Publications

Research Summary

Great Negotiator Study Initiative

By: James K. Sebenius

What can be legitimately be learned from closely studying great negotiators at work? Since 2000, the Program on Negotiation (PON)—an active inter-university consortium mainly comprised of numerous faculty from across... View Details

22 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Negotiation is Like Jazz

cooperative problem solving. Parties conducting internal negotiations within well-run companies are likely to improvise in this manner. If you've successfully negotiated a new... View Details

Keywords: by Kathleen L. McGinn

07 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Negotiation and All That Jazz

negotiator who helped reach a $350 billion settlement of health claims with the tobacco industry. Discussing his experience in Wheeler's MBA class, Green said the secret of his success was "making chaos my friend in negotiation." Whether... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 1994
Case

Navistar International

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

As a consequence of laying off half its workforce in a massive downsizing program, the company--a large manufacturer of medium and heavy trucks--struggles with a huge ($2.6 billion) liability for retiree medical costs. Although the company has promised its retirees... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Wages; Labor Unions; Legal Liability; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
Supplement

Tempur Sealy International (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details

December 2011
Case

Negotiating the Path of Abraham

By: James K. Sebenius and Kimberlyn Leary

The Abraham Path Initiative board faces strategic and negotiating challenges in revitalizing a route of Middle East cultural tourism following Abraham's path 4000 years ago. The Path begins in the ancient ruins of Harran, in modern-day Turkey, where Abraham first heard... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Partners and Partnerships; Negotiation; Social Entrepreneurship; Religion; Culture; Tourism Industry; Israel; Syria; Middle East; Turkey; Jordan

September 2017 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Tempur Sealy International (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle

Analyzes the commercial relationship between Tempur Sealy and Mattress Firm following the events discussed in the (B) case. View Details

September 2017 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Tempur Sealy International (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle

Analyzes the commercial relationship between Tempur Sealy and Mattress Firm following the events discussed in the (A) case. View Details

23 May 2000
Research & Ideas

The Emerging Art of Negotiation

lost); differing interpretations of what constitutes fair play. Be it a straightforward business transaction, a divorce or an international struggle to reach a peace agreement, there's much that can go wrong. But there's also much that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2007
Case

Lou Pritchett: Negotiating the P&G Relationship with Wal-Mart

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes several internal and external negotiations in the 1980s that led to a significant and growing partnership between Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Wal-Mart. From the perspective of Lou Pritchett, P&G's Vice President of Sales and Customer Development, the unfolding... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Negotiation; Distribution Channels; Partners and Partnerships; Sales

2011
Working Paper

From Single Deals to Negotiation Campaigns

By: David A Lax and James K. Sebenius

Negotiation scholars typically take the individual deal, or a few linked deals, as the unit of analysis. While analyzing one deal requires a familiar conceptual framework, doing the same for a broader "negotiation campaign" calls for a different focus and set of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Framework; Business Subsidiaries; Agreements and Arrangements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Information Management; Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Business and Government Relations; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

Read Now

February 1998
Case

Creating the International Trade Organization

By: David A. Moss, George R. Appling and Andrew D Archer

In the late 1940s, officials at the U.S. State Department began campaigning for the creation of an International Trade Organization (ITO). This new organization would oversee global negotiations on trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, cartels, and commodity... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Trade; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Agreements and Arrangements; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Systems; International Relations

Article

Ignore June 30: Time is on the Side of a Better Iran Deal

By: James K. Sebenius

Prior to the "interim deal" reached in November 2013, Iranian nuclear negotiators could—and did—play for time while the regime rapidly added more centrifuges and increased production of enriched uranium. That is no longer the case. For the first time in years, the... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Deal; Iran; United States; Iran; United States

Read Now

September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Tempur Sealy International (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle

This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details

Awards

CPR-ADR Best Negotiation Book of the Year

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Winner of the 1984 Best Negotiation Book of the Year from the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution-Alternative Dispute Resolution (CPR-ADR) for Environmental Dispute Resolution with Lawrence S. Bacow (Plenum Press). View Details

05 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Six Ways to Build Trust in Negotiations

of the division that had lost the account, to ask if she could try to win it back. After all, RLX had nothing to lose by letting her try, she argued, and she had her own reasons for taking on this formidable task—as part of her work toward an MBA, she was taking a... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

30 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

The Role of Emotions in Effective Negotiations

derailing a negotiation, but also in helping both sides come to better agreement. "To strip away emotions wouldn't be desirable," says Wasynczuk —even if it could be done. "Emotions are an expression of how people are processing information, and can give... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation; Sports

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Exercise

Negotiating Peace Accords in Bellicoso for UN Negotiating Team Representatives: General Instructions and Confidential Information

Bellicoso is a multi-party conflict resolution simulation based loosely on the bitter civil war in El Salvador. It is designed to explore issues in: 1) the management of interactions between external negotiations between sides and internal negotiations within them, 2)... View Details

Keywords: War; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Government and Politics; Conflict and Resolution; El Salvador