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Main Catalogs   Accounting Business Communication Business Law Economics Finance Insurance and Real Estate Management Information Systems Management and Organization Marketing Operations and Decision Sciences      Special Catalogs     Case Studies Text Chapters Mapped to Specific Cases How to Build a Book: Select Content Review & Arrange Personalize Request a Copy Keyword    Title, Author, Case #, Etc. ALEKS Homework Manager Discover Econ   Learning Solutions Group     Harvard Business Review Articles — Negotiation  • To include an item in your complimentary custom book, click the item’s Add link. If there is a View link next to an item, you can view the pages by clicking on the link.  • To review the list of items you have selected so far, click on Step 2 in the progress bar above. You have successfully added all of the items to your order. Either click here to review your order or continue to add content from another title.    The Hidden Risks in Emerging Markets   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Henisz, Witold J.; Zelner, Bennet A. Publication Date: 04/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1004H Subjects: Global business; Emerging markets; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: You may think that the biggest political risk to your assets in a developing country is outright seizure by its government. Not so. Other, less overt policy weapons have become the main threats, and it takes political deftness to anticipate and outwit the players who wield them. Wharton's Witold J. Henisz and Duke's Bennet A. Zelner discuss the tools, both human and technological, that businesses can use to outmaneuver the forces that put their foreign profits at risk. They also share success stories of companies such as the Italian oil giant Eni, which has managed overseas risk by balancing operational efficiency with political capital, mastering the art of political spin, and hitting the pressure points of local stakeholders. Together, the authors' insights constitute a set of best-practice guidelines for assessing the landscape abroad and for modeling political decision making.    How to Manage Your Negotiating Team   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Brett, Jeanne; Friedman, Ray; Behfar, Kristin Publication Date: 09/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0909M Subjects: Leading teams; Negotiating Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: You are leading a negotiating team for your company. When you sit down with the other party, someone on your side of the table blurts out: “Just tell us - what do we need to do to get more of your business?” And in that moment, you know you've lost the upper hand. Gaffes like this are more common than most businesspeople would care to admit, management professors Brett, Friedman, and Behfar have found in their research. Even though team members are all technically on the same side, they often have different priorities and imagine different ideal outcomes: Business development just wants to close the deal. Finance is most concerned about costs. Legal is focused on patents and intellectual property. The authors recommend taking four steps, either singly or in tandem, to align those goals: Map out each person's priorities, work out conflicts directly with departments, employ a mediator if that doesn't work, and use data to resolve differences. Once you are all on the same page, you can take steps to make sure everyone is coordinated during the negotiations themselves. Try simulating the negotiation beforehand, assigning roles to team members that take advantage of their strengths, and establishing the signals you will use to communicate with one another during the session. The payoff from working as a cohesive group is clear. With access to greater expertise and the ability to assign members to specialized roles, teams can implement more complex strategies than a sole negotiator could ever pull off.    3-D Negotiation: Playing the Whole Game   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Lax, David A.; Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 11/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0311D Geographic Setting: United States; Chile; Europe; Switzerland; Mexico Subjects: Negotiations; Arbitration; BATNA; Alliances; Coopetition; Value creation; Information sharing Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: What stands between you and the yes you want? According to negotiation experts David Lax and James Sebenius, executives face obstacles in three common and complementary dimensions: tactics, or interactions at the bargaining table; deal design, or the ability to draw up a deal at the table that creates lasting value; and setup, which includes the structure of the negotiation itself. Each dimension is crucial in the bargaining process, but most executives fixate on only the first two: 1-D negotiators focus on improving their interpersonal skills at the negotiating table, and 2-D negotiators focus on diagnosing underlying sources of value in a deal and then recrafting the terms to satisfy all parties. In this article, the authors explore the often-neglected third dimension. Instead of just playing the game at the bargaining table, 3-D negotiators reshape the scope and sequence of the game itself to achieve the desired outcome. They scan widely to identify elements outside the deal on the table that might create a more favorable structure for it. They map backward from their ideal resolution to the current setup of the deal and carefully choose which players to approach and when. And they manage and frame the flow of information among the parties involved to improve their odds of getting to yes. Lax and Sebenius describe the tactics 3-D negotiators use and cite examples from business and foreign affairs.    ABCs of the Critical Path Method   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Levy, Ferdinand K.; Thompson, Gerald L.; W Publication Date: 09/01/1963 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The critical path method (CPM), one of a variety of quantitative tools for business decision-making, is a simple technique for analyzing, planning, and scheduling large complex projects and for completing them at minimum cost. Analysis by CPM may be applied to a host of projects that have three common characteristics essential for that analysis: the project consists of a well-defined collection of jobs; the jobs may be started or stopped independently of each other, within a given sequence; and the jobs must be performed in technological sequence. A step by step analysis demonstrates critical path scheduling and the process of constructing a graph. HBS Number: 63508 Subjects: Decision making; Quantitative analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    All in the Family: Managing Business Disputes with Relatives   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sander, Frank E.A.; Bordone, Robert C. Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Given the personal issues that complicate family-run businesses, it's tempting to avoid mixing business with family. Yet, this could mean passing up lucrative opportunities, not to mention the potential rewards of working closely with loved ones. According to the authors, managing conflict within a family business requires the same set of mutual gains negotiation tools that you would use to manage any workplace dispute. But add to that some ground rules for avoiding emotional strife. Also, try to anticipate specific issues that are ripe for conflict and address them before they tear at the family fabric. HBS Number: N0603D Subjects: Business policy; Communication; Conflict; Emotions; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Problem solving Academic Discipline: Negotiations    And Now: Complexity Theory   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Publication Date: 03/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Complexity theory explores how simple interactions among objects become something new and different over time. A cousin of chaos theory, complexity tries to find the patterns or ``hidden order'' by which an economy or ecosystem evolves. Tools based on this theory can help managers control systems involving complex logistics. Computer simulations are designed to spot emerging patterns and then adapt to changes, much as life itself evolves in response to changes in the environment. Uses for such tools range from managing production scheduling to determining customer reactions to new retail store layouts. Some of the new thinking on complexity theory argues that complexity offers not just a set of expensive tools but also a metaphor that encourages innovative thinking. Managers can use key principles derived from complexity to allow their units to ``self-organize'' into more efficient groups, and to find and respond to specific changes in real time. This article includes an annotated ``If you want to learn more'' section with information on the basics of complexity theory as well as on advanced applications. HBS Number: U9903D Subjects: Chaos; Complexity; Computer based modeling; Decision theory; Economic theory; Logistics; Management of change; Simulation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Are Economic Forecasters Worth Listening to?   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Bernstein, Peter L.; Silbert, Theodore H. Publication Date: 09/01/1984 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Economic forecasts deserve to be taken seriously even though they may not be entirely accurate. Companies will make better business decisions with forecasts properly used and understood than they will without forecasts. A study of 70 forecasting organizations, done by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1982, shows that groups of forecasters, or consensus forecasts, make more accurate predictions that do individual forecasters. HBS Number: 84503 Subjects: Economic analysis; Forecasting Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Are You Asking the Right Questions?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Putnam, Linda L. Publication Date: 03/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In a typical negotiation, people ask a wide array of questions that move beyond the basics of who, what, when, where, and why. Yet, when researchers code interactions, they find that negotiators typically spend more time arguing for their positions, defending their stance on issues, and providing information than they do asking questions. When pressed, negotiators admit that asking questions leaves them feeling vulnerable and open to exploitation. Effective use of questions, however, allows negotiators to redirect interactions and gain important insights about the bargaining situation. In this article, Linda Putnam suggests a variety of strategies to help you fine-tune your questions in negotiation and apply these tools to reach an agreement that satisfies everyone. HBS Number: N0503C Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Are You Too Powerful for Your Own Good?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Tenbrunsel, Ann E. Publication Date: 09/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Cultivating and enhancing power is touted as a way to guarantee negotiation success. Powerful negotiators feel less urgency, have more confidence, and make fewer concessions. Ultimately, they end up with a better deal. That's the familiar story -- but reality is a bit more complex. Powerful negotiators are subject to misperceptions, grand illusions, and misguided strategies. At the same time, power motivates untrustworthy behavior, harsh judgments, and competitive moves on the part of weaker adversaries. The baggage that accompanies power can undermine even the strongest player. In this article, the author presents five warnings for negotiators who believe that power guarantees success at the bargaining table and then describes some strategies to help you avoid making these mistakes in your own negotiations. HBS Number: N0509A Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Power & influence; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Art of Deal Diplomacy   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald W. Publication Date: 03/01/2004 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Business negotiators who seek maximum gain for their organizations would do well to take a page from a classic text on diplomacy. It would be a mistake for those in the corporate world to dismiss the diplomatic realm -- after all, diplomacy is the art of creating and managing relationships among nations. As such, it offers valuable tools for all business negotiators, who themselves are in the business of creating and managing relationships among companies -- whether they view this as their overall goal or not. HBS Number: N0403B Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; International relations; Negotiations; Organizational management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Assessing Capital Risk: You Can’t Be Too Conservative   Add   View  11 pp.  Article Author(s): Arnold, Jasper H., III Publication Date: 09/01/1986 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The worst-case forecast of most capital expansion projects is rarely pessimistic enough. Staying power analysis can help a company better assess whether it can withstand the worst circumstances. These are the steps to take when doing a staying power analysis: 1) describe a hostile environment, 2) translate the consequent deteriorations into operating statement and balance sheet results, 3) make estimates based on the assumption that capital projects will encounter trouble, and 4) analyze cost-cutting possibilities. If the analysis shows company assets won't be able to cover the debt, that must be known in advance. Then if people want to risk the company, at least they know that's what they're doing. HBS Number: 86502 Subjects: Capital investments; Financial management; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Balancing Act   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Hackley, Susan Publication Date: 02/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: There are three tensions inherent in any negotiation, whether the goal is to make a deal or settle a dispute: (1) the tension between creating and distributing value, (2) the tension between empathy and assertiveness, and (3) the tension between principals and agents. Managing them is vital for successful negotiations. Learn how. HBS Number: N0502C Subjects: Competitive advantage; Conflict; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Before the Damage Is Done   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Suppose you work for a specialty bicycle manufacturer and have negotiated a one-year contract to buy 500 headlamps per month from a supplier, with payment due after receipt. The seller makes five deliveries; you promptly pay $5,000 after each shipment. Then the seller fails to make the sixth delivery and announces it will not be able to make any of the remaining shipments because of a production glitch. What recourse do you have? Most businesspeople would assume that it's time to sue for breach of contract and hope to be awarded damages. But the pursuit of monetary damages can cause you to lose sight of your real goal -- getting the job done. You don't need to resort to a lengthy and expensive court case to achieve your goal. Instead, when formulating the initial contract, you can -- and should -- specify what will happen if one side violates the contract, whether legally or in spirit. Learn some of the key legal and business factors to consider when negotiating damages up front. HBS Number: N0505B Subjects: Contracts; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Better Decisions with Preference Theory   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Hammond, John S., III Publication Date: 11/01/1967 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The use of preference theory facilitates more consistent decision making and helps management convey a better understanding of the desired corporate attitude toward risk taking. The process of obtaining decision makers' preference curves consists of two stages: 1) the assessment of preliminary curve, and 2) the verification and correction of that curve. Preference theory helps managers not only to enhance their own decision making, but also to gain insights into the thinking of other decision makers in the organization. HBS Number: 67604 Subjects: Decision theory; Decision trees; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Better or Best: Keeping Your Options Open   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 03/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Jim, a residential developer, has been scouting for a site for his next project. Two properties seem promising. The first consists of 75 acres of woodlands and some overgrown fields. The seller is asking $1.65 million, though the price may be negotiable. The other site, a former 100-acre apple orchard, was acquired by a local bank that has yet to set an asking price. Jim believes he could make either deal work. But without knowing exactly what he'd need to pay for each, how can he determine which property is the better value? Jim is facing linked negotiations, each of which presents special strategic and tactical challenges. This article focuses on ``birds in the bush'' -- situations in which you have more than one promising option to consider. Confronted with deals that look equivalent, how do you keep them alive until the optimal course becomes clear? The set of techniques outlined will put you on the right path. HBS Number: N0503D Subjects: Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Better Way to Negotiate: Build Relationships   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Krattenmaker, Tom Publication Date: 05/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: In today's chaotic business environment, relationships matter: your supplier today could be your biggest competitor tomorrow. A hard-driving, take-no-prisoners approach to negotiations could have serious repercussions in the future. But that's no reason to allow yourself to get walked on. Instead, stop viewing every negotiation as a zero-sum game and learn to foster positive relationships. In this article, negotiation experts weigh in with seven techniques for improving your effectiveness in business relationships. HBS Number: C0105A Subjects: Agreements; Contracts; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Beware Your Counterpart’s Biases   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H. Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In negotiation, recognizing and overcoming your own judgment biases is only one side of the coin; your negotiation counterparts are likely to be just as biased as you are, leading to irrational expectations and other judgment mistakes that can adversely affect negotiation. In this article, Max H. Bazerman discusses five basic rules to follow to anticipate, identify and, when possible, neutralize the biases of others: (1) help others be less biased, so they don't hold out for unrealistic outcomes; (2) seek out data that disconfirm the experts and apply them to your negotiations; (3) use contingent agreements to deflate irrational promises or targets; (4) marshal hard data that contradict your counterparts' biases; and (5) assume the viewpoint of a disinterested bystander. HBS Number: N0512B Subjects: Bias; Communication; Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Human behavior; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Beyond Blame: Choosing a Mediator   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Goldberg, Stephen B. Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: To an outsider, the solution might be obvious. But it's not uncommon for disputing parties, once they've begun arguing about a point, to focus on that question to the exclusion of all else — and get stuck there. In such a case, consider hiring an expert mediator to sidestep the contest. Using a combination of rapport, creativity, and patience, a good mediator can work with both parties to negotiate a voluntary resolution, one in which neither side feels railroaded. To ensure a good outcome, choose neutral mediators whom both sides can trust. And most important, look for an expert who focuses not on rights, but on interests, to help the parties find a solution that satisfies their underlying needs, desires, and concerns. HBS Number: N0601B Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Communication strategy; Conflict; Negotiations; Trust Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Borrowing from Baseball: The Surprising Benefits of Final-Offer Arbitrations   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Goldberg, Stephen B. Publication Date: 08/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Imagine you're an ambitious divisional sales manager at a Fortune 500 company. The CEO appreciates your results and doesn't want to lose you. The only problem? Your salary. You believe you're entitled to a significant raise, from $80,000 to $200,000 annually; the company has offered $125,000. Both you and the CEO think your offers are fair, and neither side wants to compromise. How can you resolve this dispute? If you were a major league baseball (MLB) player, the answer would be obvious. You'd submit your dispute to binding, final-offer arbitration. In MLB, a neutral arbitrator determines, based on the player's performance statistics and the statistics and salaries of other players in his position, what his salary should be. The strategy of agreeing to final-offer arbitration in the case of an impasse can be used to resolve all types of disputes over contract terms. What's more, such an agreement is likely to result in a negotiated resolution and, paradoxically, help you avoid the need for arbitration. HBS Number: N0508B Industry Setting: Sports industry Subjects: Arbitration; Compensation; Contracts; Negotiations; Salary offers Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Breaking Robert’s Rules: Consensus-Building Techniques for Group Decision Making   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Why do groups and teams rely on majority rule as their primary approach to negotiated decision making? First, because it prevents the few from dictating to the many, it satisfies our innate sense of fairness. Second, it leads to a firm decision. When deadlines loom, a vote effectively ends the discussion. Finally, majority rule presumably enhances the legitimacy of decisions or recommendations by communicating to others that more people liked the proposal than didn't. There's one big problem with majority rule, however. It puts a premium on ``winning,'' rather than on producing the best possible outcome for everyone. As a consequence, majority-rule decisions almost guarantee an unhappy minority and instability. After all, an unhappy minority will bide its time, awaiting an opportunity to sabotage the group's outcome. Learn about an alternative approach that can achieve a decision that is closer to unanimous. HBS Number: N0505C Subjects: Decision making; Group decision making; Negotiations; Teams Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Breakthrough Bargaining   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Kolb, Deborah M.; Williams, Judith Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Unspoken, subtle parts of a bargaining process -- also known as the shadow negotiation -- can set the tone for a successful negotiation. Deborah Kolb and Judith Williams, whose book The Shadow Negotiation was the starting point for this article, say there are three strategies businesspeople can use to guide these hidden interactions. Power moves are used when two negotiating parties hold unequal power. These strategies, such as casting the status quo in an unfavorable light, can help parties realize that they must negotiate: they will be better off if they do and worse off if they don't. Process moves affect how negotiation issues are received by both sides in the process, even though they do not address substantive issues. Working outside of the actual bargaining process, one party can suggest ideas or marshal support that can shape the agenda and influence how others view the negotiation. Appreciative moves alter the tone or atmosphere so that a more collaborative exchange is possible. These strategic moves don't guarantee that all bargainers will walk away winners, but they help to get stalled negotiations moving -- out of the dark of unspoken power plays and into the light of true dialogue. HBS Number: R0102F Subjects: Power & influence; Women in business Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Breakthrough Bargaining (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Kolb, Deborah M.; Williams, Judith Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. Unspoken, subtle parts of a bargaining process -- also known as the shadow negotiation -- can set the tone for a successful negotiation. Deborah Kolb and Judith Williams, whose book The Shadow Negotiation was the starting point for this article, say there are three strategies businesspeople can use to guide these hidden interactions. Power moves are used when two negotiating parties hold unequal power. These strategies, such as casting the status quo in an unfavorable light, can help parties realize that they must negotiate: they will be better off if they do and worse off if they don't. Process moves affect how negotiation issues are received by both sides in the process, even though they do not address substantive issues. Working outside of the actual bargaining process, one party can suggest ideas or marshal support that can shape the agenda and influence how others view the negotiation. Appreciative moves alter the tone or atmosphere so that a more collaborative exchange is possible. These strategic moves don't guarantee that all bargainers will walk away winners, but they help to get stalled negotiations moving -- out of the dark of unspoken power plays and into the light of true dialogue. HBS Number: 6080 Subjects: Negotiations; Power & influence; Women in business Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Business Strategy: Getting Beyond Competition: An Interview with A. Brandenburg   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Brandenburger, Adam; Kiechel, Walter Publication Date: 12/01/1996 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Adam Brandenburger, a Harvard Business School professor and author of the book Co-opetition, identifies what he perceives as the next wave of thinking about business strategy. Instead of concentrating on competition, players must learn a more complicated game. Companies are exploring new ways to work with a variety of players, customers and suppliers, and how to create partnerships and alliances even between erstwhile competitors. Brandenburger emphasizes the importance of working with complementors, other enterprises whose products and services make your own more attractive in the eyes of your customers. Effectiveness will be a product of recognizing and using interdependence, and success will require us to reshape some of the economic constructs that come from an earlier era. HBS Number: U9612B Subjects: Competition; Coopetition; Corporate strategy; Interviews; Partnerships Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Can You Analyze This Problem?   