Publications

17 Apr 2022
Book

How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray

when we are negotiating a contract or trying to sell a product, a certain degree of material self-interest is expected. The key phrase here is the qualifier, “a certain degree of.” Business ethics help to keep us from crossing the line... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

June 2020
Case

TransDigm: The Acquisition of Aerosonic Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher

In April 2013, TransDigm, a company that manufactured a wide range of highly engineered aerospace parts for both military and commercial aircraft, announced an agreement to acquire Aerosonic Corporation for $39 million in cash (1.2 times Aerosonic’s sales of $31... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Valuation; Negotiation; Cash Flow; Contracts; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States

09 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 9

between free and a positive price. In this piece, I offer a series of specific examples of resources offered without charge, for a positive price, or for a flat fee ("all-you-can-eat"). I conclude... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2009 (Revised November 2011)
Case

The Tip of the Iceberg: JP Morgan Chase and Bear Stearns (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose, Daniel Baird Bergstresser and David Lane

"Bear Stearns & Co. burned through nearly all of its $18 billion in cash reserves during the week of March 10, 2008, and an unprecedented provision of liquidity support from the Federal Reserve on Friday, March 13 was insufficient to reverse the decline in Bear's... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financial Strategy; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Disaster in April: The Obligations of Kelly Construction

By: John D. Macomber, Christopher M. Gordon and Ben Creo

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum that is an important... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Contracts; Crisis Management; Construction Industry

11 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

10 Rules Entrepreneurs Need to Know Before Adopting AI

However, that’s not the reality of the enterprise world. Big enterprises by default are averse to change unless they are convinced the alternative is worth their business development effort and the time involved of the legal-finance team to View Details

Keywords: by Rocio Wu

February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Roche's Acquisition of Genentech

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Bo Becker and Vincent Marie Dessain

Franz Humer, CEO of the Roche Group, must decide whether to mount a hostile tender offer for the publicly-owned shares of Roche's biotechnology subsidiary, Genentech. The case provides opportunities to analyze Roche's strategy with respect to Genentech, the pros and... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Subsidiaries; Negotiation Offer; Organizational Culture; Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

31 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

When Not to Trust Your Gut

article explores why we often think irrationally—and why, even when the stakes are high and mistakes are costly, we sometimes are unable to overcome our psychological biases. We begin with an overview of intuition and rationality in View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman & Deepak Malhotra

April 2021
Article

Work-From-Anywhere: The Productivity Effects of Geographical Flexibility

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Cirrus Foroughi and Barbara Larson

An emerging form of remote work allows employees to work-from-anywhere, so that the worker can choose to live in a preferred geographic location. While traditional work-from-home (WFH) programs offer the worker temporal flexibility, work-from-anywhere (WFA) programs... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Flexibility; Work-from-anywhere; Remote Work; Telecommuting; Geographic Mobility; USPTO; Employees; Geographic Location; Performance Productivity

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19 Dec 2016
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Stories of 2016

the chicken-and-egg challenge of how companies can attract their first customers. Donald Trump’s Winning Marketing Manual Donald Trump's upset election win offers six lessons for marketing professionals, says John A. Quelch. When View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 2011
Article

Taking Gender into Account: Theory and Design for Women's Leadership Development Programs

By: Robin J. Ely, Herminia Ibarra and Deborah Kolb

We conceptualize leadership development as identity work and show how subtle forms of gender bias in the culture and in organizations interfere with the identity work of women leaders. Based on this insight, we revisit traditional approaches to standard leadership... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Prejudice and Bias; Leadership Development; Identity; Organizational Culture; Gender

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10 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 10, 2017

powerful.” While savvy negotiators and analysts generally avoid these pitfalls, the less sophisticated can go astray. Robust correctives to these misimpressions are offered and related to three different... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 4, 2018

with a warm communication style, both in a field experiment (Study 2) and in a laboratory experiment (Study 3). This was driven by the fact that offers delivered in tough language elicited more favorable counteroffers. We further find... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

June 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Note

Home Nursing of North Carolina

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

In 2011, immediately after graduating HBS, Ari Medoff began a self-funded search for a small firm to buy and run as its CEO. After just three month of searching, he identified Home Nursing of North Carolina (HNNC), a home care agency based in Greensboro, NC, as a... View Details

Keywords: Small Firms Management; Acquisition; Negotiation Process; Investment; Small Business; Management; Personal Development and Career

07 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 7, 2015

Successful Products for Emerging Markets By: Winter, Amos, and Vijay Govindarajan Abstract—Multinationals are starting to catch on to the logic of reverse innovation, in which products are designed first for consumers in low-income countries and then adapted into... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2023
Case

David Beckham (A)

By: Anita Elberse and David Moreno Vicente

In January 2022, superstar-athlete-turned-entrepreneur David Beckham is deciding on a proposal that has the potential to significantly change the trajectory of his business career: Authentic Brands Group (‘Authentic’) has offered to engage in a strategic partnership... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Decisions; Brands and Branding; Negotiation Offer; Partners and Partnerships; Sports

May 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Carol Fishman Cohen: Professional Career Reentry (A)

By: Myra M. Hart, Robin J. Ely and Susan Wojewoda

Explores the career challenges facing highly successful women who leave the full-time workforce for several years to manage family commitments. Carol Cohen is a 1985 Harvard MBA who has professional line experience in a manufacturing environment, followed by a... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships

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 negotiations can affect... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2005 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Tad O'Malley: December 2004

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon and Sean Klimczak

Tad O'Malley, a second-year student at Harvard Business School, must choose among three offers from private equity firms. Each firm presents a unique combination of history, culture, and compensation. Traces Tad's strategy in obtaining these offers and lets students... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Compensation and Benefits; Job Offer; Negotiation Tactics; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career