Publications

Article

Internal Deadlines, Drug Approvals, and Safety Problems

By: Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun and Danielle Li

Absent explicit quotas, incentives, reporting, or fiscal year-end motives, drug approvals around the world surge in December, at month-ends, and before respective major national holidays. Drugs approved before these informal deadlines are associated with significantly... View Details

Keywords: Health; Economics; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Research; Science; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

SSRN

October 2001 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Le Petit Chef

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Sandra J. Sucher and Suraj Rangashayi

Brigitte Gagne, Le Petit Chef's director of microwave R&D, is deciding on the product development agenda for next year. She has to decide which of the available projects to fund, and evaluate the overall portfolio of projects currently under development. The recent... View Details

Keywords: Production; Product Development; Projects; Planning; Research and Development; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Resource Allocation

December 2003 (Revised October 2005)
Case

High-Definition TV: The Grand Alliance

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes political and economic forces that influenced the development of an all-digital, high-definition television (HDTV) standard in the United States between 1986 and 1996. Outlines the stakes for various government and industry participants in the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Policy; Management Practices and Processes; Emerging Markets; Standards; Business and Government Relations; Networks; Research and Development; Technology Adoption; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Technology Industry; Japan; Europe; United States

September 2007
Case

Dice-K: The Hundred (Plus) Million Dollar Man

By: Randolph B. Cohen

Describes the efforts made by the Boston Red Sox to sign superstar Japanese pitcher Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka within the context of the team's attempts to keep pace with longtime rival, the New York Yankees. In late 2006, Dice-K is viewed as the prize of the free... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Strategy; Sports Industry

2004
Other Teaching and Training Material

Great Negotiator 2002: Lakhdar Brahimi

By: James K. Sebenius and Kristin Schneeman

The Program on Negotiation honored Ambassador Brahimi in events on October 2, 2002. These began with an in-depth faculty-moderated discussion with a group of students, faculty, and guests at Harvard Business School. On the evening of the 2nd, Ambassador Brahimi... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Learning; Strategy; Afghanistan

October 2018
Case

The Proxy Fight at ADP

By: Robin Greenwood and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2017, shares of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) surged 12% following a report that the activist investor Bill Ackman had acquired a sizable stake in the company and planned to nominate his own slate of directors at the company’s annual meeting in... View Details

Summer 2017
Article

Copyright Enforcement: Evidence from Two Field Experiments

By: Hong Luo and Julie Holland Mortimer

Effective dispute resolution is important for reducing private and social costs. We study how resolution responds to changes in price and communication using a new, extensive dataset of copyright infringement incidences by firms. The data cover two field experiments... View Details

Keywords: Copyright; Law Enforcement; Lawsuits and Litigation; Cost

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Disaster in April: The Obligations of Kelly Construction

By: John D. Macomber, Christopher M. Gordon and Ben Creo

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum that is an important... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Contracts; Crisis Management; Construction Industry

28 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 28

Publications April 2015 HarperBusiness Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs By: Yoffie, David B., and Michael A. Cusumano Abstract—The authors of the bestselling Competing on Internet Time (a Business Week top 10 book)... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2014
Working Paper

Stepping Stone, Stopping Point, or Slippery Slope? Negotiating the Next Iran Deal

By: James K. Sebenius

The November 2013 "interim" nuclear deal between Iran and the "P5+1"—the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany—raises challenging questions. Will the initial deal function as a stepping stone toward a more comprehensive deal? Or will it drift into... View Details

Keywords: Negotiations; Iran; Nuclear; Conflict Resolution; Winning Coalition; Blocking Coalition; Strategy; Negotiation; International Relations; France; Germany; Iran; China; Great Britain; United States; Russia

SSRN

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

Japanese staff could function in English. The stakes are high: those who do not reach their target score by the deadline risk being demoted. As Englishnization progresses, loss of productivity, lack of time to study, and conflicted views... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2018
Article

The Downside of Downtime: The Prevalence and Work Pacing Consequences of Idle Time at Work

By: Andrew Brodsky and Teresa M. Amabile

Although both media commentary and academic research have focused much attention on the dilemma of employees being too busy, this paper presents evidence of the opposite phenomenon, in which employees do not have enough work to fill their time and are left with hours... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Working Conditions; Performance Consistency; Performance Productivity

2011
Article

A Choice Prediction Competition for Social Preferences in Simple Extensive Form Games: An Introduction

By: Eyal Ert, Ido Erev and Alvin E. Roth

Two independent, but related, choice prediction competitions are organized that focus on behavior in simple two-person extensive form games: one focuses on predicting the choices of the first mover and the other on predicting the choices of the second mover. The... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competition; Motivation and Incentives; Game Theory; Fairness

31 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Checking Your Ethics: Would You Speak Up in These 3 Sticky Situations?

associate feeling pressed for time and relying on a shortcut to make a deadline is not new, Fubini says. “The longer you wait on something, the worse it is going to be in terms of gaining absolution.” He remembers a time when he realized... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consulting

March 24, 2014
Article

Like a Boss: How Corporate Negotiators Would Handle Nuclear Talks With Iran

By: James K. Sebenius

While the Obama team deserves high marks for launching the interim talks, its approach doesn't sell the upside of a comprehensive deal persuasively enough to transform more Iranian skeptics into active supporters—a necessary condition for success if there is an... View Details