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Stryker, Perrin Publication Date: 05/01/1965 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The Kepner-Tregoe approach replaces hit-or-miss methods with a systematic method of problem solving and decision making. Managers who train in this concept of problem analysis often discover that their reasoning methods in handling problems and decisions are faulty. Readers test their own reasoning powers against the problems presented in a case history, based on an actual situation, and can then compare the results of their analysis with the solutions presented in a subsequent article, How to Analyze That Problem (July-August 1965). The main issues of the case involve questions concerning production, labor relations, and personnel. HBS Number: 65312 Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; HBR Case Discussions; Management development Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Can You Break the Cycle of Bad Communication?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Hackley, Susan Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Many of us have come away from negotiations wondering what happened. How did a pleasant discussion turn sour? Why did the deal unravel at the last minute? Poor communication explains many of our negotiation mistakes, write Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton in their landmark book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Central to the authors' strategic advice is the importance of learning to communicate to get the results you want. Learn their four keys to effective communication. HBS Number: N0505D Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Negotiations; Strategic intent Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Change the Way You Persuade   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Williams, Gary A.; Miller, Robert B. Publication Date: 05/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0205D Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Decision making; Negotiations; Personal strategy & style; Presentations Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: You call a meeting to try to convince your boss that your company needs to make an important move. Your argument is impassioned, your logic unassailable, your data bulletproof. Two weeks later, though, you learn that your brilliant proposal has been tabled. What went wrong? It's likely the proposal wasn't appropriately geared toward your boss's decision-making style, say consultants Gary Williams and Robert Miller. Over the course of several years' research, the authors have found that executives have a default style of decision making developed early in their careers. That style is reinforced through repeated successes or changed after several failures. Typically, the authors say, executives fall into one of five categories of decision-making styles: Charismatics are intrigued by new ideas, but experience has taught them to make decisions based on balanced information, not just on emotions. Thinkers are risk-averse and need as much data as possible before coming to decisions. Skeptics are suspicious of data that don't fit their worldview and, thus, make decisions based on their gut feelings. Followers make decisions based on how other trusted executives, or they themselves, have made similar decisions in the past. And controllers focus on the facts and analytics of decisions because of their own fears and uncertainties. But most business presentations aren't designed to acknowledge these different styles — to their detriment. In this article, the authors describe the various subtleties of the five decision-making styles and how best to persuade executives from each group. Knowi    Change the Way You Persuade (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Williams, Gary A.; Miller, Robert B. Publication Date: 05/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 9969 Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Decision making; Negotiations; Personal strategy & style; Presentations Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of the HBR article R0205D originally published in May 2002. HBR OnPoints contain the full-text article, plus a synopsis and annotated bibliography. You call a meeting to try to convince your boss that your company needs to make an important move. Your argument is impassioned, your logic unassailable, your data bulletproof. Two weeks later, though, you learn that your brilliant proposal has been tabled. What went wrong? It's likely the proposal wasn't appropriately geared toward your boss's decision-making style, say consultants Gary Williams and Robert Miller. Over the course of several years' research, the authors have found that executives have a default style of decision making developed early in their careers. That style is reinforced through repeated successes or changed after several failures. Typically, the authors say, executives fall into one of five categories of decision-making styles: Charismatics are intrigued by new ideas, but experience has taught them to make decisions based on balanced information, not just on emotions. Thinkers are risk-averse and need as much data as possible before coming to decisions. Skeptics are suspicious of data that don't fit their worldview and, thus, make decisions based on their gut feelings. Followers make decisions based on how other trusted executives, or they themselves, have made similar decisions in the past. And controllers focus on the facts and analytics of decisions because of their own fears and uncertainties. But most business presentations aren't designed to acknowledge these different styles — to their det    Chinese Negotiation   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Graham, John L.; Lam, N. Mark Publication Date: 10/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0310E Geographic Setting: China Subjects: Business etiquette; Culture; Interpersonal relations; Morality; Negotiations; Nonverbal communication; Persuasion; Relationships; Social networks Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Most Westerners preparing for a business trip to China like to arm themselves with a list of etiquette how-tos. Such advice can help get companies in the door and even through the first series of business transactions. But it won't sustain the prolonged, year-in, year-out associations Chinese and western businesses can now achieve. During the authors' work with dozens of companies and thousands of American and Chinese executives over the past 20 years they have witnessed communication breakdowns between American and Chinese businesspeople time and time again. The root cause: the American side's failure to understand the much broader context of Chinese culture and values. Americans see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest, whereas the Chinese see American negotiators as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Such perceptions have deep cultural origins. Yet those who know how to navigate these differences can develop thriving, mutually profitable, and satisfying business relationships. Four cultural threads have bound the Chinese people together for some 5,000 years and these show through in Chinese business negotiations: agrarianism, morality, the Chinese pictographic language, and wariness of strangers. Ignore them at any time during the negotiation process, and the deal can easily fall apart.    Chinese Negotiation (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Added   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Graham, John L.; Lam, N. Mark Publication Date: 10/01/2003 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R0310E, originally published in October 2003. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article plus a summary of key ideas and company examples to help you quickly absorb and apply the concepts. Most Westerners preparing for a business trip to China like to arm themselves with a list of etiquette how-tos. Such advice can help get companies in the door and even through the first series of business transactions. But it won't sustain the prolonged, year-in, year-out associations Chinese and western businesses can now achieve. During the authors' work with dozens of companies and thousands of American and Chinese executives over the past 20 years they have witnessed communication breakdowns between American and Chinese businesspeople time and time again. The root cause: the American side's failure to understand the much broader context of Chinese culture and values. Americans see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest, whereas the Chinese see American negotiators as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Such perceptions have deep cultural origins. Yet those who know how to navigate these differences can develop thriving, mutually profitable, and satisfying business relationships. Four cultural threads have bound the Chinese people together for some 5,000 years and these show through in Chinese business negotiations: agrarianism, morality, the Chinese pictographic language, and wariness of strangers. Ignore them at any time during the negotiation process, and the deal can easily fall apart. HBS Number: 5100 Subjects: Agreements; China; Communication; Conflicts of interest; Cross cultural relations; International business; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Closing the Deal   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: You've heard the line: It ain't over till it's over. Too often, after doing everything right in the negotiation process, you still don't have a commitment. To avoid this stalemate, smart negotiators have to learn how to orchestrate the entire negotiation to arrive at the right end game, rather than a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum. Author Michael Wheeler outlines five rules of thumb that help you reach the finish line with grace — and an agreement. HBS Number: N0604A Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Problem solving Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Cognitive Bias in Everyday Strategic Planning   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 08/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Strategic decision making is particularly vulnerable to the influence of cognitive biases, misguided thought patterns that result from the simplifying strategies or decision-making shortcuts known as judgment heuristics. These common errors in judgment can lead to disastrous consequences and are often the result of either insufficient information or not enough of the right kind of information. This article examines three scenarios: new-product development and the confirmation bias; strategic alliances and the availability heuristic; and mergers and acquisitions and the nonrational escalation of commitment. Expert practitioners offer advice on how to avoid the decision-making error in each situation. HBS Number: U9808D Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision making; Heuristic; Managerial behavior; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Cognitive Bias: Systematic Errors in Decision Making   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 04/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Managers' ability to take a purely rational approach to decision making is hampered by insufficient information about the problems themselves, the data available, and perceptions that inhibit managers' ability to determine optimal choices. Our judgment is directed by a set of systematic biases, or heuristics. This article discusses the three broad heuristics -- the availability heuristic, the representativeness heuristic, and anchoring and adjustment -- and identifies the thirteen most common decision-making mistakes managers make. HBS Number: U9804B Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision making; Decision theory; Heuristic; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Contracts 101: What Every Negotiator Should Know About Contract and Agency Law   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: What constitutes a contractual agreement? Who has the authority to make an offer? When is it acceptable to revoke an offer? Even though they are not expected to be legal experts, negotiators can run into trouble without being aware of the basic legal background to the deal. This article introduces you to some key ``rules of the road'' — the mirror-image rule, offer revocation, negotiator authority, negotiator intention, and the consideration requirement — that can greatly enhance your deal-making sophistication and allow you to avoid the pitfalls that would otherwise leave you with no deal at all. HBS Number: N0602D Subjects: Agreements; Contracts; Decision analysis; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Create Accountability, Improve Negotiations   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Lerner, Jennifer S.; Shonk, Katherine Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Who should answer to whom, and for what? At a time when there are increasing demands for corporate accountability, it is no surprise that accountability is also a concern at negotiations. The expectation of having to provide justifications often leads to striking changes in our negotiation behavior. The benefits are obvious: knowing you'll be accountable before a negotiation means better advance planning, more careful evaluation of the other side's position and the effects of your own actions, and more realistic expectations. But establishing accountability systems also has its pitfalls, including contentiousness and partisan bias. The solution? An ideal accountability system that recognizes and addresses these dangers. HBS Number: N0601A Subjects: Accountability; Communication; Negotiations; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Create Value Out of Conflict   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bordone, Robert C.; Moffitt, Michael L. Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Too often, managers treat the everyday disputes that arise in the course of business as distinct from other aspects of business deal making. But savvy business leaders know better. In this article, you'll learn about six strategies for seizing value-creation opportunities that work as well in disputes as they do in deals. HBS Number: N0606A Subjects: Agreements; Communication strategy; Conflict; Labor negotiations; Negotiations; Value creation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Creating Value, Weighing Values   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H. Publication Date: 04/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Generally, it's wonderful when parties are able to trade off interests to create value. In fact, one of the most important contributions of the field of negotiation over the last 25 years has been to teach students and executives strategies for creating value, or integration. Many negotiation scholars and teachers go one step further, arguing that value creation has a positive impact on society in general. Before concluding that value creation in negotiation always benefits society, we must look at how outcomes affect those outside the negotiation. Have you considered the impact of your agreement on your and the other firm's suppliers, customers, and competitors? Perhaps most important, have you considered the impact of your agreement on society in general? A consideration of how those not at the table are affected by your decisions can help you clarify whether the value you've created benefits or harms society as a whole -- an important consideration for all managers. HBS Number: N0504D Subjects: Decision analysis; Negotiations; Social enterprise; Social issues; Tradeoff analysis; Values Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Cutting Edge in Auctions   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Van Heck, Eric Publication Date: 03/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The state of the art in auctions is not on the Web -- it's in the venerable flower auction halls of Holland, where over 30 million flowers change hands in 60,000 transactions every day. HBS Number: F00203 Subjects: Agribusiness; Auctions; Netherlands Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Cutting the Cost of HIV   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Reddy, Mergen; Swanepoel, Boetie Publication Date: 09/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0609B Geographic Setting: Botswana; Russia Industry Setting: Mining, metal & mineral industries Subjects: Financial management; Health care programs; HIV; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: By approaching HIV infection among Russian and Botswanan miners as a financial problem, a Deloitte consultant and a mine executive created programs that improved employees' health and reduced the costs to the mines.    Dangers of Compromise   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H. Publication Date: 02/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Reasonable people make compromises, right? Although this is often true, with compromise come hidden dangers. Perhaps the most common is the tendency of negotiators to ``split the difference'' when a more creative solution would allow both sides to get more of whatever quantity is in dispute. Compromise is a useful device for dealing with small items and with people you see in an ongoing relationship. But we run into trouble when we split the difference in situations when a compromise will harm everyone involved. Read more about the problematic tendency of parties to compromise instead of debate wiser, bolder strategies. HBS Number: N0502A Subjects: Competitive advantage; Conflicts of interest; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Decision Analysis Comes of Age   Add   View  13 pp.  Article Author(s): Ulvila, Jacob W.; Brown, Rex V. Publication Date: 09/01/1982 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Decision analysts' new technology combines statistical decision theory with insights from psychology, economics, and social science. Decision tree analysis by the AIL Division of Cutler-Hammer, Inc. shows how analysts specify the elements of the tree, assign each element a value, and calculate the results to determine whether to develop a patent. Probabilistic forecasting has the advantage of not limiting forecasting to extrapolation from the past. It combines assessments of judgment with data. Multiattribute utility analysis specifies all factors that affect a choice, allows trade-offs to be made among those factors, and indicates the alternative offering the best balance. HBS Number: 82511 Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision trees; Forecasting; Probability Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Decision Making: Going Forward in Reverse   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Einhorn, Hillel J.; Hogarth, Robin M. Publication Date: 01/01/1987 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: When managers make decisions, they think forward and backward whether they know it or not. Thinking backward means looking for patterns, linking events, and searching for metaphors that explain causes and effects. Thinking forward entails weighing variables, making calculations, and preparing alternative plans. You will think backward well if you use more than one metaphor to describe a situation, resist the temptation to infer a cause from just one clue, and sometimes look for unexpected causes to explain effects. You will think forward well if you learn when to rely on the computations and models of computer science and how to compensate for the errors they produce. HBS Number: 87107 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Decision making; Forecasting; Models; Planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Decision Trees for Decision Making   Add   View  13 pp.  Article Author(s): Magee, John F. Publication Date: 07/01/1964 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The ``decision tree'' is an analytical tool which helps business managers resolve uncertainties in making investment decisions. It clarifies the choices, risks, objectives, monetary gains, and information needs involved. Whether simple or complex in layout, the decision tree always combines action choices with different possible events or the results of action affected by uncontrollable circumstances. The decision-tree helps management to determine which alternative, at any particular point, yields the greatest monetary gain. HBS Number: 64410 Subjects: Decision theory; Decision trees; Securities analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Decision-Making in High-Tech Firms: Perspectives of Three Executives   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Author(s): Doran, George T.; Gunn, Jack Publication Date: 11/15/2002 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University Product Description: Part science, part art, decision making is one of an executive's primary accountabilities. A firm's success or failure relies heavily on the quality of the decisions its top managers make. Judging from these conversations and interviews with senior execs in high-tech companies, the decision-making process is, on average, noticeably more egalitarian than in traditional, hierarchical companies. In manufacturing operations, technical specifications drive the process; in service firms, customer behavior does. But in the high-tech world, the process is based on a group-aided or participative style, with a high tolerance for employee error. HBS Number: BH081 Subjects: Decision making; Managerial behavior; Managerial skills; Technology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Designing Product and Business Portfolios   Add   View  14 pp.  