Publications

December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Todovino: Can Your Rival be Your Friend?

Todovino sells Spanish wines through wine clubs and web sites. Founder-CEO Gonzalo Verdera has partnered with many companies to create cobranded wine clubs, but now he is pondering a joint venture with one of his rivals, a brick-and-mortar wine chain, where Todovino... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Growth and Development Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Cooperation; Online Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry

11 Jan 2016
News

Guiding Students to Out-of-School Programs and Resources

became an online business, and seven to eight years later we’re the largest search engine for out-of-school enrichment for students in middle and high school. We have licensing agreements with national partners like Hobsons; we publish... View Details

01 Mar 2008
News

Sarah Talley’s Key Negotiation Principles

When you have a problem, when there’s something you engage in with Wal-Mart that requires agreement so that it becomes a negotiation, the first advice is to think in partnership terms, really focus on a common goal, of getting costs out,... View Details

Keywords: General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

2008
Working Paper

Can the Virtuous Mouse and the Wealthy Elephant Live Happily Ever After?

By: James E. Austin and Herman B. Leonard

What happens when small iconic socially-oriented businesses are acquired by large corporations? Such mergers create significant opportunities for creating both business value and substantially expanded social value, but also pose unusually difficult challenges because... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Agreements and Arrangements; Social Enterprise; Social Issues

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Web

1.17 Field Based Learning / Independent Projects | MBA

created, and shared during field activities, Clarify ownership rights and non-disclosure agreements for students, faculty, and company sponsors in company-sponsored field-based learning projects. The policies governing Field Based... View Details

Profile

Brett Lindsay Laffel

three days after graduation." At MLB, Brett joined the Labor Relations department while the collective bargaining agreement with the players' association was taking place in 2006. Later, she joined the Baseball Operations department... View Details

15 Oct 2019
News

Examining Climate Change From a Business Perspective

description of the euphoric moment in Paris on December 12, 2015, when delegates from around the world jumped from their seats, “crying, clapping, screaming” in celebration of their collective agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions... View Details

October 2002 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Codex Alimentarius and Food Labeling

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

Codex Alimentarius is a set of international food standards devised by the Codex Commission, a body within the United Nations jointly sponsored by the FAO and WHO. The purpose of the standards is to harmonize global trade in food products and agricultural commodities,... View Details

Keywords: Standards; Trade; Agreements and Arrangements; Food; Agribusiness; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Globalization; Health; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

January 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Playing With Fire at Sittercity (A)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

To help her finance her aggressive expansion plans, Genevieve Thiers plans to raise venture capital for the first time. She has spent the last six long years building Sittercity into the nation's leading babysitting web service, larger than all of its competitors... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Family and Family Relationships; Expansion; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Agreements and Arrangements

November 2000
Exercise

Atlantis-Biovent Negotiation: Confidential Instructions for Biovent

By: Michael A. Wheeler

This two-party exercise illustrates bidding strategy in the context of settling a large insurance claim. Specifically, the claimant (Biovent) and the insurer (Atlantis) are asked to submit confidential offers to a dispute resolution website that will determine whether... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Bids and Bidding; Emerging Markets; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict of Interests; Strategy; Web Sites

Find at Harvard

19 Aug 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #8: The Role of Solar and Wind Farming (and Other Tools) in the United States’ Clean Energy Future

She and her team identify new project sites; they enter leasing agreements with landowners, many of whom are facing drought conditions and have limited alternative “crop” potential; and Diana’s team completes early-stage development,... View Details

01 Jun 2014
News

Start Me Up

struggle or fail because they lacked legal basics like founder agreements or proper vesting and licensing arrangements." Funding "VC funding gets all the publicity, but it's not right for every startup. There are different ways to finance... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Dec 2004
News

Ideas: Books

and values of negotiation beyond formal legal requirements. They address issues such as what we owe our counterparts in the way of candor or disclosure, to what extent we should use financial or legal pressure to force settlement, and whether we should worry about the... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

sense? Toffel says that leaders should ask themselves: “Are we aiming for net zero like so many other companies? Are we aiming for products that are going to be carbon neutral? Are we instead going to go with the Paris Agreement... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

December 2010
Supplement

Everything or Nothing: Martti Ahtisaari and the Aceh Negotiations (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

Describes Martti Ahtisaari's negotiating strategies and tactics along with the results of his efforts to end the decades-long conflict between Acehnese insurgents and the Indonesian government that had claimed thousands of lives. View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics; Conflict of Interests; Strategy; Indonesia

August 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc. 2006

By: Krishna G. Palepu

This case centers around a dispute between the owners and the players regarding the profitability of professional baseball teams in connection with the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The case describes the financial statements of the baseball... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Profit; Labor Unions; Measurement and Metrics; Agreements and Arrangements; Performance; Sports Industry; United States

November 2010
Supplement

Esquel Group: Building a Sustainable Partnership with Cotton Farmers in Xinjiang (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Details and evaluates results in Esquel's 2002 initiative to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Leasing; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Hong Kong; Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu

April 1999
Case

Steve Perlman and WebTV (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ron Fortgang

The dynamics of a linked series of internal and external negotiations involved in launching, growing, and selling a high-tech, Internet start-up are explored. Steve Perlman unfurled an impressive new technology, recruited a top technical and management team, secured... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Process; Value Creation; Alliances; Technological Innovation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry

March 2008 (Revised June 2012)
Background Note

ADR Choices

By: Michael Wheeler, James Sebenius and Marjorie Aaron

Six different business disputes, all in the shadow of pending litigation, are described. Students are asked to recommend the appropriate method of dispute resolution (mediation, arbitration, mini-trial, etc.) for each one, depending on the circumstances, especially to... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Managerial Roles; Negotiation; Agreements and Arrangements; Conflict Management