Publications

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June 2019
Case

Fangda Partners: A Step Ahead

By: Ashish Nanda and Lisa Rohrer

Elite Chinese law firm Fangda Partners has steered Alibaba and other Chinese and international clients through the complex legal, corporate, and regulatory challenges associated with executing international transactions. “Fangda has traveled a long distance in a short... View Details

Keywords: Law Firm; Law Firms; Growth; Legal Industry; Regulation; Professional Services; Law; Leadership; Growth and Development; Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Legal Services Industry; China

2012
Article

Evidence for the Pinocchio Effect: Linguistic Differences Between Lies, Deception by Omissions, and Truths

By: Lyn M. Van Swol, Michael T. Braun and Deepak Malhotra

The study used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and Coh-Metrix software to examine linguistic differences with deception in an ultimatum game. In the game, the Allocator was given an amount of money to divide with the Receiver. The Receiver did not know the precise... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Cognition and Thinking

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spring 1994
Article

Unilateral Commitments and the Importance of Process in Alliances

By: Ranjay Gulati, Tarun Khanna and Nitin Nohria

How the partners in an alliance view their joint venture can have much to do with its success or failure. Each partner fears that the other will get the larger payoff by acting opportunistically while it cooperates in good faith. The result is that both partners choose... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Management Practices and Processes; Alliances; Trust; Game Theory

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March 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Iqbal Quadir, Gonofone, and the Creation of GrameenPhone (Bangladesh)

By: Daniel J. Isenberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Lane

As the smallest of 4 partners in a unique wireless telephony venture in Bangladesh that he initiated and helped grow, Iqbal Quadir is trying to acquire a larger stake in the venture when one of the partners wants to sell his shares. However, Quadir faces stiff... View Details

29 Mar 2015
News

Charges of sexism roil venture capital world

April 2018 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Coco Chanel: From Fashion Icon to Nazi Agent

By: Geoffrey Jones and Emily Grandjean

This case describes the career of the iconic French fashion designer Coco Chanel who created a transformational business during the first half of the 20th century. Beginning in her early adulthood, Chanel leveraged relationships with acquaintances, friends, and... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Biography; Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Brands and Branding; Ethics; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

27 Jan 2014
Blog Post

Opportunity Abounds

By the time you read this, the 940 first-year students of the Class of 2015 will have just returned from HBS FIELD 2. FIELD 2 is a program where 6 person teams of first-year students are partnered with a foreign company in a financially... View Details

Keywords: Technology

Article

Conversational Receptiveness: Expressing Engagement with Opposing Views

By: M. Yeomans, J. Minson, H. Collins, H. Chen and F. Gino

We examine “conversational receptiveness”—the use of language to communicate one’s willingness to thoughtfully engage with opposing views. We develop an interpretable machine-learning algorithm to identify the linguistic profile of receptiveness (Studies 1A-B). We then... View Details

Keywords: Receptiveness; Natural Language Processing; Disagreement; Interpersonal Communication; Relationships; Conflict Management

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June 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Supplement

Swissair's Alliances (B)--1991-94

By: David B. Yoffie

Updates the company's progress in increasing cooperation with its partners in the European Quality Alliance and Global Excellence Alliance. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Alliances; Globalization; Air Transportation Industry

July 2015 (Revised April 2016)
Case

Launching Yelp Reservations (A)

By: Michael Luca, Kevin Mohan and Patrick Rooney

This case presents a multi-party negotiation among Yelp, current partner OpenTable, and two startups in the online restaurant reservation industry. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Negotiation; Business Startups; Acquisition; Technology Industry; United States

Kristin Mugford is the Melvin Tukman Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School and the Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community. She previously served as Faculty Chair for field-based learning and... View Details

July 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

One Firm One Future at Davis Langdon (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Kaitlyn A. Simpson

Senior Partner Rob Smith just led construction consultancy firm Davis Langdon through a major organizational change in Europe and the Middle East. In the past, compensation arrangements had not incentivized partners to collaborate across the firm to serve clients'... View Details

Keywords: Profit Sharing; Global Strategy; Compensation and Benefits; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Cooperation; Expansion; Consulting Industry; Europe; Middle East

May 2004 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Globe Telecom

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Ingrid Vargas

The Ayala Group, one of the oldest and largest Filipino business groups, partnered with Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) to launch a telecom venture following industry deregulation in the Philippines. The partners must decide whether to continue the venture in... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Development Economics; Partners and Partnerships; Emerging Markets; Business Startups; Telecommunications Industry; Singapore; Philippines

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July 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Supplement

(PRODUCT) RED (B)

By: Youngme E. Moon, Michael I. Norton and David Chen

Updates the (PRODUCT) RED (A) case through early 2008, including announcements of new partner relationships (with Hallmark, Microsoft, and Dell) as well as new communications initiatives. View Details

Keywords: Communication; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Partners and Partnerships; Social Enterprise; Africa