Article Author(s): Wind, Yoram; Mahajan, Vijay Publication Date: 01/01/1981 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Seven steps assist managers in evaluating an existing portfolio model or in designing an idiosyncratic approach: establishing the level and unit of analysis; identifying the relevant dimensions; determining the relative importance of the dimensions; constructing a matrix; locating the products or businesses on the relevant portfolio dimensions; projecting the likely position of each product or business on the dimensions; and selecting the desired position for each existing and new product and deciding how to allocate resources among these products. HBS Number: 81112 Subjects: Investment management; Portfolio management; Product planning & policy; Product portfolio management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Did You Give at the Office? Leveraging the Power of Reciprocity   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bohnet, Iris Publication Date: 07/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Reciprocation tactics are tried and true. Politicians ``logroll'' votes on pet projects, companies offer free product samples to consumers, and charitable organizations include small gifts when soliciting donations. And in the realm of negotiation, there are many benefits to be gained from including reciprocation strategies in your toolbox. In many situations, negotiators learn to trust each other through reciprocity, which obligates trustworthiness in return. But depending on the kindness of your fellow negotiators can be a risky strategy. Not everyone feels comfortable asking for or receiving favors, and it's hard to know whether an invitation to reciprocate will be accepted or rejected. Also, what if your counterpart interprets your generosity as a sign of weakness and takes advantage of you? To avoid such pitfalls, acts of reciprocity must be carefully planned and delivered. Learn how to deliver an act of generosity that will be welcomed and returned. HBS Number: N0507C Subjects: Competitive advantage; Negotiations; Psychology; Trust Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Do a 3-D Audit of the Barriers to Agreement   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: It's a fact of negotiation: talks stall. And when they do, wise negotiators must devise the most promising approach to taking down the barriers. James Sebenius shows how you can apply the 3-D Negotiation model to assess the barriers that stand between you and your desired deal. By asking questions that correspond to the three dimensions — Are the barriers to agreement tactical and/or interpersonal? Do the barriers result from poorly designed deals? Do the barriers result from a flawed setup? — you'll be prepared to examine each dimension in further detail. Then you can craft targeted strategies to overcome the barriers. HBS Number: N0602C Subjects: Agreements; Decision analysis; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations; Problem solving Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Do You Know How Much You Really Care?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Moore, Don A. Publication Date: 06/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: As negotiators, we routinely face difficult decisions about the issues we value most. We often make such decisions using haphazard, intuitive judgments or more general social norms. ``That price sounds about right,'' we might concede, or ``I don't want to offend them by pushing harder on the issue.'' While we frequently can get away with quick-and-dirty decision making, it's a mistake to rely on snap judgments when the stakes are high. Fortunately, a method exists to reduce your confusion and clarify your interests: a scoring system. A scoring system allows you to weigh different issues and determine how much each one is worth to you. This article presents the advantages of using scoring systems in negotiations and explains how to use them. HBS Number: N0506C Subjects: Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Don’t Like Surprises? Hedge Your Bets with Contingent Agreements   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 01/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Whenever negotiators strike a deal, both sides must make forecasts and assumptions. Will current conditions remain the same or change after the agreement is signed? Will the other side hold up its end of the bargain? By including contingent incentives or penalties in a contract, you can protect yourself from the risk that your negotiating partner will renege on a commitment as well as improve the prospects of compliance. Some argue that contingencies unnecessarily complicate business contracts and other kinds of agreements. It's true that contingent agreements can add new complexities to negotiations; but, with a little preparation, the benefits far outweigh the costs. HBS Number: N0501C Subjects: Agreements; Contingency planning; Contracts; Cost benefit analysis; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Early Intervention: How to Minimize the Cost of Conflict   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sander, Frank E.A.; Bordone, Robert C. Publication Date: 03/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In this article, the authors outline the principles of dispute system design -- the process of diagnosing, designing, implementing, and evaluating an effective method of resolving conflicts within an organization. This holistic approach typically yields greater rewards at lower costs than the piecemeal, reactive approach found in most organizations. By becoming a dispute process architect, you can save your business thousands of dollars and hours of needless stress. Virtually anyone with an understanding of basic dispute resolution processes -- negotiation, mediation, and arbitration -- can, with experience, serve as a dispute process architect in his organization. HBS Number: N0503B Subjects: Communication in organizations; Competitive advantage; Conflict; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Electronic Negotiator   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Maruca, Regina Fazio; McGinn, Kathleen Publication Date: 01/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: It's tempting to save time and money by negotiating through e-mail, rather than in person or by phone. But new research finds that people can be contentious -- even dishonest -- when negotiating solely by e-mail. HBS Number: F00103 Subjects: Interviews; Management communication; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Emotional Strategy   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Neale, Margaret Publication Date: 02/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: We've all been in negotiations where we said or did something in the heat of the moment that later came back to haunt us. Maybe we shared information we shouldn't have or escalated commitment to a course of action that, in hindsight, was not in our best interest. When emotions spiral out of control, our ability to think and act strategically is compromised. Typically, self-control is important at the bargaining table, especially when it comes to our emotions and their visibility. But it's not always the case that strong emotions work against us or that suppressing emotion is the best course of action. In fact, emotion can work to your advantage by providing information about your counterpart's priorities, sharpening your decision-making skills, enhancing your ability to claim value, and encouraging collaborative value creation. HBS Number: N0502D Subjects: Competitive advantage; Decision making; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Even Swaps: A Rational Method for Making Trade-Offs   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Hammond, John S., III; Keeney, Ralph L.; R Publication Date: 03/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: This article offers insight to any decision maker struggling with a hard choice. Making wise trade-offs is one of the most important and difficult challenges in decision making. The sheer volume of trade-offs, however, is not what makes decision making so hard. It's the fact that each objective has its own basis of comparison, from precise numbers (34% versus 38%) to relationships (high versus low) to descriptive terms (red versus blue). You're not just trading off apples and oranges; you're trading off apples and oranges and elephants. How do you make trade-offs when comparing widely disparate things? In the past, decision makers have relied mostly on instinct, common sense, and guesswork. They've lacked a clear, rational, and easy-to-use trade-off methodology. To help fill that gap, Howard Raiffa, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, John Hammond, a Boston-area consultant, and Ralph Keeney, a professor of systems management at the University of Southern California have developed a system -- which they call even swaps -- that provides a practical way of making trade-offs among a range of objectives across a range of alternatives. The even-swap method will not make complex decisions easy; you'll still have to make hard choices about the values you set and the trades you make. What it does provide is a reliable mechanism for making trades and a coherent framework in which to make them. HBS Number: 98206 Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Decision theory; Managerial skills; Tradeoff analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Expert Negotiating: G. Richard Shell Tells How to Win the Game Every Time   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Marshall, Jeffrey; Shell, G. Richard Publication Date: 12/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: The keys to being a great negotiator are staying true to yourself and being willing to listen and to ask a lot of questions. HMCL revealed these insights and more when we spoke with expert negotiator G. Richard Shell, head of the Wharton Executive Negotiation Workshop at the Wharton School and author of the recent book Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People. HBS Number: C9912B Subjects: Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Facing Ambiguous Threats   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Roberto, Michael A.; Bohmer, Richard; Edmondson, Amy C. Publication Date: 11/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0611F Subjects: Risk; Risk analysis; Risk assessment; Risk management; Risk mitigation; Risk transfer Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: On February 1, 2003, the world watched in horror as the Columbia space shuttle broke apart while reentering the earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts. Some have argued that NASA's failure to respond with appropriate intensity to the so-called foam strike that led to the accident was evidence of irresponsible or incompetent management. The authors' research, however, suggests that NASA was exhibiting a natural, albeit unfortunate, pattern of behavior common in many organizations. The foam strike is a prime example of what the authors call an ambiguous threat — a signal that may or may not portend future harm. Ambiguous threats differ from threats with obvious causes — say, a fire in the building — for which the response is clear. They also differ from unmistakable threats that may lack straightforward response paths (such as the frightening oxygen-tank explosion aboard Apollo 13). However, when the warning sign is ambiguous and the threat's potential effect is unclear, managers may choose to ignore or discount the risk. Such an approach can be catastrophic. Firms that do a good job of dealing with ambiguous threats do not improvise during a crisis; rather, they apply a rigorous set of detection and response capabilities that they have developed and practiced beforehand. In this article, the authors outline how to put such capabilities in place long before a crisis strikes. First, companies need to hone their teamwork and rapid problem-solving skills through practice. Second, they must learn to recognize weak signals, amplify the threat, and encourage employees to ask d    Facing Ambiguous Threats (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Roberto, Michael A.; Bohmer, Richard M.J.; Edmondson, Amy C. Publication Date: 11/01/2006 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 1499 Subjects: Risk; Risk analysis; Risk assessment; Risk management; Risk mitigation; Risk transfer Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: On February 1, 2003, the world watched in horror as the Columbia space shuttle broke apart while reentering the earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts. Some have argued that NASA's failure to respond with appropriate intensity to the so-called foam strike that led to the accident was evidence of irresponsible or incompetent management. The authors' research, however, suggests that NASA was exhibiting a natural, albeit unfortunate, pattern of behavior common in many organizations. The foam strike is a prime example of what the authors call an ambiguous threat — a signal that may or may not portend future harm. Ambiguous threats differ from threats with obvious causes — say, a fire in the building — for which the response is clear. They also differ from unmistakable threats that may lack straightforward response paths (such as the frightening oxygen-tank explosion aboard Apollo 13). However, when the warning sign is ambiguous and the threat's potential effect is unclear, managers may choose to ignore or discount the risk. Such an approach can be catastrophic. Firms that do a good job of dealing with ambiguous threats do not improvise during a crisis; rather, they apply a rigorous set of detection and response capabilities that they have developed and practiced beforehand. In this article, the authors outline how to put such capabilities in place long before a crisis strikes. First, companies need to hone their teamwork and rapid problem-solving skills through practice. Second, they must learn to recognize weak signals, amplify the threat, and encourage employees to ask disconcert    Few Things Every Manager Ought to Know About Risk   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Billington, Jim Publication Date: 03/01/1997 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Every manager ought to have a grounding in risk and its near kin, decision theory, in order to make intelligent business decisions. Managers view risk in a limited way -- four out of five managers think of risk in terms of negative outcomes only, instead of as the distribution of all possible outcomes. Risk should be considered in three different categories: 1) risk as hazard -- managers should place their emphasis on minimizing negative events; 2) risk as uncertainty -- managers should study all possible outcomes with an eye toward reducing the variance between anticipated outcomes and actual results; and 3) risk as opportunity -- managers must assess the risks inherent in opportunities, for taking too little risk can be as much a management failure as taking too much. Opportunity risk reflects the upside and emphasizes innovation, initiative, and entrepreneurship. In fact, the most successful managers take the most upside risks. HBS Number: U9703D Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision theory; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Risk management; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Fine Art of Friendly Acquisition   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Aiello, Robert J.; Watkins, Michael D. Publication Date: 11/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: It's no secret that the track record of corporate acquirers has been dismal. But there is a group that's had consistent success. A recent study on M&A reveals that between 1984 and 1994, fund investors at some 80% of LBO firms enjoyed returns equal to or greater than their cost of capital on their M&A investments. And this was true even though in many cases the prices paid for the companies were pushed up by competing bidders. Why are financial acquirers so much more successful than their corporate counterparts? It's because they approach the negotiation process differently. Fund investors treat deal management as a core part of their business conducted by a permanent group of experienced executives, and they have well-established processes that they stick to. The authors examine how the best acquirers approach all five stages of deal negotiations -- screening potential deals, reaching initial agreement, conducting due diligence, setting final terms, and reaching closure -- comparing good practice with bad, to reveal the secrets of their success. May be used with: (R00604) Integration Managers: Special Leaders for Special Times. HBS Number: R00602 Subjects: Acquisitions; Leveraged buyouts; Mergers; Mergers & acquisitions; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Fine Art of Making Concessions   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Malhotra, Deepak Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: It's hard to imagine negotiating without making some concessions, but your concessions often go unappreciated. This article explores strategies to ensure that your gestures of goodwill are acknowledged and reciprocated. These range from something as simple as making sure that the other party knows you are making a concession to the more subtle tactic of making concessions in installments. Turn concessions into powerful negotiation tools. HBS Number: N0601D Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Framework for Risk Management   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Froot, Kenneth A.; Scharfstein, David S.; Publication Date: 11/01/1994 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: In recent years, managers have become aware of how their companies can be buffeted by risks beyond their control. To insulate themselves from such risks, many companies are turning to the derivatives markets, taking advantage of instruments like forwards, futures, options, and swaps. Although heavily involved in risk management, most companies do not have clear goals underlying their hedging programs. Without such goals, using derivatives can be dangerous. The authors present a framework to guide top-level managers in developing a coherent risk-management strategy. That strategy cannot be delegated to the corporate treasurer--let alone to a hotshot financial engineer. Ultimately, a company's risk-management strategy needs to be integrated with its overall corporate strategy. A risk-management program should have one overarching goal: to ensure that a company has the cash available to make value-enhancing investments. HBS Number: 94604 Subjects: Derivatives; Financial instruments; Financial strategy; Hedging; Risk; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Full Engagement: Learning the Most from Negotiation Simulations   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 08/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Over the past two decades, executives and MBA students have been learning negotiation skills primarily through simulations -- mock negotiating situations in which they experiment with new techniques and strategies. Negotiation researchers have developed hundreds of simulations, which often are based on real cases, to teach important negotiation concepts. Researchers have found that engaging in hands-on exercises in a low-risk setting is an ideal way for managers to absorb new negotiation skills. But negotiation simulations are successful only when trainees dedicate themselves fully to the learning process. Too many trainees resist this active approach to learning, wishing instead that they could sit back, listen to the instructor, and take notes. As a manager, is it realistic to expect your employees to learn from negotiation simulations and transfer their new knowledge to real-world problem solving? How can you get the most out of your own negotiation training sessions? Learn the rationale behind negotiation simulations and learn about the kind of deep learning that can occur when participants fully engage in the process. HBS Number: N0508D Subjects: Competitive advantage; Learning; Negotiations; Simulation; Training Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Gain Less Pain: How to Negotiate Burdens   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sondak, Harris; Galinsky, Adam D. Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: The psychological research is clear: bad events affect us much more powerfully than good events. So it stands to reason that burdens weigh more heavily upon our decision processes than do benefits. Negotiations that center around burdens can pose psychological hazards for negotiators — contentiousness, clouded judgment, suspicion, and a diminished understanding of their own interests. The result? A smaller pie of resources, for one thing. Here is a guide to help you avert the dangers. HBS Number: N0606C Subjects: Communication strategy; Conflict; Decision making; Emotions; Judgment; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Get Around Resistance and Win Over the Other Side   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Simpson, Liz Publication Date: 04/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: You're confronting people across the table who have their heels dug in, holding onto a position that is virtually opposite your own. You talk, they talk, but neither of you moves. How can you turn the stalemate into a chance to move the opposition around to your point of view? Read the five tips offered by motivation and persuasion experts to make your attempts in the negotiation game more successful. Includes the sidebar "Three Tactics for Persuading Consumers Online." HBS Number: C0304A Subjects: Attitudes; Communication; Communication strategy; Human relations; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Getting Past Yes: Negotiating As If Implementation Mattered   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Ertel, Danny Publication Date: 11/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0411C Subjects: Agreements; Alliances; Communication; Conflicts of interest; Contracts; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Partnerships Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Many deals that look good on paper never materialize into value-creating endeavors. Often, the problem begins at the negotiating table. In fact, the very person everyone thinks is pivotal to a deal's success — the negotiator — is often the one who undermines it. That's because most negotiators have a deal maker mind-set: They see the signed contract as the final destination rather than the start of a cooperative venture. What's worse, most companies reward negotiators on the basis of the number and size of the deals they're signing, giving them no incentive to change. The author asserts that organizations and negotiators must transition from a deal maker mentality — which involves squeezing your counterpart for everything you can get — to an implementation mind-set — which sets the stage for a healthy working relationship long after the ink has dried. Achieving an implementation mind-set demands five new approaches. First, start with the end in mind: Negotiation teams should carry out a “benefit of hindsight” exercise to imagine what sorts of problems they'll encounter 12 months down the road. Second, help your counterpart prepare. If they agree to something they can't deliver, it will affect you both. Third, treat alignment as a shared responsibility. Fourth, send one unified message. Negotiators should brief implementation teams on both sides together so everyone has the same information. And fifth, manage the negotiation like a business exercise: Combine disciplined negotiation preparation with post-negotiation reviews. Above all, companies must r    Getting Past Yes: Negotiating As If Implementation Mattered (HBR Enhanced)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Ertel, Danny Publication Date: 11/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: 8339 Subjects: Agreements; Alliances; Communication; Conflicts of interest; Contracts; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Partnerships Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R0411C, originally published in November 2004. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article plus a summary of key ideas and company examples to help you quickly absorb and apply the concepts. Many deals that look good on paper never materialize into value-creating endeavors. Often, the problem begins at the negotiating table. In fact, the very person everyone thinks is pivotal to a deal's success — the negotiator — is often the one who undermines it. That's because most negotiators have a deal maker mind-set: They see the signed contract as the final destination rather than the start of a cooperative venture. What's worse, most companies reward negotiators on the basis of the number and size of the deals they're signing, giving them no incentive to change. The author asserts that organizations and negotiators must transition from a deal maker mentality — which involves squeezing your counterpart for everything you can get — to an implementation mind-set — which sets the stage for a healthy working relationship long after the ink has dried. Achieving an implementation mind-set demands five new approaches. First, start with the end in mind: Negotiation teams should carry out a “benefit of hindsight” exercise to imagine what sorts of problems they'll encounter 12 months down the road. Second, help your counterpart prepare. If they agree to something they can't deliver, it will affect you both. Third, treat alignment as a shared responsibility. Fourth, send one unified message. Negotiators should brief imple    Growing Focus on Preparedness   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Rigby, Darrell K.; Bilodeau, Barbara Publication Date: 07/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0707D Subjects: Long term planning; Risk assessment; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Scenario-planning tools are getting better, and companies are using them more effectively to prepare for an uncertain future, according to the latest results from Bain & Company's ongoing 14-year survey of corporate tool use.    