun Khanna and Sid Misra

Gavi has helped immunize over 760 million children in the world's poorest countries over the past 20 years saving 13 million lives. How should Gavi respond to the need for a vaccine for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic? View Details

Keywords: Vaccine; Pandemics; Healthcare; COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Health Care and Treatment; Emerging Markets; Crisis Management; Alliances

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Howard Stevenson on the Lessons of the Internet Era

technologies. He reminded listeners that the key to Microsoft's success has been not through technology excellence, but rather by its ability to have the industry embrace standards built around its products. Companies must also become smarter at business... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2003 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Peninsula Community Foundation

By: James E. Austin, Jane Wei-Skillern and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

After leading the Peninsula Community Foundation (PCF) through a period of tremendous growth, its president, Sterling Speirn, is facing the prospect of a decline in the foundation's asset base for the first time in the foundation's history. In addition, the fact that... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Product Positioning; Planning; Alliances; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

01 Apr 2019
What Do You Think?

Does Our Bias Against Federal Deficits Need Rethinking?

unusual alliance and mutual lack of concern about greater deficits. Economists Jason Furman and Lawrence Summers advocate a middle course “that neither prioritizes cutting deficits nor dismisses them. Unlike in the past, budgeters need... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2001
Case

Merck Global Health Initiatives (B): Botswana

By: James E. Austin, Diana Barrett and James Weber

The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation,... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Private Sector; Public Sector; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Africa; Botswana

February 2000 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Deep Sight Technology, Inc.

By: Henry B. Reiling and Catherine M. Conneely

The founders of a deep sea technology company must refine their tentative capital structure and founders agreement in response to tax factors. Some parties are conveying partnership assets, others are conveying rights to an invention, another will be primarily... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Capital Structure; Alliances; Taxation; Entrepreneurship; Technology Industry

March 2001
Case

Charlene Barshefsky (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Rebecca Hulse

Details former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky's strategic and tactical approach to surmounting the barriers laid out in the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Copyright; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; China; United States

March 2001 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Charlene Barshefsky (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Rebecca Hulse

Describes the challenges former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky faced while negotiating a trade agreement with China to improve its domestic intellectual property rights enforcement. After briefly describing Barshefsky's past experience with trade... View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Copyright; Negotiation Style; Negotiation Tactics; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; China; United States

December 2000 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Reverend Jeffrey Brown: Cops, Kids and Ministers

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Alexis Lefort

Introduces Reverend Jeffrey Brown, one of the cofounders of the Ten Point Coalition in Boston, Mass. The Ten Point Coalition, a group of ministers that worked to change the dynamics between the Boston Police Department and the kids on the street, was instrumental in... View Details

Keywords: Change; Civil Society or Community; Alliances; Interpersonal Communication; Power and Influence; Law Enforcement; City; Boston

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

Business School Case 609-070 An abstract is not available at this time. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu /b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=609070 Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Harvard... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Robert Shapiro and Monsanto

Traces Monsanto's efforts to become a global biotech powerhouse under Shapiro's leadership. Examines how his crusade to save the world through genetic modification foundered. View Details

Keywords: Genetics; Supply Chain Management; Alliances; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Biotechnology Industry

December 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Shanghai Real Estate (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Harold F. Hogan Jr

An independent consultant from the United States must decide what to do when faced with his client's apparent violation of an agreement with a third party. The consultant is American, the client is a Chinese real estate developer, and the third party is a French... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Contracts; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Law; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Corporate Accountability; Consulting Industry; Real Estate Industry; China; United States; France

December 2013
Case

Bruce Allyn: Negotiating with the KGB (A)

By: James K. Sebenius

Isolated by the KGB in Moscow, Harvard graduate student Bruce Allyn faces high-pressure negotiation tactics to recruit him for the Soviet spy agency. At the tense height of the Cold War, with CIA agents systematically being exposed and executed in Russia, Allyn was... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Bargaining; Hard Bargaining; KGB; Espionage; Spying; War; National Security; Alliances; Ethics; Negotiation Tactics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Offer; Cambridge; Moscow; Soviet Union

February 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Asociacion Colombiana de Industrias Plasticas (Acoplasticos)

By: Michael E. Porter and Willis M. Emmons III

Acoplasticos was established in 1961 as a lobbying group for Colombia's major plastics manufacturing companies. In the early 1980s, the organization shifted its focus toward improving the productivity of the Colombian plastics and rubber cluster, which also included... View Details

Keywords: Cooperation; Information Technology; Alliances; Research and Development; Business and Government Relations; Performance Productivity; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Chemical Industry; Colombia

June 1996 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Skandia AFS: Developing Intellectual Capital Globally

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Takia Mahmood

Focuses on the measurement and management of organizational knowledge as a strategic asset, and on the deployment of information technology, organizational structure, and processes in leveraging that asset. View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Alliances; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology

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03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Ingredients of a Deal Disaster

ensure that potentially influential parties bought into the new social contract. When third parties drive the deal. Failure also happens when one team, such as the business development unit, uses a heavily price-driven process to negotiate an View Details

Keywords: by Ron S. Fortgang, David A. Lax & James K. Sebenius

03 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 3, 2009

Contractibility and Contract Design in Strategic Alliances Authors: Josh Lerner and Ulrike Malmendier Publication: American Economic Review (forthcoming) Abstract We analyze how variations in contractibility affect the design of contracts... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

International Trachoma Initiative

By: Diana Barrett, James E. Austin and Sheila McCarthy

In an effort to combat trachoma, a major eye disease, the Clark Foundation entered into a partnership with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. After a successful pilot project, a joint initiative was established (the Trachoma initiative) that has as its goal to eradicate the... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Joint Ventures; Globalization; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Alliances; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Health Industry