Publications

November 2021
Case

Steve Schwarzman on Dealmaking I: “Becoming a ‘Friend of the Situation’” (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

Blackstone Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman, whom Forbes has called “Wall Street’s Greatest Dealmaker,” played a major role in the negotiations that transformed Blackstone from a fragile startup in 1985 with $400,000 in capital into a dominant... View Details

Keywords: Dealmaking; Bargaining; Conflict Resolution; Negotiation; Private Equity; Conflict and Resolution; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Negotiation Tactics; Financial Services Industry

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

Banerjee and Lakshmi Iyer Publication:Natural Experiments in History, edited by Jared Diamond and James Robinson. Harvard University Press, forthcoming No abstract is available at this time. Download the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 13, 2010

in use two years after the intervention. Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites? Authors:Tarun Khanna and Yishay Yafeh Publication:Chap. 20 in The Oxford Handbook of Business Groups, edited by Asli M. Colpan, Takashi... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Apr 2012
First Look

First Look: April 10

PublicationsHow Will You Measure Your Life? Authors:Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon Publication:HarperBusiness, forthcoming Abstract In 2010 world-renowned innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen gave a... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Michael Brown: Negotiating Slots at Foxwoods (B)

The approach taken by Michael Brown and Governor Lowell Weicker and the means by which the agreement's sustainability was enhanced in the face of attacks by other gaming operators are detailed. View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Agreements and Arrangements; Government and Politics; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Connecticut

November 2006
Case

Sarah Talley and Frey Farms Produce: Negotiating with Wal-Mart (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

Describes the retailer-supplier negotiations of Frey Farms Produce in its growth from a small local produce supplier to becoming a supplier for Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. The (A) case sets up three negotiations led by Sarah Talley of Frey Farms Produce in... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Distribution Channels; Sales

January 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Wyoff and China-LuQuan: Negotiating a Joint Venture (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Cheng (Jason) Qian

Through stalled joint venture talks between Pennsylvania-based Wyoff Corp. and China-based China-LuQuan, strategic and cross-cultural negotiation challenges are explored both from American and Chinese perspectives. Wyoff, a leading US chemical company has been seeking... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Style; Strategy; Chemical Industry; China; Pennsylvania

2024
Report

Overcoming Barriers to Resolving Gaza and Beyond

As of early January 2024, discussion of the Gaza war heavily focuses on its humanitarian costs, cease fire possibilities, hostage prospects, and “day after” options. Yet what longer-term strategy guides actions on these vital issues while offering a more positive... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; War; International Relations; Israel; Middle East

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April 2013
Article

What Roger Fisher Got Profoundly Right: Five Enduring Lessons for Negotiators

Roger Fisher, who died in 2012, enjoyed a remarkable career that modeled one way that an academic, especially in a professional school such as law or business, could make a significant, positive, and lasting difference in the world. Distinctive aspects of his career... View Details

Keywords: Bargaining; Conflict Resolution; Dealmaking; Negotiation; Personal Development and Career; Conflict and Resolution

December 2011 (Revised May 2014)
Background Note

Col. Joshua Chamberlain: Background to a Challenging Negotiation from the Civil War

This note provides historical context and background for a challenging negotiation by Col. Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Maine Regiment of the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War. View Details

Keywords: History; Negotiation; United States

April 2017
Article

BATNAs in Negotiation: Common Errors and Three Kinds of 'No'

The Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (“BATNA”) concept in negotiation has proven to be immensely useful. In tandem with its value in practice, BATNA has become a wildly successful acronym (with more than 14 million Google results). But the initial... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics

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December 2013 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Paul Levy: Confronting a 'Corporate Campaign' (A)

Hospital CEO Paul Levy confronts an SEIU unionization drive via a "corporate campaign" aimed at undercutting the hospital's relationships with key internal and external constituencies. Having shepherded one of Boston's top teaching hospitals much of the way through a... View Details

Keywords: Dispute Resolution; Corporate Campaign; Negotiating Campaign; Bargaining; Health Care; Hospitals; Unions; Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation; Strategy; Negotiation Process; Labor Unions; Health Industry; Boston

Research Summary

Middle East Negotiation Initiative

The Middle East Negotiation Initiative is a component of the Harvard Negotiation Project that seeks to analyze and develop grounded analysis and advice for complex negotiations in and around the Middle East. Its current focus is on the intellectual and study questions... View Details

Spring 2018
Article

Henry Kissinger and Robert Mugabe: The Forgotten Connection via Remarkably Creative Negotiation

When Robert Mugabe was forced out of office in late 2017 after 37 years of increasingly brutal rule in Zimbabwe, he had been in the job so long that few recall how he got there. Fewer still remember that it was Henry Kissinger, whose complex, if unlikely, negotiations... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; History; Negotiation Style; Outcome or Result; Zimbabwe

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August 1999 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Double Dealmaking in the Browser Wars (A)

Recounts two complex negotiations in which Netscape and Microsoft compete to win a browser contract with AOL--then later with KPMG. After reviewing the web and browser sectors, this case recounts AOL's dramatic negotiations with Netscape and with Microsoft over which... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Deal; Web; Web Services Industry

April 2011
Article

What Can We Learn from 'Great Negotiations'?

What can one legitimately learn-analytically and/or prescriptively-from detailed historical case studies of "great negotiations," chosen more for their salience than their analytic characteristics or comparability? Taking a number of such cases compiled by Stanton... View Details

Keywords: Learning; International Relations; History; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Process; Conflict and Resolution