Handle with Care: Negotiating Strategic Alliances   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 04/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Some business partnerships are more important than others. This is especially true in supply chains, where producers of key components can be irreplaceable. Such relationships require special care and handling. During negotiations with a highly valued partner, negotiators must balance the need to get the lowest price possible and the need to maintain and enhance the alliance. Even if your company is not deeply embedded in a supply chain, you probably face ongoing negotiations with partners whose trust you want to preserve for strategic reasons. Learn five ways in which you should adjust your standard negotiating tactics and strategies when bargaining with strategic partners. HBS Number: N0504A Subjects: Negotiations; Partnerships; Risk management; Strategic alliances; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Hands Off! Negotiating Exclusivity   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: A threat often lurks in the background of negotiations between a potential buyer and seller: one or both parties might decide to shop around for a better deal. How can you protect your deal against unwanted interference from a third party? In other words, how should you negotiate exclusivity? Exclusivity is a fluid concept in negotiation, sometimes benefiting the buyer, sometimes the seller, and sometimes both buyer and seller. Typically, the party who has the less unique asset must worry more about a ``deal jumper,'' or third-party interloper. Negotiating for exclusivity can help ward off a deal jumper and, in many cases, can mark the difference between a deal and no deal. Learn the three ways to achieve exclusivity while your negotiations are underway. HBS Number: N0510C Subjects: Buy or make decisions; Competitive bidding; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Have You Negotiated How You’ll Negotiate?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bordone, Robert C.; Todd, Gillien S. Publication Date: 09/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Breakdowns in negotiation are common. In the face of an impasse at the bargaining table, managers are quick to blame either the challenges of the issues being negotiated (financial terms, delivery dates, etc.) or the hard-line tactics of the opposing parties (take-it-or-leave-it offers, good-cop/bad-cop strategies, and so on). Yet, these explanations are often merely symptoms that mask another problem: the failure to negotiate explicitly an effective negotiation process. The negotiation process can have an enormous impact on outcomes. Carefully considering and jointly negotiating the negotiation process increases the likelihood that you and your counterpart will work well together, abide by your decisions, and manage future differences, even when the results are not as good as you might have hoped. Learn how to negotiate a process that increases the likelihood that you and your counterparts will create and claim maximum value. HBS Number: N0509C Subjects: Communication strategy; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Process analysis; Value creation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    HBR Interview: Bruce Wasserstein on Giving Great Advice   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Morse, Gardiner; Stewart, Thomas A.; Wasserstein, Bruce Publication Date: 01/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0801G Subjects: Banking; CEO; Mergers & Acquisitions; Negotiations; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Few deal makers have been at it as long, and at such a high level, as Bruce Wasserstein, the chairman and CEO of the financial advisory and asset-management firm Lazard. In this edited interview, two HBR editors explore how he creates value as a manager, as a deal maker, and as a counselor to CEOs. Wasserstein, who has been a major figure in mergers and acquisitions for more than 30 years, talks about attracting and managing talent, building and sustaining a knowledge business, sizing up industries and companies, and crafting advice to help CEOs unlock value. At the heart of his approach is a singular ability to dissect a strategy's underlying premises in order to figure out whether a plan or deal “makes sense.” Part of that determination involves understanding the broader context: Where is the industry going? What external factors will affect it? Such sensemaking informs every move Wasserstein makes, and it has paid off handsomely. In his career, he has helped broker more than a thousand deals, worth hundreds of billions of dollars. His intellect, creativity, and doggedness are what allow him to pick apart the most complex problems and devise novel solutions. In an age of specialization, he recognizes the importance of connecting the dots; he draws on the knowledge and skills of creative generalists as well as industry and regional specialists when setting up and executing deals. Wasserstein studied at Harvard University's business and law schools and at Cambridge University, helped lead First Boston's M&A practice, cofounded the investment-banking firm Wasserstein Perella Group, and the    Hidden Challenge of Cross-Border Negotiations   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Cultural differences can influence business negotiations in unexpected ways, as many a hapless deal maker has learned. But the differences extend well beyond surface behaviors, such as proper table manners and the exchange of business cards -- and even beyond deeper cultural characteristics, such as attitudes about relationships and deadlines. Indeed, there's another, equally treacherous aspect to cross-border negotiation: the ways that people from different regions come to agreement or the processes involved in negotiations. Decision-making and governance processes can vary widely from culture to culture, not only in terms of legal technicalities but also in terms of the behaviors and core beliefs that drive them. Numerous promising deals have failed because people ignored or underestimated the powerful differences in process across cultures. In this article, James Sebenius offers ways in which negotiators can prepare for such cultural differences. A useful approach, he says, is to map out the decision-making process -- including who's involved, what formal and informal roles people play, and how a resolution is actually reached. With that knowledge, you can design a strategy that anticipates obstacles before they arise. Those negotiations that might otherwise have failed because people ignored or underestimated powerful disparities in process will, in the end, yield a meaningful ``yes.'' HBS Number: R0203F Subjects: Cross cultural relations; Decision analysis; Decision making; Decision theory; Globalization; Managerial skills; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How Managers’ Minds Work   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): McKenney, James L.; Keen, Peter G.W. Publication Date: 05/01/1974 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: A cognitive style model provides some explanation of the processes affecting managers' assessment of their environment. Systematic thinkers tend to look for methods, make plans, define the quality of solutions in terms of method, discard alternatives quickly, conduct ordered searches for additional information and complete all steps of the analysis they have begun. Intuitive thinkers keep the overall problem continuously in mind, redefine the problem frequently, rely on hunches, consider a number of alternatives simultaneously and explore and abandon hunches quickly. HBS Number: 74304 Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Management styles; Models Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How Much Should You Trust?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bohnet, Iris; Meier, Stephan Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Much is made of the necessity for trust in productive negotiations. But, the authors contend, people who take trust for granted at the start of a negotiation will be much worse off than if they strive to build trust incrementally and naturally over the course of a relationship. How do you go about building a relationship you can trust? The authors offer guidelines for setting ground rules, creating contingent agreements, assessing whether the degree of trust between partners is justified, and adjusting that assessment as needed. HBS Number: N0603C Subjects: Communication; Credibility; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Strategic intent; Trust Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How Risky Is Your Company?   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Simons, Robert L. Publication Date: 05/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: 99311 Subjects: Control systems; Corporate culture; Knowledge management; Management controls; Risk; Risk assessment; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: In boom times, it is easy for managers to forget about risk. And not just financial risk, but organizational and operational risk as well. Now there's the risk exposure calculator, a new tool that will help managers determine exactly where and how much internal risk is mounting in their companies. The risk calculator is divided into three parts: The first set of “keys” alerts managers to the pressures that come from growth. Now that the company has taken off, are employees feeling increased pressure to perform? Is the company's infrastructure becoming overloaded? And are more new employees coming on board as the company rushes to fill positions? If the answer is yes to any one of those questions, then risk may be rising to dangerous levels. The second set of keys on the calculator highlights pressures that arise from corporate culture. Are too many rewards being given for entrepreneurial risk taking? Are executives becoming so resistant to bad news that no one feels comfortable alerting them to problems? And is the company's level of internal competition so high that employees see promotion as a zero-sum game? The final set of pressures, the author says, revolves around information management. When calculating these pressures, managers should ask themselves, what was the company's complexity, volume, and velocity of information a year ago? Have they risen? By how much? How much of the time am I doing the work that a computer system should be doing? High pressure on many or all of these points should set off alarm bells for managers. To control risk, managers have four levers of control    How SmithKline Beecham Makes Better Research-Allocation Decisions   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Sharpe, Paul; Keelin, Tom Publication Date: 03/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: 98210 Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Decision trees; Pharmaceuticals; Research & development; Securities analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Shrinking R&D budgets and shorter product life cycles mean investment dollars must be invested with precision if companies are going to stay on the cutting edge in their industries. For a pharmaceuticals company like SmithKline Beecham (SB), the problem is this: How do you make good decisions in a high-risk, technically complex business when the information you need to make those decisions comes largely from the project champions who are competing against one another for resources? Tom Keelin from Strategic Decisions Group and Paul Sharpe from SmithKline Beecham explain how they overhauled the resource allocation processes within the pharmaceutical development function at SB. In 1993, the company experimented with ways of depoliticizing the process and improving the quality of decision making. In most resource-allocation processes, project advocates develop a single plan of action and present it as the only viable approach. In SB's new process, the company found an effective way to get around the all-or-nothing thinking that only reinforces the project-champion culture. In another important departure from common practice, SB separated the discussion of project alternatives from their financial evaluations. The new process at SB has allowed the organization to spend less time arguing about how to value its R&D projects and more time figuring out how to make them more valuable. In the end, the company learned that by tackling the soft issues around resource allocation — such as information quality, credibility, and trust — it had    How to Analyze That Problem   Add   View  14 pp.  Article Author(s): Stryker, Perrin Publication Date: 07/01/1965 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: This sequel to Can You Analyze This Problem? (May-June 1965) describes the Kepner-Tregoe concepts and procedures for problem analysis. The main steps of a systematic approach to problem analysis include defining the problem, outlining the specifications, spotting the distinction, seeking the cause, and, if necessary, respecifying the problem. The use of a specification worksheet allows managers to draw a boundary around the problem and to limit the information needed for the problem's solution to only the relevant facts. In solving the problem of the case study, precise specification and careful problem analysis uncover a previously overlooked cause and prevent action which might have produced an even more serious problem. HBS Number: 65412 Subjects: Decision making; HBR Case Discussions; Management development Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique   Add   View  27 pp.  Article Author(s): Chambers, John C.; Mullick, Satinder K.; S Publication Date: 07/01/1971 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Two Corning Glass Works products illustrate the use of various forecasting techniques. Managers and forecasters should consider three issues when approaching a forecasting problem: the purpose of the forecast, the dynamics and components of the system, and the importance of the past in estimating the future. The three basic forecasting methods are qualitative techniques, time series analysis and projection, and causal methods. A gatefold chart presents several examples of each type of technique, its feaures, and limitations. Although sales forecasting primarily has used forecasting techniques, these techniques will be applied increasingly to forecasting margins, capital expenditure, and other important factors. HBS Number: 71403 Subjects: Forecasting; Quantitative analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Frame a Message: The Art of Persuasion and Negotiation   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sussman, Lyle Publication Date: 07/15/1999 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University Product Description: The essence of effective persuasion and negotiation comes down to the ability to craft ``frames.'' A frame orients a reader or listener. It provides the perspective we want the other party to adopt, a rationale for the evidence we present, and the sequential pattern for presenting that evidence. Building a frame consists of four basic steps: 1) Determine your specific objective; 2) Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the other party's current status; 3) Determine the other party's core values; and 4) Write a simple, vivid, evaluative statement linking the three sides. The frame must orient a decision-maker to assess information from the specific perspective that casts the most favorable light on your proposal. HBS Number: BH028 Subjects: Communication; Decision making; Management communication; Managerial behavior; Managerial skills; Negotiations; Organizational behavior; Power & influence Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Negotiate an Alliance You Can Live With   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Saunders, Rebecca Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Getting a partner to agree to a strategic alliance is one thing. Hammering out the terms of the deal is something else entirely. Alliance negotiations are collaborative processes, unlike some labor and vendor negotiations in which information is seen as power to be hoarded. In this article, negotiation experts offer communication tips for making a deal that works for all parties. HBS Number: C0104B Subjects: Alliances; Communication; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Negotiate with a Hard-Nosed Adversary   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Field, Anne Publication Date: 03/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: If you go into a negotiation expecting to meet a tough opponent, you just might get one. But with careful preparation and the right game plan, you can turn the tables on an aggressive opponent. Don't take your opponent's tough guy reputation at face value, consider reducing the time you have to spend with the tough adversary, plan your comebacks ahead of time, research all the options you have, and then, finally, identify your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). By taking this advice to heart, you'll be surprised at how easy your next negotiation will be, even if your adversary has a tough reputation. HBS Number: U0303A Subjects: Communication strategy; Competition; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Say What Matters Most   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Hackley, Susan Publication Date: 08/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: When you're reluctant to talk about something, it can be tempting to avoid conflict altogether. Yet managers need to be willing to communicate openly with their bosses, colleagues, and clients -- to get the information they need and to impart the information others need from them. In their book Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, authors Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen tell us how to engage in the conversations in our professional or personal lives that make us uncomfortable. Tough, honest conversations are critical for managers, whether they need to change the group culture, manage conflict within a team, give a negative performance evaluation, disagree with others in a group, or offer an apology. HBS Number: N0508C Subjects: Communication strategy; Conflict; Difficult conversations; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How to Steer Clear of Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural Negotiation   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Rosenbaum, Andrew Publication Date: 03/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Although globalized communications and marketing have made the world much smaller in many ways, deep differences between cultures remain. Negotiating has always been a delicate business, but it's even more so when your negotiating partner is from halfway around the world. Careful preparation can help you watch out for the danger zones and will help you to navigate positively around them. Read our expert tips on successfully negotiating with a foreign partner. Includes the sidebar "Is Intercultural Negotiation Different on the Net?" HBS Number: C0303B Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Diversity; Globalization; International relations; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    How Vulnerable Is Your Business to Consumer Debt?   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): MacMillan, Ian C.; Jarvis, William Publication Date: 10/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0910H Subjects: Consumer credit; Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Today's sky-high personal debt levels portend a freeze in consumer spending and a rise in defaults. They could threaten your company — even if you don't sell to consumers. Two experts explain how to calculate your firm's risk.    Humble Decision Making   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Etzioni, Amitai Publication Date: 07/01/1989 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Old methods of decision making, such as incrementalism and ``rational'' decision making don't meet the needs of a world with too much information and too little time. A new model allows one to make decisions with partial information and to adapt to new information as it becomes available. Adaptive or ``humble'' decision making involves two sets of judgments: broad, basic choices about an organization's goals and policies; and small, experimental decisions based on in-depth examination of a focused subset of facts and choices. Managers can use humble decision making to increase the flexibility and adaptability of their decisions. HBS Number: 89406 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Decision making; Decision theory; Managerial skills Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Inflation + Subsidies: An Explosive Mix   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Bremmer, Ian Publication Date: 12/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0812A Subjects: Developing countries; Economic analysis; Economic conditions; Subsidiaries Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: As global inflation increases, maintaining food and fuel subsidies will be difficult for developing nations. However, because discontinuing subsidies can ignite popular protests, nations must proceed cautiously as they remove those subsidies to protect both their own interests and those of the foreign companies that invest in them.    International Alliance Negotiations: Legal Issues for General Managers   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Campbell, Elise; Reuer, Jeffrey J. Publication Date: 01/15/2001 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University Product Description: In establishing joint ventures and nonequity alliances, key clauses are to be negotiated that set out the scope of the agreement and the partners' obligations to each other. Major issues include initial discussions, setting up the joint venture, the parties and framework of contract, performance clauses, restrictions on the partners, and liability. Though not always effective in practice, a confidentiality agreement or nondisclosure agreement (NDA) may be desirable for protecting both companies. This could be combined with lockout provisions that prevent one of the companies from conducting parallel negotiations with a competitor. Especially important is the need to ensure that a legally binding contract is not accidentally entered into at too early a stage. Post-establishment issues include making changes to the contract, dispute resolution, share disposal, and termination. Although lawyers play an important role, no clear dividing line separates so-called legal and business issues, and the commercial managers will often need to be involved. An argument can be made for involving the managers who will actually be running the joint venture. Managers designing strategic alliances can become more effective by raising their awareness of some of the basic legal and negotiating aspects of collaborative agreements. HBS Number: BH057 Subjects: Business policy; Corporate strategy; Negotiations; Strategic alliances; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Investigative Negotiation   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Malhotra, Deepak; Bazerman, Max H. Publication Date: 09/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0709D Subjects: Negotiations; Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Negotiators often fail to achieve results because they channel too much effort into selling their own position and too little into understanding the other party's perspective. To get the best deal — or, sometimes, any deal at all — negotiators need to think like detectives, digging for information about why the other side wants what it does. This investigative approach entails a mind-set and a methodology, say Harvard Business School professors Malhotra and Bazerman. Inaccurate assumptions about the other side's motivations can lead negotiators to propose solutions to the wrong problems, needlessly give away value, or derail deals altogether. Consider, for example, the pharmaceutical company that deadlocked with a supplier over the issue of exclusivity in an ingredient purchase. Believing it was a ploy to raise the price, the drug maker upped its offer — unsuccessfully. In fact, the supplier was balking because a relative's company needed a small amount of the ingredient to make a local product. Once the real motivation surfaced, a compromise quickly followed. Understanding the other side's motives and goals is the first principle of investigative negotiation. The second is to figure out what constraints the other party faces. Often when your counterpart's behavior appears unreasonable, his hands are tied somehow, and you can reach agreement by helping overcome those limitations. The third is to view onerous demands as a window into what the other party prizes most — and use that information to create opportunities. The fourth is to look for common ground; even fierce competitors may have complementary interests that lead to creative agreements. Finally, if a deal    Is Management Still a Science?   