Publications

September 2009
Article

Hidden Roadblocks in Cross-Border Talks

By: James K. Sebenius

While most analysts and dealmakers are aware of "cultural" differences in negotiations that cross national borders--different protocol and process expectations, differences in the role of the individual versus the group, differences in attitudes toward risk and time,... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Tactics; Risk Management; Time Management; Strategy; Governance; Performance Expectations; Attitudes; Culture; Decision Making

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August 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

The Fuji-Xerox Merger

By: Guhan Subramanian and Annie Zhao

In January 2018, Xerox, a well-known American digital document firm, convened its board of directors to decide whether to approve a merger with Japanese imaging company Fujifilm. Activist Xerox shareholders were suing to halt the transaction, and documents unearthed... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Corporate Governance; Law

November 1978 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Hanson Industries (B)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

Provides a complete description of the processes used in preparing a budget (annual operating plan). Starting with basic product line decisions, management prepares a budget that integrates production and marketing within constraints of financial feasibility. The... View Details

Keywords: Production; Negotiation; Marketing; Financing and Loans; Budgets and Budgeting; Planning

02 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

Salary Negotiations: A Catch-22 for Women

affect negotiation outcomes. Putting guardrails on negotiations Some companies, such as Reddit, have eliminated salary negotiations from the hiring View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

13 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 13, 2009

as complicated local etiquette, obscured decision-making processes, and heavy reliance on interpersonal relationships instead of legal instruments all add to the complexities of Sino-foreign business negotiations and can make the View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2003 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Yahoo!: Becoming a Competitor in the Career Listings Space (B)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

After weighing the pros and cons of making an unsolicited bid for HotJobs.com (an online recruiting company already under contract to be acquired by TMP Worldwide), the executive team of Yahoo! decides to make an immediate move rather than wait for the Federal Trade... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Teams; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Process; Strategy

2014
Working Paper

Better Deals Through Level II Strategies: Advance Your Interests by Helping to Solve Their Internal Problems

By: James K. Sebenius

Many negotiators have constituencies that must formally or informally approve an agreement. Traditionally, it is the responsibility of each negotiator to manage the internal conflicts and constituencies on his or her own side. Far less familiar are the many valuable... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style

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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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19 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 19

PapersNegotiation Processes As Sources of (and Solutions to) Interorganizational Conflict Authors:Elizabeth Long Lingo, Colin Fisher, and Kathleen L. McGinn Abstract We investigate how structural features of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1992
Case

Riverside and DEC: Riverside Lumber Confidential Instructions

By: Howard Raiffa and Thomas T. Weeks

A two-party, integrative, negotiation exercise involving several pre-specified issues to be resolved. Each party is given a pre-specified scoring system in monetary units. Side payments, within limits are possible. Face-to-face negotiations take place with no... View Details

Keywords: Natural Environment; Government and Politics; Pollutants; Negotiation Types; Negotiation Process; Forestry Industry

07 May 2012
Research & Ideas

The Art of Haggling

the moral issues that negotiation inevitably raises. Acknowledging the distributive aspect of the process makes them confront the issue of fairness. "How much do we owe the other side?" he asks.... View Details

Keywords: by Katie Johnston

May 1998
Case

Integral Vision Ltd. (A)

A stop-action simulation case takes participants through the process whereby four people (three young entrepreneurs and an investor) take a machine vision company from start-up to acquisition by a major publicly-traded company. Over several years, they have to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Business Growth and Maturation; Acquisition; Business Startups

March 1998
Case

Bumper Acquisition (B), A

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Picks up the negotiation between Thermo-Impact and Medallion Capital where the (A1) and A2) cases leave off. The companies began talks in 1995 when Medallion offered to buy Thermo-Impact. This case brings the negotiation through May 1996. Students view developments... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

October 2015
Article

The Relational Nature of Leadership Identity Construction: How and When It Influences Perceived Leadership and Decision-Making

By: Lisa Marchiondo, Christopher G. Myers and Shirli Kopelman

This paper empirically tests leadership identity construction theory (DeRue & Ashford, 2010), conceptually framing claiming and granting leadership as a negotiated process that influences leadership perceptions and decision-making in interdependent contexts. In Study... View Details

Keywords: Identity Construction; Leadership Development; Identity

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July 9, 2014
Article

A Great Negotiator's Essential Advice

By: James K. Sebenius

The Program on Negotiation (PON), an active Harvard-MIT-Tufts consortium, honored View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Personal Development and Career; Negotiation Style; Singapore

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October 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Innova Capital: The Transition

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The partners at Innova Capital, a leading mid-market private equity investor in Poland, must negotiate a transition of power between the two ex-patriate founders and three talented young Polish partners. If they fail to find an accomodation, the entire firm will... View Details

Keywords: Firm Structure; Career Management; Emerging Market; Succession; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Negotiation; Investment; Restructuring; Transition

26 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

A Better Way to Negotiate: Backward

another negotiator—who may be under the false impression that you've already said "yes." Opening Up The Process The secrecy that surrounds some sequenced deals can make them appear manipulative. By contrast, a group of View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

April 1996 (Revised May 2008)
Exercise

Adam Baxter Company/Local 190: 1983 Negotiation, Local 190 Confidential Information

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Victoria Medvec

Includes a series of three negotiation exercises portraying management/labor relations at ABC over a period of seven years. ABC, initially a family-owned business, had prided itself on its cooperative relationship with its union, Local 190. With the skyrocketing... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Compensation and Benefits; Labor Unions; Wages; Working Conditions; Negotiation Process; Labor and Management Relations