Publications

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July 2021
Case

Amazon HQ2

By: James K. Sebenius and Ben Cook

Amazon’s failed bid for a second headquarters location (“HQ2”) in Long Island City, New York offers many lessons for negotiators looking to avoid similar high-profile defeats in strategically important deals. The company’s project – which promised to bring billions of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Negotiation; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Problems and Challenges

May 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Melissa Wood Health: How to Win in the Creator Economy

By: Eva Ascarza

In October 2020, Melissa Wood-Tepperberg, founder of the digital subscription wellness platform Melissa Wood Health (MWH) and creator of ‘The MWH Method,’ was evaluating the strategic directions of her company. What had started as a way to share workouts and wellness... View Details

Keywords: Lifestyle Brand; Brands and Branding; Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Negotiation

07 May 2012
News

The Art of Haggling

2024
Other Teaching and Training Material

Earth

By: Barry Nalebuff and Max Bazerman

Earth was created to provide participants with the opportunity to negotiate a solution to the most important environmental challenge that faces humanity — climate change. Just as finding solutions to climate change is challenging, students will be challenged to find a... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Outcome or Result; Negotiation; Game Theory

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Research Summary

Corporate Diplomacy

Michael Watkins is defining a top management function of increasing importance: the conduct of corporate diplomacy. Senior executives conduct the business equivalent of international diplomacy when they negotiate to sustain or transform relationships with influential... View Details

Research Summary

Targeting Corporate Interests: The US banking industry's experience with community groups and regulators

In this project with Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis Yao we use evidence from comminity groups' protests of bank mergers and negotiations with banking institutions to study how and why these firms are targeted for their non-market behavior.

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10 Apr 2023
Video

Career Journeys | Stéphanie Joseph

November 2005
Case

Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Negotiation; Organizational Culture

November 1994 (Revised November 1994)
Case

MW Petroleum Corporation (A)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman, Peter Tufano and Barbara Wall

Amoco Corp. is negotiating to sell a wholly-owned subsidiary, MW Petroleum, to Apache Corp. MW owns large reserves of oil and gas comprising many properties at different stages of engineering, development, and production. The proposed acquisition is a large one for... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Subsidiaries; Mining; Cash Flow; Stock Options; Financing and Loans; Price; Negotiation; Production; Valuation; Mining Industry

December 1994 (Revised October 1996)
Case

Byrnes, Byrnes & Townsend: Case and Simulation

Designed to be used in conjunction with Patriot National Insurance Co. Discusses a suit brought by a woman client who was badly injured in an automobile accident and alleges that a proximate cause of the accident was faulty repairs on her car by a Patriot-insured auto... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Insurance; Insurance Industry

14 Apr 2016
News

5 Reasons Good Deals Get Rejected

November 2010
Case

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

By: James K. Sebenius and Jason Cheng Qian

Esquel Group, leading manufacturer of quality shirts, sought to negotiate long-term partnerships with often-exploited farmers in Xinjiang (western China) to procure a superior cotton variety. Seeking to secure a large supply of specialty cotton in an ethical and... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; 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

November 2022
Case

Jon Fortt: The Art of Debate and Effective Communication

By: Francesca Gino, Sarah Livick-Moses and Ruth Page

This stand-alone multimedia case explores the art of communication in the space of negotiation. It follows the career journey of business journalist, media influencer, and co-anchor of CNBC's "Squawk Alley," Jon Fortt. He offers reflections on the race crisis in the... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Negotiation; Race

December 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Ribbit Capital and the Gauntlet Investment Opportunity

By: Shai Bernstein and Allison M. Ciechanover

Ten-year-old, Palo Alto-based Ribbit Capital is best-known for its global investments in fintech. The firm was also an early advocate of crypto and blockchain, having invested in more than two dozen startups in the space in the past decade. In the Spring of 2022,... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Assets; Cryptocurrency; Business Startups; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Deal; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; California

December 2007
Article

Private Power in Indonesia

By: Louis T. Wells

The Asian Currency Crisis led to the collapse of agreements Indonesia had negotiated for private electric power only a few years earlier. The ensuing struggle meant bad publicity and several hundred million dollars in costs for Indonesia. As Indonesia in 2007 was... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Government Legislation; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Indonesia

Find at Harvard

December 2000
Background Note

Intellectual Asset Valuation

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson

Discusses the shortcomings of the current "rules of thumb" for intellectual asset valuation in the context of intellectual property licensing transactions. As an alternative to the present scheme, this note proposes quantitative methods for such valuations in order to... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Intellectual Property

13 Jun 2019
News

Ask a Professional Negotiator: How Do You Reason With Kids?

September 2013
Case

SafeBlend Fracturing

By: Benson P. Shapiro, Frank V. Cespedes and Alisa Zalosh

The CEO of SafeBlend Technologies must set a price for the company's environmentally friendly fracturing fluid additive. The firm is negotiating a new contract with its biggest client, Bristol Natural Gas. For the last two years, SafeBlend has been the sole provider of... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Negotiation; Competitive Advantage; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Sources; Sales; Energy Industry