Add   View  9 pp.  Article Author(s): Freedman, David H. Publication Date: 11/01/1992 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Frederick Taylor's traditional scientific approach to management promised to provide managers with the capacity to predict and control the behavior of the complex organizations they led. But the world most managers now inhabit often appears to be unpredictable and even uncontrollable. In the face of this more volatile business environment, the old-style mechanisms of ``scientific management'' seem positively counterproductive. Just as managers have become more preoccupied with the volatility of the business environment, scientists have also become preoccupied with the inherent volatility -- the ``chaos'' and ``complexity'' -- of nature. They are developing new rules for complex behavior in physical systems that have intriguing parallels to the kind of organizational behaviors today's companies are trying to encourage. HBS Number: 92603 Subjects: Business history; Decision theory; Forecasting; Management of change; Management philosophy; Models; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Is Your Counterpart Irrational...Really?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Malhotra, Deepak Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Negotiators frequently ask, ``How can you possibly negotiate with someone who is irrational?'' But negotiators who are quick to label the other party as irrational do so at great potential cost to themselves. As it turns out, what they often view as signs of irrationality may indicate something entirely different -- a counterpart who is missing important information, is bound by external constraints, or whose interests they didn't anticipate. Learn how discovering the causes of seemingly irrational behavior can lead to rational solutions at the negotiating table. HBS Number: N0603B Subjects: Communication; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal communications; Negotiations; Problem solving; Psychology; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Is Your Counterpart Satisfied?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Schweitzer, Maurice E. Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Unless your negotiation is a one-time, win-lose deal, much of the benefit comes from a positive, ongoing relationship after the deal is inked, and that means that the other party should walk away from the table deeply satisfied. Making a fellow negotiator satisfied is more complicated than merely offering a more favorable deal. In fact, making deep concessions can actually decrease your counterpart's satisfaction. Learn about how this and other surprising psychological factors influence satisfaction with the negotiation process. HBS Number: N0604C Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Lifetime value; Negotiations; Psychology; Satisfaction; Tradeoff analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    It’s Not Intuitive: Strategies for Negotiating More Rationally   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H.; Malhotra, Deepak Publication Date: 05/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Most negotiators believe they are capable of distinguishing between situations in which they can safely rely on intuition from those that require more careful thought — but often they are wrong. In fact, most of us trust our intuition more than evidence suggests that we should. How can you be confident that you are thinking and behaving rationally during a negotiation, and how can you recognize that it's time to make some adjustments? This article explores why we often think irrationally — even when the stakes are high and mistakes are costly — and offers four strategies to help you guard against falling back on your intuition during times of stress and indecision in negotiation. HBS Number: N0605D Subjects: Behavior; Communication strategy; Negotiations; Risk management; Self awareness; Social psychology; Strategic planning; Thinking Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Keep It Out of Court: Resolving Differences In-House   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sander, Frank E.A.; Bordone, Robert C. Publication Date: 07/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Workplace disputes are inevitable. And all too often, such conflicts end up in the courts. In addition to consuming incredible amounts of time and energy, lawsuits often ruin long-standing relationships with suppliers, customers, and shareholders. In the March issue of Negotiation, the authors outlined the principles of dispute system design (DSD) -- the process of designing and implementing an effective method for resolving the conflicts that flare up within and between organizations. In this article, they move from theory to practice. Specifically, they examine how companies and industries are applying the principles of DSD in three contexts: workplace conflict, business-to-business or business-to-consumer disputes, and disputes within complex joint ventures. Learn how you and your co workers can prepare for and resolve conflict whenever it may arise. HBS Number: N0507D Subjects: Communication in organizations; Conflict resolution; Interpersonal relations; Litigation; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Lessons from Abroad: When Culture Affects Negotiating Style   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Brett, Jeanne; Gelfand, Michele Publication Date: 01/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Researchers Jeanne M. Brett and Michele J. Gelfand have identified vast cultural differences between the way Americans negotiate and the way negotiations are carried out in other cultures, particularly in Asia. An intuitive approach that is functional at home could backfire abroad. Widening your repertoire of strategies from other cultures should minimize the risks of negotiating cross-culturally and might even improve your domestic negotiations. In this article, Brett and Gelfand discuss three negotiation strategies widely used in Asia that are likely to be unfamiliar, yet extremely useful, to American negotiators: indirect confrontation, status-based persuasion, and the use of proposals to gain information. HBS Number: N0501B Subjects: Asia; Cross cultural relations; International relations; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Leveraging Emotion in Negotiation   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Hackley, Susan Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Strong emotions, when effectively channeled, can make you a passionate advocate for your side in a negotiation. But negative emotions — feelings of betrayal, anger, frustration, worry, or embarrassment — can also arise in the heat of the moment; and when your feelings get the better of you during a negotiation, they become distracting and potentially destructive. This article looks at a recently published book by negotiation scholars Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro, Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate, that offers a new framework for dealing effectively with emotions in negotiation. By expressing appreciation for the other party's concerns, building affiliation, respecting the autonomy and status of all concerned, and playing the right roles in a negotiation, we can guard against acting irrationally or in other harmful ways. And we can rise to the challenge of stimulating helpful emotions in those with whom we negotiate — and in ourselves. HBS Number: N0601C Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Emotions; Human behavior; Human relations; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Living Agreements for a Risky World   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Orr, Ryan J. Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: In emerging markets, contracts must be both flexible and rigid. “Shock absorber” and “safety net” clauses offer firms a living, breathing solution. HBS Number: F0604C Subjects: Contracts; Developing countries; Emerging markets; Flexibility; Government; Infrastructure; Legal issues; Negotiations; Predictability; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Make Your Weak Position Strong   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Malhotra, Deepak Publication Date: 07/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: A common complaint among managers and executives who attend negotiation courses and seminars is that they don't learn enough about negotiating from a position of weakness. What can you do when you have a weak BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement? How should you negotiate with someone who knows that you are desperate for a deal? How can you stop a potential customer from signing a deal with one of your many competitors? There are several things that you can do to increase your bargaining power when it appears hopelessly weak. Learn three key strategies for strengthening your position. HBS Number: N0507A Subjects: Competitive advantage; Negotiations; Tradeoff analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Making Threats Credible   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Malhotra, Deepak Publication Date: 03/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: When the stakes are lower, negotiation often resembles a game of Chicken: Both sides make threats in an effort to change their counterpart's behavior or beliefs. Your success depends on whether your threat is credible: Does your counterpart truly believe you're ready to walk away from the deal? The dilemma confronting negotiators who make threats is that your threat is credible only if the other side believes it's in your best interest to follow through -- yet, you probably made the threat at a point when the other side doubted your resolve. After all, if it were obvious that you were ready to walk away, you wouldn't have had to threaten at all. As this paradox highlights, the credibility of threats is always in question. Read about six ways to make your threats more credible in negotiation. HBS Number: N0503A Subjects: Competitive advantage; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations; Psychology; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Manager’s Guide to Forecasting   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Author(s): Georgoff, David M.; Murdick, Robert G. Publication Date: 01/01/1986 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: In today's novel and rapidly changing business environment, managers constantly face new market realities and uncertainties. For more than a decade, forecasting techniques have theoretically helped them evaluate the varied factors they face. But much of the promise of these approaches has been unrealized. The forecaster's chart provides a method for evaluating techniques and for choosing a combination that yields the best results. The chart groups and profiles 20 common forecasting techniques and arrays them against 16 important evaluative dimensions. HBS Number: 86104 Subjects: Economic analysis; Forecasting Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Managing for Business Effectiveness   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Author(s): Drucker, Peter F. Publication Date: 05/01/1963 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Productive business managers are those who obtain optimum economic results from the prevailing resources. A series of primary steps, which have proven to be highly effective for managers in actual business situations, include: 1) analyzing the facts in terms of opportunities and costs of products, as well as the contributions of staff, and the ``cost streams''; 2) allocating resources, according to projected results, by analyzing present and future resource allocations; and 3) prioritizing decisions with respect to area of greatest potential for opportunity and results. HBS Number: 63303 Subjects: Action planning; Cost accounting; Decision making; Managerial skills; Resource allocation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Managing Risk in the New World   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Kaplan, Robert S.; Mikes, Anette; Simons, Robert L.; Tufano, Peter; Hofmann, Michael; Champion, David Publication Date: 10/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0910E Subjects: Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Five experts gathered recently to discuss the future of enterprise risk management: Kaplan, the Baker Foundation Professor at Harvard Business School, who with his colleague David Norton developed the balanced scorecard; Mikes, an assistant professor at HBS who studies the evolution of risk management and the role of the chief risk officer; Simons, the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at HBS; Tufano, the Sylvan C . Coleman Professor of Financial Management at HBS; and Hofmann, the chief risk officer at Koch Industries. The panel was moderated by HBR senior editor David Champion. Among the questions they addressed were: How predictable was the financial meltdown of 2008-2009? Did new tools for assessing risk give a false sense of security? How do the challenges facing industrial companies differ from those facing the financial sector? Is outsourcing an effective risk-management tool? Have capital structures become a bit too efficient in many companies? What makes a good chief risk officer? Of all the management tasks that were bungled in the period leading up to the global recession of 2008 — 2009, none was bungled more egregiously than the management of risk. This HBR Spotlight attempts to untangle the reasons that major systemic failures occurred, and to pin down some lessons for leaders and managers in the future.    Many Faces of Multi-Firm Alliances: Lessons for Managers   Add   View  18 pp.  Article Author(s): Hwang, Peter; Burgers, Willem P. Publication Date: 04/01/1997 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review HBS Number: CMR084 Subjects: Game theory; Joint ventures; Organizational design; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: One of the most notable business trends in recent years has been the surge in alliance formation. Globalization, escalating R&D expenses, shortening product life cycles, and convergence of technologies are often cited as important factors that contribute to this phenomenon. This article develops a framework for multi-firm alliances. Multi-firm alliances can be classified on the basis of distinct payoff structures, leading to critical differences in their predicted development and final result. This article presents four multi-firm alliance game scenarios to describe the dynamics that underlie the interactions among firms and provides industry examples. It offers a number of lessons to help managers improve their ability to manage multi-firm alliance relationships.

Mapping Your Fraud Risks   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Bishop, Toby J.F.; Hydoski, Frank E. Publication Date: 10/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0910F Subjects: Fraud; Risk assessment Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Risk managers should plot their organizations' fraud threats on a heat map. They'll want to look carefully at the upper-left quadrant, where unlikely — but potentially devastating — risks lurk.    Matching Rights: A Boon to Both Sides   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Matching rights -- a contractual guarantee that one side can match any offer that the other side later receives -- have become a common and useful tool in negotiations, offering sophisticated ways to reduce risks and increase returns. Structured correctly, matching rights (sometimes known as rights of first refusal or rights of first offer) can create enormous value. But before entering into negotiations, the parties must be aware of the costs. Grantors of rights must learn to balance the benefit of value creation against the potential cost of scaring away high bidders. Prospective right holders should know precisely what a proposed matching right will give them. And potential third-party investors may see a company's matching right as a game they can't win. But skilled negotiators can discern underlying dynamics that could turn the deal to their advantage. HBS Number: N0512C Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Contracts; Negotiations; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiating for Continuous Improvement   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Managers involved in a complex negotiation typically want nothing more than to turn their backs on the experience once it's over. Unfortunately, this tendency results in serious organizational losses because a great deal of negotiation experience is wasted. Negotiation isn't a skill that can be acquired overnight. Rather, it requires constant refinement at the individual level and a strong commitment on the part of the organization. By putting in place a formal process for assessing completed negotiations, organizations can help managers take away appropriate lessons from each negotiation experience and leverage this knowledge for future deals. In this article, negotiation expert Lawrence Susskind dispenses advice on how to help your managers — and your organization — learn from every negotiation experience. Includes a Negotiation Preparation Worksheet. HBS Number: N0606B Subjects: After action reviews; Learning organization; Negotiations; Organizational learning; Training Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiating the Spirit of the Deal   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Fortgang, Ron S.; Lax, David A.; Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 02/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0302E Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Conflicts of interest; Contracts; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Social enterprise Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Most experienced negotiators are comfortable working out the terms of an economic contract — they bargain for the best price, haggle over equity splits, and finesse detailed exit clauses. Yet these same seasoned professionals spend so much time ironing out the letter of the deal that they often pay little attention to the spirit of the deal — the social contract. And that can lead to major problems, say the authors, because even though the parties agree to the same terms on paper, they may have very different expectations about how to meet them. Because the parties have failed to have a true meeting of the minds, they sign a deal that is likely to fall apart. To avoid such a disastrous outcome, negotiators should explicitly discuss the details of their social contract before inking the deal. For instance, what is the real nature, extent, and duration of the agreement? And in practice, how will we make decisions, handle unforeseen events, communicate with one another, and resolve disputes? The authors also highlight risk factors that can lead to misunderstandings and expose common misperceptions about the social contract.    Negotiating the Spirit of the Deal (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Fortgang, Ron S.; Lax, David A.; Sebenius, Publication Date: 02/01/2003 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R0302E, originally published in February 2003. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article, plus a synopsis and annotated bibliography. Most experienced negotiators are comfortable working out the terms of an economic contract -- they bargain for the best price, haggle over equity splits, and finesse detailed exit clauses. Yet these same seasoned professionals spend so much time ironing out the letter of the deal that they often pay little attention to the spirit of the deal -- the social contract. And that can lead to major problems, say the authors, because even though the parties agree to the same terms on paper, they may have very different expectations about how to meet them. Because the parties have failed to have a true meeting of the minds, they sign a deal that is likely to fall apart. To avoid such a disastrous outcome, negotiators should explicitly discuss the details of their social contract before inking the deal. For instance, what are the real nature, extent, and duration of the agreement? And in practice, how will we make decisions, handle unforeseen events, communicate with one another, and resolve disputes? The authors also highlight risk factors that can lead to misunderstandings and expose common misperceptions about the social contract. HBS Number: 3051 Subjects: Agreements; Communication; Conflicts of interest; Contracts; Legal aspects of business; Negotiations; Social enterprise Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiating with a 900-Pound Gorilla   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Does your company ever have to negotiate with a behemoth? How should a negotiator in a weak position deal with a seemingly all-powerful opponent? As a negotiator, you sometimes face an apparent choice between taking what little the other side offers or being squeezed out of the market entirely. But this doesn't have to be the case. In this article, Lawrence Susskind describes three strategies that can help you reach a mutually beneficial — and elegant — negotiated solution. HBS Number: N0602A Subjects: Agreements; Competitive environment; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Problem solving; Psychology; Tradeoff analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiating with Regulators   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 11/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: When preparing to launch new products, plans, and innovations, you and your organization often must apply for licenses, permits, and other types of regulatory approvals from government agencies. The prospect of negotiating with administrative agencies can be daunting. Thankfully, even the most elaborate application processes allow individual regulators a measure of discretion. Regulators can decide how quickly to respond to a particular request, whether to ask for more information, and when to accept the information you've submitted. This discretion provides numerous opportunities for you to negotiate with regulators -- and, indeed, even requires you to do so. Learn the four rules for negotiating with regulators that help you navigate the application process more effectively and improve your odds of gaining approval. HBS Number: N0511C Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Licenses; Negotiations; Product introduction; Regulatory agencies Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiating Without a Net: A Conversation with the NYPD’s Dominick J. Misino   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Misino, Dominick J.; Coutu, Diane L. Publication Date: 10/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0210C Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Negotiations; Decision making; Agreements; Crime; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: In some languages, the word for “business” is the same as the word for “negotiation.” That's not really surprising: Every interaction — with customers, suppliers, and even partners and investors — entails negotiation. And some involve very high stakes: The breakdown in negotiations between Hewlett-Packard's management and its founding families, for instance, put the company's future in doubt. Dominick Misino is a man who knows about negotiating when the stakes are at their very highest. As a hostage negotiator for the New York Police Department, Misino successfully persuaded the hijacker of Lufthansa Flight 592 to lay down his gun and turn himself in. Misino spent the last 6 years of his career as a primary negotiator, handling more than 200 incidents and never losing a life. Since his retirement in 1995, he has taught negotiating skills to law enforcement officials, military personnel, and business executives. Negotiation, he says, is really a series of small agreements, and he is adept at orchestrating those agreements from the start so that his adversary learns to trust him and come around to his point of view. In vivid and sometimes hair-raising detail, Misino demonstrates how he gets criminals to trust police officers enough to refrain from harming innocent parties and give themselves up. Many of the techniques he describes are surprisingly applicable to business negotiations, where the parties may seem equally intractable and failure is not an option.    