Publications

2010
Working Paper

Developing Negotiation Case Studies

By: James K. Sebenius

While a great deal of excellent advice exists for producing case studies on managerially relevant topics in general, negotiation cases have distinctive aspects that merit explicit treatment. This article offers three types of tailored advice for producing cases on... View Details

Keywords: Debates; Cases; Goals and Objectives; Negotiation; Perspective

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April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

The Company Sale Process

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Lays out the steps, the timeline, and the process by which a company is sold. Focuses on the sale of companies with enterprise values greater than $100 million. These transactions are large enough to require the help of a financial adviser and attract both strategic... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Agreements and Arrangements; Sales

12 Feb 2020
News

Research: It Pays To Be Yourself

HBS Online: Negotiation Mastery

Michael Wheeler, working with the HBS Online team, created Negotiation Mastery: Unlocking Value in the Real World. It is a flexible, highly-interactive online course which prepares participants to close deals that might otherwise be dead-locked, maximize value... View Details

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Family Matters: Governance at the Zamil Group

By: Christina R. Wing, Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

This case focuses on a large Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate and family business Zamil Group’s corporate and family governance journey. The 12 sons of the founder led and grew the group successfully after taking over from their father in 1961. The secret to their... View Details

Keywords: Middle East; Family Ownership; Family-owned Business; Saudi Arabia; Family Business; Governance; Organizational Structure; Values and Beliefs; Steel Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Bahrain

21 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Employee Negativity Is Like Wildfire. Manage It Before It Spreads.

rather as things that come and go naturally. We shouldn't let it intensify, but we should accept the fact that sometimes people are angry, and we're a strong-enough organization to deal with these fleeting emotions.” Reappraisal is a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Research Summary

The Game Has Changed

By: Max H. Bazerman

Many prior books on negotiation, including books co-authored by Max Bazerman, have addressed how to create and claim value in negotiation. These ideas have proliferated in business schools, where negotiation is often the most popular course. Class participants... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Organizational Responses to Product Cycles

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo and Nicolas Torres

Product cycles entail the mass production of new—and often increasingly complex—products on a regular basis. How do firms manage these changes? We use granular daily data from a leading automobile manufacturer to study the organizational impacts of introducing new... View Details

Keywords: Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Knowledge Management; Production; Product; Organizational Structure; Auto Industry; Argentina

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2014
Working Paper

The Contract Year Phenomenon in the Corner Office: An Analysis of Firm Behavior During CEO Contract Renewals

By: Ping Liu and Yuhai Xuan

This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending expiration of fixed-term... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Contracts; Behavior; Employment

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Program

Foundations of Private Equity and Venture Capital

connect with a program advisor by emailing executive_education@hbs.edu or by calling +1.617.495.6555. Key Benefits Providing deep insight into the landscape, players, and trends in private equity and venture capital, this new program boosts your investment expertise at... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

23 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 23

number of challenges. He had learned a great deal from Military.com and Affinity Labs' first launches, but in the case of each new community was faced with how best to construct the vertical and attract a sufficiently large audience.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Negotiation

By: Alison Wood Brooks

Negotiation is an Elective Curriculum course for HBS MBA students. Success at work and at home requires the ability to negotiate. Whether you are forging an agreement with your suppliers, trying to ink a deal with potential customers, raising money from investors,... View Details

February 2014
Teaching Note

Mylan Lab's Proposed Merger with King Pharmaceuticals

By: Lucy White

Perry Capital owns shares in King and, to facilitate approval of the merger, buys shares in Mylan, whilst hedging out its economic exposure to Mylan's share price using derivatives. The price at which Mylan proposes to merge with King is generous to King shareholders,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Voting; Ethics; Stock Shares; Investment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ownership Stake

January 2011
Article

Developing Superior Negotiation Case Studies

By: James K. Sebenius

While a great deal of excellent advice exists for producing case studies on managerially relevant topics in general, negotiation cases have distinctive aspects that merit explicit treatment. This article offers three types of tailored advice for producing cases on... View Details

Keywords: Education; Cases; Negotiation

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January 2009 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Mylan Lab's Proposed Merger with King Pharmaceutical (Abridged)

By: Lucy White

Perry Capital owns shares in King and, to facilitate approval of the merger, buys shares in Mylan, whilst hedging out its economic exposure to Mylan's share price using derivatives. The price at which Mylan proposes to merge with King is generous to King shareholders,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Voting; Ethics; Stock Shares; Investment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ownership Stake

Teaching Interest

Finance II (MBA Required Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

This course builds on the foundation developed in Finance I, focusing on three sets of managerial decisions:

How to evaluate complex investments.
How to set and execute financial policies within a firm.
How to integrate... View Details

Keywords: Finance

February 1989 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Science Technology Co.--1985

By: Thomas R. Piper

The CEO of a U.S. electronics firm is assessing the financial forecasts and the financing plan prepared by the chief financial officer. Given the cyclicality of the industry and the volatility of the firm's performance, the CEO is unsure as to the usefulness of... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Change Management; Industry Growth; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Strategy; Volatility; Electronics Industry

June 2023
Case

Dan McCrum - Unmasking Wirecard

By: Jonas Heese, Charles C.Y. Wang, Tonia Labruyere and Carlota Moniz

Dan McCrum, an investigative journalist for the Financial Times, had spent the past six years fighting to expose German payment processing firm Wirecard. The company had enjoyed years of exponential growth and was viewed by several investors as the poster child of... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Accounting; Financial Services Industry; Journalism and News Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; Germany

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