Publications

05 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Leading and Creating Collaboration in Decentralized Organizations

Keywords: by Heather M. Caruso, Todd Rogers & Max Bazerman

November 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Alexander Plaza

By: Arthur I Segel and William J. Poorvu

In May 1996, Henry Bower, an asset manager for a real estate adviser, Medcem, has to negotiate the details of a lease after signing a letter of intent with a high technology company, Defentek, Inc. Defentek, Inc. is a fast-growing company with limited net worth that is... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Preparation; Agreements and Arrangements; Risk and Uncertainty; Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry; District of Columbia

20 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 20, 2008

Working PapersGender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game Authors:Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen L. McGinn Abstract We propose a two-level-game (Putnam, 1988) perspective on gender in job negotiations. At Level 1, candidates View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 1991 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Cumberland Worldwide Corp. (A)

A company in financial distress must design a successful exchange offer or face Chapter 11. Covers valuation and negotiation issues related to financial distress and the decision to file under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Valuation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

31 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

When Not to Trust Your Gut

In past issues of this newsletter, we have highlighted a variety of psychological biases that affect negotiators, many of which spring from a reliance on intuition. Of course, negotiators are not always affected by bias; we often think... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman & Deepak Malhotra

January 11, 2023
Article

Russia and Ukraine Are Not Ready for Talks: But They Might Get There If Ukraine Keeps Winning

By: James K. Sebenius and Michael Singh

While there are many calls for negotiation between Ukraine and Russia to end their war, there does now (early 2023) not appear to be a zone of possible agreement (ZOPA), since each side's best no-agreement option ("BATNA") likely appears superior to any mutually... View Details

Keywords: Diplomacy; Agreements; Ukraine; International Relations; War; Negotiation; Ukraine; Russia

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October 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Ensighten

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael J. Roberts

Focuses on a small start-up software company engaged in a negotiation over its software licensing agreement with a very large potential client. The entrepreneur must weight legal and business issues vs. his desire to land the key customer. View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Business Plan; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Contracts; Information Technology Industry

January 2005 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Ray Rogers and the Corporate Campaign (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Michael A. Wheeler

Sets the stage for analyzing the strategy of labor organizer Ray Rogers in bringing J.P. Stevens to the bargaining table when conventional union tactics failed. Though set in the specific context of labor-management relations, it illustrates much more fundamental... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Negotiation Preparation; Negotiation Tactics; Labor Unions; Labor and Management Relations; Manufacturing Industry; United States

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November 2001 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Discount and Hawkins Critical Moments: Full Transcript

By: Michael A. Wheeler and Gillian Morris

This case presents a transcript of two professional negotiators of the Discount and Hawkins real estate negotiations. It highlights the challenges of creating value for both sides in the deal and provides a glimpse of how one set of professionals structured an... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Negotiation Participants; Real Estate Industry

December 2003
Case

George Mitchell in Northern Ireland (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Daniel F. Curran

Examines the strategies and tactics that U.S. negotiator George Mitchell used during his two-year tenure as chairman of the all-party talks in Northern Ireland. His efforts culminated in the signing of the historic Good Friday Accords. A revised version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Policy; International Relations; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics; Northern Ireland; United States

November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Merchant Card Services, Inc. (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Explores the interaction between a venture capital firm that negotiates a good deal for itself and the portfolio company that seeks to extricate itself from its obligations. Exemplifies the potential conflicts between the fiduciary duty of board members and the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Legal Liability; Conflict and Resolution; Financial Services Industry

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January 1986 (Revised August 1986)
Case

Bougainville Copper Ltd. (Condensed)

Describes a mine operated by Bougainville Copper Ltd. in Papua New Guinea and the pressures negotiating the mineral contract between PNG and Bougainville Copper. Condensed from Bougainville Copper Ltd. (B), (C), and (D) by J.S. Hammond and G.B. Allan. View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Contracts; Negotiation; Mining Industry; Oceania

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 04 Jun 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

New Results from the HBS Alumni Survey: Life and Leadership After HBS

Professor Robin Ely will share survey findings about the lives and careers of alumni, including how they negotiate work and family, how alumni of different genders and racial groups experience their careers and family relationships, and how alumni view barriers to... View Details

03 Jun 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Business Models--Nature and Benefits

Keywords: by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & John Heilbron

2024
Book

Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michael Klausner

Drawing on real-life cases from a wide range of industries, two acclaimed experts offer a sophisticated but accessible guide to business deals, designed to maximize value for your side.

Business transactions take widely varying forms—from multibillion-dollar... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts

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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

November 2012
Article

Are You Ready for the 'Hardest Question'?

By: James K. Sebenius

Negotiation preparation entails assessing each side's interests and no-deal options, imagining possible agreements, factoring in personality and culture, thinking through moves and possible countermoves, and so forth. Yet standard preparation often neglects the... View Details

Keywords: Tactics; Hard Bargaining; Negotiation

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04 Oct 2023
Blog Post

HBS Career Journeys | Stéphanie Joseph

HBS Career & Professional Development sat down with students to talk about their career journeys. Stéphanie Joseph (MBA 2023) talks about the experiences that led her to pursue a career in fintech in emerging markets, and how she used data from CPD's 12twenty to... View Details

February 2006 (Revised February 2009)
Case

AIDS in Brazil

By: Rohit Deshpande and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

Abbott Labs has reached an impasse with the Brazilian government in negotiations over the pricing of a new anti-AIDS drug, Kaletra. The Brazilian government threatens compulsory licensing unless Abbott drastically reduces the price of Kaletra. View Details

Keywords: Price; Government and Politics; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Rights; Negotiation; Business and Government Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Brazil