Negotiation as a Business Process (Guest Column)   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Weiss, Jeff Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Jeff Weiss, the founder and director of the consulting firm Vantage Partners, discusses the difficulties of negotiations in a time of increased alliances and acquisitions. By developing negotiations as a business process with defined phases, roles, and responsibilities, as well as having methods and tools for managing each activity, Weiss explains that the return on investment will be well worth it for your company. His process for improved negotiations for your company includes gaining and sustaining internal alignment, providing instructions to your negotiators, preparing for the negotiations, conducting the negotiations and, finally, reviewing and learning from the negotiations. HBS Number: U0110E Subjects: Business plans; Business processes; Negotiations; Return on investment Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiation Design for Large, Multistakeholder Projects   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Negotiations around large-scale projects such as oil fields, power plants, and shopping malls are complex enough, but such projects often take on an added layer of complexity as outside groups demand a place at the table. How will negotiators deal with these stakeholders? Let only the legal parties negotiate with each other and then preemptively announce the results, or involve the full set of stakeholders to seek consensus? The author explores these extremes and hybrids of the two and offers a checklist to help negotiators choose the right format for these tricky negotiations. HBS Number: N0604B Subjects: Activists; Agreements; Complexity; Government & business; Negotiations; Power & influence; Problem solving; Stakeholders Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiation in Translation   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald Publication Date: 10/01/2004 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: A crucial factor in any negotiation, language can mean the difference between making a deal and walking away empty handed. Language differences can complicate your negotiations with foreign partners and customers. Despite the widespread use of English in global business, you will often encounter foreign executives and officials who either cannot or will not negotiate in English. Even if they know your language well, they may refuse to negotiate in it for fear of giving you a tactical advantage. In this case, you have two options: Negotiate in their language if you or a member of your team speaks it, or hire a translator. Explore the pros and cons of these options and learn how to use translators effectively in negotiations. HBS Number: N0410B Subjects: Agreements; Communication strategy; International relations; Negotiations; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiation Under the Influence   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Lerner, Jennifer S. Publication Date: 06/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Imagine you're about to negotiate with a competing firm about a possible merger. But you're in a terrible mood: on the way to work, you were rear-ended by a distracted driver talking on his cell phone. Even though you're still seething, you're certain that you can separate your rage from the task at hand. But can you? Probably not. Emotions of all types alter our thoughts, behavior, and underlying biology. In negotiations, the fact that integral emotions-feelings triggered by the negotiation itself-affect outcomes is well documented. What has received less attention is the effect on negotiation of incidental emotion, in which a negotiator's current emotional state springs from a source unrelated to the current negotiation, as in the example above. This article describes important new findings on how the effects of incidental emotions play out in negotiations. It also teaches you to defuse your own emotional hangovers and those of your counterparts. HBS Number: N0506A Subjects: Communication strategy; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiators Lie   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Schweitzer, Maurice E. Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In all types of negotiations and across all phases of the process, people misrepresent or fail to tell the truth, posing a serious challenge for managers. Deceptive behavior can range from bluffing, an accepted part of the negotiation process, to taking advantage of ambiguity to outright misrepresentations. Negotiators can train themselves to detect the verbal, vocal, and behavioral cues that signal deception. But they can also reduce the odds of being deceived by using five proven tactics. Read more about how relationship building, your own behavior, and focus on the right details can reduce the use of deceptive tactics at the negotiating table. HBS Number: N0512A Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Ethics; Honesty; Human behavior; Negotiations; Psychology; Relationships Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Negotiauctions   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Zeckhauser, Richard; Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 02/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: What's the best process for selling a complicated or costly asset? In two previous Negotiation articles, the authors noted factors to consider when determining whether to negotiate with one or more buyers or hold an auction and then discussed important process choices to entertain if you opt for an auction. This closing article in the series describes negotiauctions -- a way to sell costly and/or complex assets that combines significant elements of both auctions and negotiations. HBS Number: N0502B Subjects: Auctions; Decision analysis; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    New Religion of Risk Management   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Bernstein, Peter L. Publication Date: 03/01/1996 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The notion that the future rests on more than just a whim of the gods is a revolutionary idea. It is also a very young idea. A mere 350 years separate today's risk-assessment and hedging techniques from decisions guided by superstition, blind faith, and instinct. More than any other development, the quantification of risk defines the boundary between modern times and the rest of history. Yet is today's sophisticataed approach to risk management and decision making an unalloyed blessing? What have we gained by the transformation from superstition to the supercomputer? What does it mean that the elaborate apparatus of probability analysis has supplanted hunches and intuition in business, finance, and other areas? HBS Number: 96203 Subjects: Probability; Quantitative analysis; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Next-Generation Online Cons   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Shirky, Clay Publication Date: 06/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0806D Subjects: Fraud; Internet; Security & privacy Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Online business scams are rising because the Internet offers a perfect medium for con artists, who know that the money's in business. Companies can meet that threat with three defensive strategies.    No-Nonsense Guide to Measuring Productivity   Add   View  9 pp.  Article Author(s): Chew, W. Bruce Publication Date: 01/01/1988 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: An essential step in improving productivity is measuring it appropriately. But managers have trouble working with the experts who design and implement measurement systems. When they evaluate and use productivity indexes, managers should keep in mind certain guidelines: The most sophisticated measurement system is not always the best; there is more to manufacturing efficiency than how hard employees work; measurement systems should consider all relevant factors; when comparing the efficiency of plants or companies, comparisons must be fair; managers should be aware of the ambiguities and complexities that afflict all productivity data and, above all, when using systems, put relevance before technical precision or elegance. HBS Number: 88102 Subjects: Operations research; Performance measurement; Productivity; Quantitative analysis; Systems design Academic Discipline: Negotiations    No-Nonsense Guide to Measuring Productivity (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Chew, W. Bruce Publication Date: 04/15/2000 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb and share the management insights with others. An essential step in improving productivity is measuring it appropriately. But managers have trouble working with the experts who design and implement measurement systems. When they evaluate and use productivity indexes, managers should keep in mind certain guidelines: The most sophisticated measurement system is not always the best; there is more to manufacturing efficiency than how hard employees work; measurement systems should consider all relevant factors; when comparing the efficiency of plants or companies, comparisons must be fair; managers should be aware of the ambiguities and complexities that afflict all productivity data and, above all, when using systems, put relevance before technical precision or elegance. HBS Number: 3596 Subjects: Operations research; Performance measurement; Productivity; Quantitative analysis; Systems design Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Only Four-Page Guide to Negotiating You’ll Ever Need   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Kiechel, Walter Publication Date: 09/01/1996 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Everyone engages in negotiating all the time, whether they realize it or not. Preparation is critical to the success of the process. You will need to prepare on two fronts: getting the right attitude, and gathering information on what your interests are and what the other party's might be. Looking at the overlapping interests of both parties is important; pay special attention to possible alternatives to negotiation. Once the two parties have explored their respective interests together, they may well be able to arrive at an outcome not contemplated in either's initial offer but that satisfies each far better than the result of a long haggle. You can't banish emotions from the proceedings. Rather, the point is to get feelings into the open, acknowledge them, and minimize them as obstacles. Some of the experts recommend that you resist making the first offer yourself, while one cited an example where the initial offer determined the eventual settlement. Measured progress is definitely better than hasty decisions. HBS Number: U9609A Subjects: Conflict; Managerial skills; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Owning the Right Risks   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Buehler, Kevin; Freeman, Andrew; Hulme, Ron Publication Date: 09/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0809H Subjects: Risk management; Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: In the 1970s a revolution occurred in the field of corporate strategy. A boom in mergers and acquisitions launched new professions in M&A banking, M&A law, and strategy consulting, and companies started to focus on owning businesses in which they had a competitive advantage. At the same time, another revolution occurred in how financial services companies understood, bought, and sold risk — described in the authors' companion article in this issue, “The New Arsenal of Risk Management.” Now these two revolutions are coming together to trigger a third in the corporate approach to risk management. Engineering and dynamically managing a company's risk portfolio has become the organizing principle for strategic choice. When companies focus on the risks for which they are naturally advantaged, they can typically support higher debt levels and save on operating costs. McKinsey's Buehler, Freeman, and Hulme describe five steps to help corporate managers adjust to the third revolution: 1) Identify and understand your major risks; 2) decide which risks are natural; 3) determine your capacity and appetite for risk; 4) embed risk in all decisions and processes, including investment, commercial, financial, and operational; and 5) align governance and organization around risk. TXU is one company that has already successfully adapted. Following the 2002 deregulation of wholesale and retail electricity markets in the U.S. state of Texas, TXU embarked on an ambitious risk-return restructuring program that relied on sophisticated risk-management tools to quantify its risk capacity. The program led to share price increases that created more than $32 billion in value befor    Parable of the Spindle   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Porter, Elias H. Publication Date: 05/01/1962 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Companies and organizations are turning to systems theory to resolve problems. Its use can be exemplified by a parable of how a restaurant owner resolved his human relations problems through the use of a spindle in his ordering system. The spindle served to streamline operations by performing functions of memory, buffering, queuing, and adjustment of overload. The identification of problems as information breakdowns is a new frame of reference for business analysts. Because it is possible to view business as an information processing system, it is possible to simulate the information flow on digital computers, and to learn what effect and costs would be involved in change. HBS Number: 62311 Subjects: Models; Simulation; Systems analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Problem Solving for Decision Makers   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 12/01/1997 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Solving problems is central to the work of a manager, and deficits in basic thinking skills can cripple an organization's ability to respond to opportunities. This six-step guide for making basic business decisions recommends the following process: 1) define the problem, 2) identify the criteria, 3) weigh the criteria, 4) generate alternatives, 5) rate each alternative on each criterion, and 6) compute the optimal decision. HBS Number: U9712C Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Decision theory; Managerial skills Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Profit from the Learning Curve   Add   View  17 pp.  Article Author(s): Hirschmann, Winfred B. Publication Date: 01/01/1964 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The industrial learning curve quantifies not only individual performance, but also the composite performance of groups of people organized to accomplish a common task. The study of a number of operations, which are important components of major industries, illustrates the tracing of improvement patterns with learning curve characteristics. Operations are inherently susceptible to improvement, making this a dynamic tool. Continued improvement depends on a chain of influence which begins with the conviction that progress is possible, and continues with the creation of a supportive environment. This must be followed by flexibility and willingness to change established practices. Management's visions and leadership make the learning curve a primary tool. HBS Number: 64107 Subjects: Learning curves; Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Putting More on the Table: How Making Multiple Offers Can Increase the Final Value of the Deal   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Medvec, Victoria Husted; Galinsky, Adam D. Publication Date: 04/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Suppose you open talks with an important customer by making an aggressive first offer. He becomes offended. You back off a bit; he responds by trying to take advantage. This back-and-forth negotiation process, which many liken to a dance, can leave you shuffling endlessly around the issues, while resentment builds on both sides. Fortunately, a versatile strategy exists that allows you to take the lead in the dance: multiple equivalent simultaneous offers, or MESOs. Presenting more than one offer at a time increases the other side's satisfaction as well as the odds that an agreement will be implemented. Research shows that negotiators who use MESOs achieve better outcomes than those who make a single packaged offer, without sacrificing relationships or losing credibility. Read about how and when to make MESOs and detail their benefits. HBS Number: N0504B Subjects: Decision making; Interpersonal behavior; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Putting Negotiation Training to Work   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H. Publication Date: 09/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Many executives read books and newsletters to improve their negotiating skills. Many also take time out of their busy work lives to attend classes and training programs, including ones focused on negotiation. Their teachers pass on interesting concepts and war stories about great negotiations. However, when the executives return to their offices, the ideas and stories rarely affect their own actual negotiation behaviors. Why not? Several barriers prevent managers from taking the messages of the classroom back to the real world. Yet, there is much that you and your colleagues can do to ensure that these messages become ingrained behavior. Learn the limits of classroom learning and how to surmount these flaws and improve your own long-term negotiation skills. HBS Number: N0509D Subjects: Competitive advantage; Education; Negotiations; Teaching methods; Training Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Pyramid of Decision Approaches   Add   View  23 pp.  Article Author(s): Schoemaker, Paul J.H.; Russo, J. Edward Publication Date: 10/01/1993 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review HBS Number: CMR045 Subjects: Decision making; Decision theory; Decision trees Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Under increasing pressure to make better decisions in less time, managers often use the quickest and easiest decision-making method: going on “gut feel.” But recent decision research shows that intuition is much less reliable than most people believe. Managers need to use more sophisticated methods. This article describes a series of increasingly accurate (and demanding) decision-making approaches. It starts with purely intuitive choices, which are quickest and least accurate, and then examines heuristic shortcuts and rules of thumb. It then discusses more demanding and reliable methods, such as bootstrapping and value analysis. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of each approach in terms of speed, accuracy, and justifiability, with illustrative applications to managerial practice. Finally, the authors offer practical advice for managers on how the more sophisticated techniques can be incorporated into the organization.    Real Leaders Negotiate   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald Publication Date: 06/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0706D Subjects: Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Influence; Leadership development; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Conventional wisdom says that leading people requires vision, charisma, and self-confidence. That may be, but the real work of leadership — causing individuals to act willingly in desired ways for the benefit of a group — almost always involves negotiation. That's because some of the people you are supposed to lead will inevitably be smarter, more talented, and, in some situations, more powerful than you are. In addition, often you're called to lead people over whom you have no real authority, such as members of commissions, boards, and other departments in your organization. In this article, Jeswald Salacuse, author of “Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People,” identifies three key aspects of negotiation that will improve your power and persuasiveness as a leader.    Real Leaders Negotiate   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald Publication Date: 05/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Experienced managers know that when it comes to leading people, authority has its limits. The real work of leadership — causing individuals to act willingly in desired ways for the benefit of a group — almost always involves negotiation, given that some of the people you are supposed to lead will inevitably be smarter, more talented, and, in some situations, more powerful than you are. In addition, often you're called to lead people over whom you have no real authority, such as members of commissions, boards, and other departments in your organization. In this article, you'll find four key aspects of negotiation theory — interests, relationships, voice, and vision — that will improve your influence as a leader. HBS Number: N0605A Subjects: Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Influence; Leadership; Managing superiors; Motivation; Negotiations; Social psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Redoing the Deal   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald W. Publication Date: 08/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: If you're like many managers in these uncertain times, you are probably spending as much time redoing old deals as you are negotiating new ones. Unfortunately, the dynamics of renegotiating an existing agreement are quite different from hammering out a deal from scratch. In essence, if negotiation is about sharing expected benefits, renegotiation is almost always about allocating a loss. And, when handled poorly, renegotiations are likely to exacerbate bad feelings and mistrust and may be the last step before a lawsuit. Learn how to reduce the risk of renegotiation and how to prepare for and manage such talks when they can't be avoided. HBS Number: N0508A Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Reduce the Risk of Failed Financial Judgments   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Eccles, Robert G.; Riedl, Edward J. Publication Date: 07/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0807G Subjects: Financial statements; Judgment; Risk management; Valuation Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: When crucial financial estimates rely on judgment, companies can minimize their risk by turning to appraisers, actuaries, and evaluators, whether internal, external, or a combination.    Relational Quality: Managing Trust in Corporate Alliances   Add   View  24 pp.  Article Author(s): Arino, Africa; De la Torre, Jose; Ring, Pe Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Management scholars have often argued that trust plays a key role in economic exchanges, particularly when one or another party is subject to the risk of opportunistic behavior and incomplete monitoring or when problems due to moral hazard or asymmetric information arise. These conditions are almost always present in the case of corporate alliances and joint ventures. However, one attribute of relationships -- ``relational quality'' -- is fundamental to the maintenance of good working conditions in two-party alliances where past experience and the shadow of the future play important roles. Relying on a growing body of theory and a number of case studies, the authors develop a framework for thinking about trust in dynamic and practical terms. They also provide recommendations for managing relational quality in alliances as a strategy for enhancing value. HBS Number: CMR217 Subjects: Alliances; Human relations; Joint ventures; Risk Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy   Added   View  15 pp.  Article Author(s): Brandenburger, Adam; Nalebuff, Barry J. Publication Date: 07/01/1995 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The essence of business success lies in making sure you're playing the right game. How do you know if it's the right game? What can you do if it's the wrong game? To help managers answer those questions, the authors have developed a framework that draws on the insights of game theory. The primary insight of game theory is the importance of focusing on others. In other words, companies should consider both cooperative and competitive ways to change the game. Who are the participants in the game of business? The authors introduce a schematic map that represents all the players and all the interdependencies among them. HBS Number: 95402 Subjects: Competition; Competitive decision making; Corporate strategy; Game theory; Market signaling; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Risk Mitigation in Large-Scale Systems: Lessons from High Reliability Orgs   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Grabowski, Martha; Roberts, Karlene Publication Date: 07/01/1997 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review HBS Number: CMR091 Subjects: Occupational safety; Organizational behavior; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: This article argues that we should turn our attention from single organizations to systems of organizations if we are to manage in a way that reduces the potential for catastrophic outcomes in organizations. Risk mitigation measures for large-scale systems are derived from research on high-reliability organizations (HROs). This article focuses on characteristics common to both types of systems — including simultaneous autonomy and interdependence, intended and unintended consequences of behavior, long incubation periods during which problems can arise, and risk migration — and shows how risk mitigation principles that evolved from HRO research can be applied to large-scale systems.    