Publications

2008
Simulation

DEC v. Riverside

By: David A. Lax, James K. Sebenius, Lawrence Susskind and Thomas Weeks

Riverside Lumber is a pulp manufacturer in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Riverside regularly dumps effluent into a nearby river. The Division of Environmental Conservation (DEC) claims that the effluent is toxic and jeopardizes the local salmon catch.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Courts and Trials; Decision Choices and Conditions; Natural Environment; Negotiation; Pulp and Paper Industry; Northwestern United States

November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (C), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Dion and the other Del Webb directors were open to having Industrial Equity Pacific (IEP) and Webcott Holdings representation on the board. The IEP representative was perceived as reserved and lacking in sophistication. Cotter of Webcott, however, struck the directors... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Succession; Strategic Planning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Horizontal Integration; Conflict Management

December 2013
Case

Apple's Core (Graphic Novel Version)

By: Noam Wasserman and Thomas Alexander

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Managerial Roles; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

12 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 12

derived predictions, does not confirm the private information hypothesis. Read the paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1134943 Working PapersFiduciary Duties and Equity‐Debtholder Conflicts Authors:Bo Becker and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 2008
Background Note

Incentives in the NFL (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall, Andrew Wasynczuk, Jonathan Paul Lim, Sara del Nido and Katherine Dowd

This note briefly describes compensation and incentive issues in one of the major US professional sports leagues, the National Football League (NFL). It first provides some background information on the labor market for players and the salary cap, and then describes... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Groups and Teams; Conflict of Interests; Motivation and Incentives; Sports Industry; United States

October 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Individual and the Corporation, The: Kathy Levinson and E*TRADE (B)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Harmeling

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Values and Beliefs; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender; Diversity; Financial Services Industry

Forthcoming
Article

It Takes Two to Untangle: Illuminating How and Why Some Workplace Relationships Adapt While Others Deteriorate After a Workplace Microaggression

By: Summer R. Jackson and Basima A. Tewfik

Although scholars largely assume that workplace microaggressions negatively impact the work relationship between the target and the perpetrator, relational deterioration is not the only observable relational outcome. Indeed, there are instances of relational... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Interpersonal Communication; Motivation and Incentives; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution

Read Now

February 1997 (Revised September 2000)
Case

3M: Negotiating Air Pollution Credits (B)

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Thomas Dretler

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Negotiation Types; Pollutants; Negotiation Participants; Laws and Statutes; Policy; Government and Politics; United States

02 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 2

examining a unique dataset consisting of over 150,000 pages of documents relating to 102 business disputes. We find that the level of contractual detail affects the type of dispute resolution approach that is adopted when View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2024
Working Paper

Creditor-on-Creditor Violence and Secured Debt Dynamics

By: Samuel Antill, Neng Wang and Zhaoli Jiang

Secured lenders have recently demanded a new condition in distressed debt restructurings: competing secured lenders must lose priority. We model the implications of this “creditor-on-creditor violence” trend. In our dynamic model, secured lenders enjoy higher priority... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Conflict and Resolution

1997
Chapter

Winners and Losers--Industry Structure in the Converging World of Telecommunications, Computing, and Entertainment

By: D. J. Collis, P. W. Bane and S. P. Bradley

Keywords: Supply and Industry; Communication; Information Technology; Entertainment; Competition; Conflict and Resolution; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

June 2008
Case

Professors Sven Larson and Kenneth Carpenter (A)

By: James L. Heskett and Tor Askild Aase Johannessen

Professor Kenneth Carpenter has received word that he has inadvertently offended one of his students. He is pondering a possible response. View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Higher Education; Learning; Teaching; Conflict and Resolution

January 2002 (Revised April 2015)
Background Note

A Note on Maneuvering in War and Negotiation

By: Michael Wheeler and Gillian Morris

Military metaphors are commonplace in business writing about strategy, but they are rarely used in the negotiation literature. This case takes the Marine Corps philosophy of warfighting and compares it with the tactics and techniques of effective negotiators. Some of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Situation or Environment; Conflict and Resolution; War; Adaptation

1995
Chapter

Overcoming Obstacles to a Successful Climate Convention

By: James K. Sebenius

Keywords: Negotiation; Conflict and Resolution; Climate Change; International Relations

October 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Lehman Brothers and Peabody Coal

When Texas Utilities Company (TXU) wanted to acquire The Energy Group, the latter needed to spin-off its coal mining assets, Peabody Coal, to avoid running afoul of antitrust authorities. In this case, TXU's investment banker, Lehman Brothers, considers whether to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Monopoly; Conflict of Interests; Mining Industry; Utilities Industry

Find at Harvard

June 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Orthopaedics at Rittenhouse Medical Center

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Robert S. Huckman, James Weber and Kevin J. Bozic

Considers the issues associated with running multiple business models–a private practice and an academic faculty practice--within the confines of the orthopaedics department of a single medical center. Students assume the role of Neela Wilson, Executive Director of... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business Model; Health Care and Treatment; Service Operations; Conflict Management; Competition; Health Industry

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Ken Talbot—Cautionary Tale in Estate Planning

By: Christina R. Wing and Faith Lyons

In 2010, Ken Talbot, a self-made Australian billionaire, was traveling throughout Africa to bring his innovative coal technology to the continent when he perished in a plane crash. His will was originally created years prior when his estate worth was estimated to be AU... View Details

Keywords: Estate Planning; Entrepreneurship; Assets; Agreements and Arrangements; Lawsuits and Litigation; Valuation; Family and Family Relationships; Conflict Management; Australia; Africa

2009
Article

Compelled to Help: Effects of Direct and Indirect Exchange on Perceived Obligation in Professional Networks

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Billian Sullivan and Michael W. Morris

This research examines felt obligation to help others in employees' and managers' professional networks using a social exchange perspective. We hypothesize that obligation toward others would follow the norms of both direct and indirect reciprocity. Direct reciprocity... View Details

Keywords: Perspective; Conflict of Interests; Research; Surveys; Networks; Forecasting and Prediction; Social Issues