Scenarios: Shooting the Rapids   Add   View  14 pp.  Article Author(s): Wack, Pierre Publication Date: 11/01/1985 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Decision scenarios structure the future into predetermined and uncertain elements and aim to transform the thinking of managers during times of change and uncertainty. In the aftermath of the 1973-74 oil shock and in the midst of a serious recession, for example, managers at Royal Dutch/Shell turned their attention to the short term. Planners responded to their concerns in 1975 by analyzing the predetermined elements of change and developing two medium-term scenarios. By presenting managers with alternative ways of seeing the world, decision scenarios enable them to anticipate and understand risk and to discover new strategic options. HBS Number: 85617 Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Management of change; Strategic planning; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Scenarios: Uncharted Waters Ahead   Add   View  19 pp.  Article Author(s): Wack, Pierre Publication Date: 09/01/1985 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Traditional forecasting techniques, which rest on the assumption that tomorrow's world will be much like today's, are inadequate in a fluid and turbulent business environment. When forecasts made by Royal Dutch/Shell in the late 1960s signaled major disruptions in the world oil market, company planners realized they needed a more realistic way to think about the future. Beginning in 1971, the company decided to develop a series of scenarios to explore the future business environment. By listening to planners' analysis, Shell's management was prepared for the 1973 oil crisis. The power of scenarios becomes evident when the world changes. McKinsey Award Winner. HBS Number: 85516 Subjects: Economic analysis; Forecasting; McKinsey Award Winners Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Scientific Management at Merck: An Interview with CFO Judy Lewent   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Lewent, Judy; Nichols, Nancy A. Publication Date: 01/01/1994 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Risk, complexity, and uncertainty currently define the business environment of the 1990s. In this interview, Merck CFO Judy Lewent talks about her scientific approach to finance, one that is both long term in nature and eminently tied to Merck's overall strategy. At 44 years of age, Lewent ranks among the most powerful women in corporate America and is the only woman to hold the title of CFO at a major corporation. HBS Number: 94106 Subjects: Financial analysis; Forecasting; Game theory; Interviews; Pharmaceuticals; Risk management; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Scorched Earth: Will Environmental Risks in China Overwhelm Its Opportunities?   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Economy, Elizabeth; Lieberthal, Kenneth Publication Date: 06/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0706F Subjects: Emerging markets; Environmental regulations; Global business; International business; Multinational corporations; Political risk; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Of all the risks of doing business in China, the greatest is the threat posed by environmental degradation. And yet it's barely discussed in corporate boardrooms. This is a serious mistake. Multinationals may be more concerned with intellectual property rights violations, corruption, and potential political instability, but the Chinese government, NGOs, and the Chinese press have been focused squarely on the country's energy shortages, soil erosion, lack of water, and pollution problems, which are so severe they might constrain GDP growth. What's more, the Chinese expect the international community to take the lead in environmental protection. If that doesn't happen, multinationals face clear risks to their operations, their workers' health, and their reputations. In factoring environmental issues into their China strategies, foreign firms need to be both defensive, taking steps to reduce harm, and proactive, investing in environmental protection efforts. Coca-Cola, for example, installed state-of-the-art bottling plants in China that operate with no net loss of water resources. Mattel increased the safety of its Barbie-manufacturing process to protect workers' health. With its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, GE is shrinking its environmental footprint in China; more proactively, GE is working closely with the Chinese government and scientists to develop clean coal, water purification, and water reuse technologies. In considering the value of such efforts, companies can not only factor in reduced risk but also increased opportunity,    Security Alert   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Campbell, George K.; Lefler, Richard A. Publication Date: 07/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0907N Subjects: Recessions; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Although the recession has meant a rise in some threats to corporate security and a fall in others, security directors are seeing their budgets cut without regard to these shifts. Businesses must ensure that their spending addresses the most urgent priorities.    Set Off a Chain Reaction   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 06/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Sometimes as a negotiator, you'll have a grand plan for a killer deal, yet sense that you lack the access, resources, or credibility to achieve your vision. At other times, seemingly simple transactions can bloom into much more complex deals. Either situation can leave you feeling stuck at Point A without the wherewithal to leap to Point Z. This third and final article in a series of pieces that discuss how to line up deals covers situations in which a critical move should, ideally, set off a chain reaction of related deals that culminate in your overall goal. A classic illustration of this principle is the site acquisition of the midtown Manhattan Citicorp Center (now called the Citigroup Center) in the early 1970s. Tip one domino, and the others will tumble-but only if you've lined them up properly. HBS Number: N0506B Subjects: Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Shirt-Sleeve Approach to Long-Range Plans   Add   View  11 pp.  Article Author(s): Linneman, Robert E.; Kennell, John D. Publication Date: 03/01/1977 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: A ten step multiple scenario analysis (MSA) aids small companies or even large companies without extensive planning resources in developing flexible corporate strategies. A case example of corporate level planning at a hypothetical company illustrates each step of the procedure. HBS Number: 77206 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Forecasting; Long term planning; Quantitative analysis; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0104E Subjects: BATNA; Biases; Managerial skills; Negotiations; Relationship management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Most executives know the basics of negotiation; some are spectacularly adept. Yet even experienced negotiators routinely leave money on the table, end up in deadlock, damage relationships, or allow conflicts to spiral. They fall prey to common mistakes that keep them from solving the right negotiation problem. In any negotiation, each side ultimately chooses between two options: accepting a deal or taking its best no-deal option — that is, the course of action if a deal were not possible. As a negotiator, you seek to advance your interests by persuading the other side to say yes to a proposal that meets your interests better than your best no-deal option. Because the other side will say yes only to a proposal that meets its own interests better than its best no-deal option, you must understand and shape your counterpart's decision so that it chooses in its own interest what you want. Far from being exercises in manipulation, understanding your counterpart's interests and shaping the decision so that the other side agrees to a proposal for its own reasons are the keys to jointly creating and claiming sustainable value from a negotiation. In this article, James Sebenius compares good negotiating practice with bad, providing examples from the business world and insights from 50 years of research and analysis on negotiation. The author describes six common mistakes that result in merely effective negotiation: neglecting your counterpart's problem, letting price bulldoze other interests, letting positions drive out interests, searching too hard for common ground, neglecting no-deal alternatives, and failing to correct for skewed vision    Six Habits of Merely Effective Negotiators (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James K. Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of the HBR reprint R0104E, originally published in April 2001. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. Most executives know the basics of negotiation; some are spectacularly adept. Yet even experienced negotiators routinely leave money on the table, end up in deadlock, damage relationships, or allow conflicts to spiral. They fall prey to common mistakes that keep them from solving the right negotiation problem. In any negotiation, each side ultimately chooses between two options: accepting a deal or taking its best no-deal option -- that is, the course of action if a deal were not possible. As a negotiator, you seek to advance your interests by persuading the other side to say yes to a proposal that meets your interests better than your best no-deal option. Because the other side will say yes only to a proposal that meets its own interests better than its best no-deal option, you must understand and shape your counterpart's decision so that it chooses in its own interest what you want. In this article, James Sebenius compares good negotiating practice with bad, providing examples from the business world and insights from 50 years of research and analysis on negotiation. HBS Number: 9411 Subjects: Managerial skills; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Six Ways Companies Mismanage Risk   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Stulz, Rene M. Publication Date: 03/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0903G Subjects: Finance; Markets; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Financial risk management is hard to get right even in the best of times. It can take one of six paths to failure, nearly all of them exemplified in the current crisis. Relying on historical data. A risk manager who assessed real estate risk on the basis of statistics from the past three decades would have been sorely unprepared for the volatility of house prices in 2007. Focusing on narrow measures. A daily Value-at-Risk (VaR) measure is commonly used for securities trading. But a daily measure assumes that assets can be sold quickly or hedged, so it doesn't apply to portfolios with which the firm may be temporarily stuck. Overlooking knowable risks. Risk managers often distinguish among market, credit, and operational risks, which they measure differently and in isolation rather than cross-organizationally. They may also fail to assess new risks embedded in the instruments they use for risk mitigation. Overlooking concealed risks. Risk takers may deliberately hide their risks, as happened at the French bank Societe Generale in 2007. Or they may underreport them when their trading positions are complex and short-lived. Failing to communicate. Sometimes even the most scrupulous risk manager cannot clearly explain a state-of-the-art system to the CEO and the board. In such a case, their confidence in the system's capabilities may be unwarranted. Not managing in real time. It is difficult to hedge trading positions when their risk characteristics can change completely within a single day — as can happen, say, with barrier calls. The author advises practicing sustainable risk management: Never mind that catastrophic risks have extremely small probabilities; build scenarios for t    Status Anxiety   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bohnet, Iris Publication Date: 11/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Like it or not, concerns about status pervade our negotiations. Most of us are less likely to accept a job offer, even one that would be a substantial improvement on our current job, if it is worse than an offer made to a peer. Even when hammering out seemingly dry, factual purchasing terms, we take time to look around and see how others in our shoes are doing. The desire to achieve better outcomes than others -- from friends to coworkers to competitors -- can cause you to leave real money on the table. This article introduces you to the basics of status concerns, shows you when status issues are likely to crop up during negotiation, and teaches you how to use status concerns to improve your negotiated outcomes. HBS Number: N0511B Subjects: Anxiety; Negotiations; Peers; Performance appraisal; Psychology; Status; Stress Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Strategy for Financial Emergencies   Add   View  14 pp.  Article Author(s): Donaldson, Gordon Publication Date: 11/01/1969 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Companies should develop contingency plans aimed at preserving and managing the flow of funds to handle the problem of the unforeseen event. Companies should first maximize the amount of available reaction time by conducting a contingency analysis of possible events that would affect the company's performance. A computerized model of the company's finances can simulate contingency events and explore a range of alternative actions. The company should then make an inventory of resources it could draw upon to cover unexpected deficits. HBS Number: 69604 Subjects: Cash flow; Corporate strategy; Financial management; Models; Simulation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Strength in Numbers: Negotiating as a Team   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Mannix, Elizabeth Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: The widespread belief in ``strength in numbers'' suggests that having more players on your team should be a benefit, not a burden. But this belief can lead team members to underprepare for negotiation, a common mistake. Think about the times during a negotiation when you wished you could retract a concession or bit of information that slipped out of a teammate's mouth. The key to taking a team approach to negotiation is understanding the psychology of how teams work. Learn how, with thorough preparation, you can ensure that your team negotiations run smoothly. HBS Number: N0505A Subjects: Negotiations; Psychology; Strategic alliances; Teams Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Take the Long View   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wade-Benzoni, Kimberly A. Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In negotiation, a temporal delay often exists between our decisions and their consequences — a situation that grows complicated when others down the road will be affected by our decisions; a strong asymmetry exists between present organizational actors and future generations. Thousands of companies have promised millions of employees generous medical benefits upon retirement, yet few organizations keep track of these ever-spiraling costs, and the consequences of failing to take the long view have been painful. This article presents four factors to help ensure that negotiations between you and your employees create lasting value. HBS Number: N0604D Subjects: Communication; Employee benefits; Labor negotiations; Long term planning; Negotiations; Planning; Tradeoff analysis Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Technological Forecasting   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Quinn, James Brian Publication Date: 03/01/1967 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Like any other forecasting, technological forecasts can improve managers' decisions by delineating future opportunities and threats in a general way. As long as managers recognize the limits of these forecasts, they can improve on the simple hunches that have characterized past practice. Some promising techniques are demand assessment, theoretical limits tests, parameter analysis, analyzing technological changeover, systems analysis, scientific surveys, and competitive analysis. HBS Number: 67211 Subjects: Decision analysis; Forecasting; Innovation; McKinsey Award Winners; Product development; Technology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    The Deal Is Done — Now What?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald Publication Date: 11/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: At last, the deal is done. After 18 months of negotiation, eight trips across the country, and countless meetings, you've finally a signed a contract creating a joint venture with a Silicon Valley firm to manufacture imaging devices using your technology and their engineering. The contract is clear and precise. It covers all the contingencies and has strong enforcement mechanisms. You've given your company a solid foundation for a profitable new business. As you file the contract, a question dawns on you: Now what? It will take more than a well-written contract to produce those devices on time, under budget, and up to specifications. Learn how to turn that contract you just signed into a relationship that works. HBS Number: N0511A Subjects: Business etiquette; Communication strategy; Contracts; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    The Mediator as Negotiation Adviser   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Goldberg, Stephen Publication Date: 05/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Even if they are supposedly between only two opposing parties, negotiations are rarely that straightforward; interactions are often complicated by the interests of multiple stakeholders on your own team. How can you coordinate your individual interests, other team members' interests, and those of your company as a whole while ensuring that the team meets its overall corporate goal of achieving a good deal? Consider using a professional mediator. These obvious, though infrequently used, sources of expertise can be just as valuable in helping one party prepare for and carry out talks as they are in their traditional role of helping both sides reach a negotiated agreement. HBS Number: N0605C Subjects: Alternative dispute resolution; Communication; Complexity; Negotiations; Social psychology; Stakeholders Academic Discipline: Negotiations    The Moral Hazard Economy   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Bernstein, Peter L. Publication Date: 07/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0907M Subjects: Debt management; Long term financing; Recessions; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: The Obama administration and the U.S. Federal Reserve — along with counterparts around the world — are doing their utmost to thaw the credit freeze that took hold in the fall of 2008. But these measures, says the author, serve to show how badly the housing and derivatives bubbles deformed the economy and the global financial system. The first effect of the bailouts will be a dramatic rise in the size and cost of government borrowing, which will have serious inflationary consequences. Just as important is the transformation of the U.S. central bank into a version of the “bad bank” touted as a solution to the crisis. How disastrous the consequences will be depends on whether our appetite for risk has been increased by the bailouts or reduced by the meltdown.    The New Arsenal of Risk Management   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Buehler, Kevin; Freeman, Andrew; Hulme, Ron Publication Date: 09/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0809G Industry Setting: Banking industry Subjects: Business history; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: The global banking system is facing a severe liquidity crisis: In the first half of 2008, major financial institutions wrote off nearly $400 billion, causing banks around the world to initiate emergency measures. Similar crises have occurred within recent memory: Think of S&Ls, the dot-com bust, and Enron. Risk is, quite simply, a fact of corporate life — but because risk-management research has increasingly emphasized mathematical modeling, managers may find it incomprehensible and thus shy away from powerful tools and markets for creating value. Buehler, Freeman, and Hulme, all with McKinsey, describe the evolution of risk management since the 1970s, show how new markets have changed the landscape in both financial services and the energy sector, and explain what it takes to compete in the current environment. To demonstrate how significant a factor risk can be when incorporated into strategy and organization, they take the case of Goldman Sachs — which, despite its reliance on highly volatile trading revenues, has so far avoided the big write-offs that have afflicted its leading competitors. The authors believe that this is because Goldman takes the antithesis of the typical corporate approach — its culture embraces rather than avoids risk. And, they say, Goldman very efficiently employs all four of the following factors: quantitative professionals, strong oversight, partnership investment, and a clear statement of business principles, with emphasis on preserving the company's reputation. Staying on the sidelines of risk management may have shielded some companies from crisis, but    The Six Mistakes Executives Make in Risk Management   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Goldstein, Daniel G.; Taleb, Nassim N.; Spitznagel, Mark W. Publication Date: 10/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0910G Subjects: Risk management; Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Taleb (who wrote the best-selling books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan) and his coauthors argue that conventional risk-management textbooks don't prepare us for the real world. For instance, no forecasting model predicted the impact of the current economic crisis. Managers make six common mistakes when confronting risk: They try to anticipate extreme events, they study the past for guidance, they disregard advice about what not to do, they use standard deviations to measure risk, they fail to recognize that mathematical equivalents can be psychologically different, and they believe there's no room for redundancy when it comes to efficiency. Companies that ignore Black Swan (low-probability, high-impact) events will go under. But instead of trying to anticipate them, managers should reduce their companies' overall vulnerability.    The View from the Other Side of the Table   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Galinsky, Adam D.; Maddux, William W.; Ku, Gillian Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: The better able you are to ``get inside the head'' of your opponent, the better your negotiated outcomes are likely to be. But very few of us are born with the ability to take on the perspective of others effectively. Fortunately, this skill can be learned. The authors of this article show you how to use perspective taking -- the active consideration and appreciation of another person's viewpoint, role, and underlying motivations -- to understand your counterpart better and improve the quality of your deals. HBS Number: N0603A Subjects: Communication; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Their Agent, Your Advantage   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: There's a lot written about the benefits of hiring an agent. But have you thought about the ways in which you can use the other side's agent to your advantage? The agent's own interests, the relationship between agent and principal, and the threat of “going upstairs” are all powerful levers in the hands of astute negotiators facing an agent. This article tells you how to use them effectively. And when you know how to do this, you can ensure that these tactics aren't used against you when you're using an agent of your own. HBS Number: N0606D Subjects: Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Interpersonal communications; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Three Keys to Navigating Multiparty Negotiations   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Mannix, Elizabeth A. Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Most negotiation advice focuses on dyads, or one-on-one bargaining. Multiparty negotiations, in which more than two people are bargaining on behalf of themselves or others, create many opportunities to generate value. But group negotiations are also highly complex, and three characteristics — complexity of information, formation of alliances, and tendency toward majority rule — can derail these potentially rewarding relationships. Read this article for guidance on how to manage these areas to find creative, lasting agreements. HBS Number: N0602B Subjects: Agreements; Alliances; Communication; Complexity; Decision making; Group behavior; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Too Big to Fail? How About Too Big to Exist?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Watts, Duncan Publication Date: 06/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0906C Subjects: Capital markets; Crisis prevention; Risk management; Risk mitigation Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Having studied the dynamics of cascades in complex systems, this Columbia sociologist and network scientist argues that the most damaging ones are impossible to anticipate. The solution, therefore, may be to make systems less complex to start with, in order to reduce the chance that any one part can trigger a catastrophic chain of events. In the financial system, this means preventing companies from growing too big to fail in the first place.    Turning Negotiation into a Corporate Capability   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Ertel, Danny Publication Date: 05/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Every company today exists in a complex web of relationships formed, one at a time, through negotiation. Purchasing and outsourcing contracts are negotiated with vendors. Marketing arrangements are negotiated with distributors. Product development agreements are negotiated with joint-venture partners. Taken together, the thousands of negotiations a typical company engages in have an enormous effect on both its strategy and its bottom line. But few companies think systematically about their negotiating activities as a whole. Instead they take a situational view, perceiving each negotiation to be a separate event with its own goals, tactics, and measures of success. Coordinating them all seems an overwhelming and impracticable job. In reality, the author argues, it is neither. A number of companies are successfully building coordinated negotiation capabilities by applying four broad changes in practice and perspective. First, they've established a companywide negotiation infrastructure to apply the knowledge gained from forging past agreements to improve future ones. Second, they've broadened the measures they use to evaluate negotiators' performance beyond matters of cost and price. Third, they draw a clear distinction between the elements of an individual deal and the nature of the ongoing relationship between the parties. Fourth, they make their negotiators feel comfortable walking away from a deal when it's not in the company's best interests. These changes aren't radical steps. But taken together, they will let companies establish closer, more creative relationships with suppliers, customers, and other partners. HBS Number: 99304 Subjects: Agreements; Alliances; Joint ventures; Negotiations; Partnerships; Purchasing; Sourcing; Suppliers Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Turning Negotiation into a Corporate Capability (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Ertel, Danny Publication Date: 11/15/2000 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 5394 Subjects: Agreements; Alliances; Joint ventures; Negotiations; Partnerships; Purchasing; Sourcing; Suppliers Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of the HBR article 99304, originally published in May/June 1999. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview and an annotated bibliography. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights. Every company today exists in a complex web of relationships formed through negotiation. Purchasing and outsourcing contracts are negotiated with vendors. Marketing arrangements are negotiated with distributors. Product development agreements are negotiated with joint-venture partners. The thousands of negotiations a typical company engages in have an enormous effect on both its strategy and its bottom line. Few companies think systematically about their negotiating activities as a whole. Instead they take a situational view, perceiving each negotiation to be a separate event with its own goals, tactics, and measures of success. Coordinating them all seems an overwhelming and impracticable job. In reality, the author argues, it is neither. A number of companies are successfully building coordinated negotiation capabilities by applying four broad changes in practice and perspective. First, they've established a companywide negotiation infrastructure to apply the knowledge gained from forging past agreements to improve future ones. Second, they've broadened the measures they use to evaluate negotiators' performance beyond matters of cost and price. Third, they draw a clear distinction between the elements of an individual deal and the nature of the ongoing relationship between the parties. Fourth, they make their negotiators feel comfortable    Using Derivatives: What Senior Managers Must Know   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Editors Publication Date: 01/01/1995 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The use of derivatives -- a broad term referring to such diverse instruments as futures, swaps, and options -- has become increasingly popular in recent years as corporations look for new and better ways to manage risk. The high-profile losses of Procter & Gamble, Metallgesellschaft, and other companies are sending an important signal to senior managers: financial decisions that were previously designed and implemented by specialists need to be monitored more closely from the very top of organizations. In ``Framework for Risk Management'' (November-December 1994), Kenneth A. Froot, David S. Scharfstein, and Jeremy C. Stein present a guide for helping managers develop a coherent risk-management strategy. This issue's Perspectives section opens up the discussion on derivatives to a group of experts. HBS Number: 95110 Subjects: Derivatives; Hedging; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Want to Pull Ahead of the Competition?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Negotiation is a breeze if you're selling a unique product or service that others desperately need: just sit back and let the bidding begin. Likewise, if you're a buyer in a buyer's market, getting a bargain is a snap. But what happens when lots of other people are selling what you've got, or many others are bidding for what you want? One way to distinguish yourself in competitive environments is to build your bargaining endowment -- storing up credibility and resources by developing relationships, burnishing your reputation, and controlling key assets. Read three stories that illustrate different elements of the process of building your bargaining endowment. HBS Number: N0510D Subjects: Competitive advantage; Competitive bidding; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Power & influence; Reputations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    What Divides You May Unite You   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sebenius, James Publication Date: 07/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Two important truths about effective negotiation: one, the most powerful ingredients of joint gain often turn out to be the differences among parties; two, finding those differences requires probing beyond apparently incompatible bargaining positions to understand the other side's true interests. Focusing on differences to create value may seem counterintuitive. After all, don't we negotiate to resolve differences? In fact, value-creating differences -- those that one side can meet relatively cheaply but that offer significant value to the other side and vice versa -- are the key to joint gains. Read more about using differences to negotiate for mutual benefit. HBS Number: N0507B Subjects: Competitive advantage; Negotiations; Tradeoff analysis; Value creation Academic Discipline: Negotiations    What’s So Special About Technology Negotiations?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Susskind, Lawrence Publication Date: 05/01/2006 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Bargaining over the purchase of a new companywide network, coping with a possible infringement of patented technology, or seeking better customer service from a software supplier — technology negotiations have become a fact of managerial life. And such negotiations differ from those that are less technologically complex in significant ways: they require sophisticated knowledge that's beyond the scope of most managers, no one can be sure whether applications will perform as promised in a particular business environment, and ego battles may erupt among advocates. What's more, the organizational changes required by negotiated agreements can provoke conflict between parties during implementation. Read this article to learn purposeful steps to take to avoid these pitfalls. HBS Number: N0605B Subjects: Communication strategy; Information technology; Negotiations; Social psychology; Technological planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When Culture Counts — and When It Doesn’t   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Morris, Michael W. Publication Date: 06/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: In our era of diversity and globalization, respect for cultural differences is constantly stressed. Guidebooks tell us when to bow, kiss, or shake hands. Management and negotiation courses alert us to deeper differences in style: ``The Japanese avoid overt confrontation,'' ``Germans are rule-oriented,'' and so on. These may be valid as statistical generalizations, but they don't tell us much about what to expect in our international negotiations. Our counterparts, after all, are complex people who won't necessarily follow their cultural scripts. What factors trigger culturally based thinking? By giving participants negotiation problems under varying conditions, the author and his colleagues have identified the psychological triggers of culturally based thinking. A better understanding of these triggers will help you adapt to differences that arise in negotiations with people from other backgrounds. HBS Number: N0506D Subjects: Communication strategy; Community relations; Cross cultural relations; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When Does Gender Matter in Negotiation?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Pradel, Dina W.; Bowles, Hannah Riley; McGinn, Kathleen L. Publication Date: 11/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Businesspeople often ask whether men or women are better negotiators. According to the authors' research, gender is not a reliable predictor of negotiation performance; neither women nor men perform better or worse across all negotiations. However, certain types of negotiations can set the stage for differences in outcomes negotiated by men and by women. These differences can create huge inequities over time. Awareness of the factors that create gender-related advantages and disadvantages can help you mitigate their consequences -- and promote a more egalitarian workplace. HBS Number: N0511D Subjects: Communication strategy; Compensation; Competitive advantage; Gender; Negotiations; Outcomes Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When Good People (Seem to) Negotiate in Bad Faith   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Bazerman, Max H.; Chugh, Dolly; Banaji, Mahzarin R. Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Reasonable, fair-minded negotiators often find themselves accusing others of unethical behavior or facing such accusations themselves. Either way, the negotiation may head down a path that leads to impasse and destroys the relationship. To understand fully the constraints on your own negotiating ability, you need to overcome the common assumption that ethically challenged behavior always results from a conscious decision to engage in self-rewarding behavior. Learn how to identify -- both in yourself and in others -- the types of ordinary unethical behavior that occur regularly in negotiation and ways to prompt more ethical and rewarding agreements. HBS Number: N0510A Subjects: Communication strategy; Ethics; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When the Only Constant Is Change   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Conventional negotiation theory doesn't say much about how to craft and execute strategy in constantly changing markets. But modern military science, which deals with contexts in which uncertainty, risk, and change are the only constants, offers powerful lessons for negotiators, whether they are settling disputes or making deals. First, make a bump plan to deal with the mental and organizational friction that infiltrates negotiation; this means ultimately making an informed bet on how you expect things to unfold, while also contemplating what you'll do if events go the other way. Second, have a bias for action; become proactive to gain a firsthand reading of the market and a key role in shaping how the game evolves. Finally, be open to learning and adapting -- bolstering your capacity to sense and respond is key to prospering in turbulent situations. Read more about what the U.S. Marine Corps' strategy bible and other military sources have to teach negotiators. HBS Number: N0512D Industry Setting: Military Subjects: Change management; Communication; Communication strategy; Competitive advantage; Negotiations; Psychology; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When to Walk Away from a Deal   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Cullinan, Geoffrey; Le Roux, Jean-Marc; Weddigen, Rolf-Magnus Publication Date: 04/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0404F Subjects: Acquisitions; Agreements; Alliances; Analysis; Corporate responsibility; Mergers; Mergers & Acquisitions; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations Product Description: Deal making is glamorous; due diligence is not. That simple statement goes a long way toward explaining why so many companies have made so many acquisitions that have produced so little value. The momentum of a transaction is hard to resist once senior management has the target in its sights. Companies contract “deal fever,” and due diligence all too often becomes an exercise in verifying the target's financial statements rather than conducting a fair analysis of the deal's strategic logic and the acquirer's ability to realize value from it. In a recent Bain & Co. survey of 250 international executives with M&A responsibilities, only 30% of them were satisfied with the rigor of their due diligence. And fully a third admitted they hadn't walked away from deals they had nagging doubts about. In this article, the authors, all Bain consultants, emphasize the importance of comprehensive due diligence practices and suggest ways companies can improve their capabilities in this area. They provide rich, real-world examples of companies that have had varying levels of success with their due diligence processes, including Safeway, Odeon, American Seafoods, and Kellogg's. Effective due diligence requires answering four basic questions: What are we really buying? What is the target's stand-alone value? Where are the synergies — and the skeletons? And what's our walk-away price? Each of these questions will prompt an even deeper level of querying that puts the broader, strategic rationale for acquisitions under a microscope.    When You Hold All the Cards   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Subramanian, Guhan Publication Date: 09/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Consider this hypothetical situation: You sell umbrellas, and a man in a well-tailored suit rushes into your shop at the start of a downpour. You would seem to hold all the cards. So, what's the problem, you might reasonably ask? Concerns about violating your own ethics or harming your reputation might limit your willingness to extract as much gain from the trade as you can, but these factors won't prevent you from at least getting a very good deal. Yet, being the more powerful party in a negotiation doesn't guarantee a free ride. Learn why trying to squeeze every penny out of a deal can backfire. HBS Number: N0509B Subjects: Competitive advantage; Decision analysis; Morality; Negotiations; Power & influence Academic Discipline: Negotiations    When You’re Stuck in the Middle   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Hackley, Susan Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Many of us have been bystanders to a conflict that causes us real harm: the marketing VP and the manufacturing manager -- who hate each other -- are using you as a go-between; your siblings bicker over who does more to help your parents, and the disagreement is spoiling family gatherings; and while your neighbors argue over who should pay to haul away a fallen tree, the tree rots next to your front yard. In his book The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop, anthropologist William Ury gives advice to those stuck in the middle of a difficult conflict. For would-be negotiators who don't want to engage directly in conflict -- for reasons such as fear or lack of knowledge, resources, or authority -- the role of the third side provides an alternative. HBS Number: N0510B Subjects: Communication strategy; Conflict resolution; Interpersonal relations; Negotiations; Psychology Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Which Comes First? How to Handle Linked Negotiations   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wheeler, Michael Publication Date: 01/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Which should you do first: Nail down an agreement for new office space or negotiate early termination of your current lease? Sign a big agreement with a customer before securing commitments from your own suppliers or work the other way around? In linked negotiations, successful resolution of one deal could actually leave you worse off if the other deal falls through. This risk can consign cautious negotiators to the status quo, even when it's less than optimal. Effective management of linked negotiations requires three special steps as you prepare to go to the bargaining table: set the spread, compare the markets, and find the hinge. Three more steps become critical as the process unfolds: take soundings, adapt and adjust, and create value through linkage. Learn how success in these areas of linked negotiation can help you generate the most value overall. HBS Number: N0501D Subjects: Agreements; Decision analysis; Negotiations; Problem solving; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Why Do Some Strategic Alliances Persist Beyond Their Useful Life?   Add   View  18 pp.  Article Author(s): Inkpen, Andrew C.; Ross, Jerry Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Strategic alliances continue to be important tools of competitive strategy. However, many alliances do not achieve their partners' collaborative objectives and are terminated prematurely. As a result, alliances are often described as inherently unstable organizational forms that are subject to high rates of failure. In addition to the problems associated with not achieving collaborative objectives, a related issue has received limited attention. Although alliances are prone to failure, there are numerous examples of strategic alliances that continue for years despite failing to accomplish partner objectives. This article examines such strategic alliances. However, it does not focus on why failure occurs, but on the variables that contribute to firms' persistence with failing alliances. It also provides measures that can effectively counter persistence. HBS Number: CMR218 Subjects: Alliances; Corporate strategy; Organizational problems; Strategic alliances Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Will You Thrive — or Just Survive?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Kolb, Deborah Publication Date: 01/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Chances are, last time you faced a new leadership opportunity, you negotiated the perquisites of the appointment -- your title, vacation, and bonus. But did you look beyond these basics and negotiate for what you needed to succeed in your new role? All new leaders will be tested, yet people often fail to negotiate issues critical to their ability to perform on the job: their fit with the role, support that could legitimate their appointment, and the resources that could push forth their agenda. In Her Place at the Table: A Woman's Guide to Negotiating Five Key Challenges to Leadership, Judith Williams, Carol Frohlinger, and Deborah Kolb report that new leaders often overlook valuable opportunities to jump-start their leadership because of three faulty assumptions. Learn about these three assumptions and find out how you can build a strategic campaign to negotiate the conditions you need to perform well in a new role. HBS Number: N0501A Subjects: Leadership; Negotiations; Problem solving; Women; Women executives Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Winner’s Curse in IT Outsourcing: Strategies for Avoiding Relational Trauma   Add   View  24 pp.  Article Author(s): Kern, Thomas; Willcocks, Leslie P.; Van He Publication Date: 01/01/2002 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Large international corporations commonly engage in IT outsourcing. However, the process of evaluating, selecting, and subsequently contracting out or selling the organization's IT assets, people, and/or activities to a third-party supplier creates the possibility of a ``Winner's Curse.'' This occurs when the supplier overpromises on what can be delivered for the contract price. This article presents a longitudinal outsourcing case study that explicates the often abstruse Winner's Curse, its effect on post-contract management and the relationship, and how it was alleviated by a mutual renegotiation of the terms of the deal. Building on auction and IT outsourcing theory, the article provides both a model of IT outsourcing processes and a Winner's Curse typology for understanding IT outsourcing ventures. To avoid the experience of relational trauma as a consequence of a Winner's Curse, this article identifies six lessons that client and supplier companies should consider before signing IT outsourcing deals. HBS Number: CMR221 Subjects: Competitive bidding; Information technology; Outsourcing; Suppliers Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Win-Win with Mark Gordon   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Flippin, Royce Publication Date: 03/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Mark Gordon is a senior adviser for the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School. In this interview, Gordon offers a brief tutorial on collaborative negotiating. The article includes a sidebar entitled, "Return on Negotiation: The Next Wave in Win-Win Theory." HBS Number: C9903A Subjects: Interviews; Management communication; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations    You Can Manage Construction Risks   Add   View  13 pp.  Article Author(s): Macomber, John D. Publication Date: 03/01/1989 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Although construction is one of the riskiest things any company will do, upper management often ignores the risk or treats it as if it's uncontrollable. Construction risk, however, can be analyzed and managed by using seven steps. Analyzing risk is largely a matter of assessing the complexity of the building, the site, the financing, the schedule, and the special uses and problems of the project. This analysis then drives the choice of contract and contractor. HBS Number: 89210 Subjects: Competitive bidding; Construction; Project management; Risk management Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Your Managerial Intuition: How Much Should You Trust It? Can You Improve It?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Stauffer, David Publication Date: 06/01/1997 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Today's managers are increasingly forced to make decisions at a pace that allows too little time for analysis, but managers are unsure how much importance to give their intuition in making important decisions. After gathering a consensus on what intuition really is, this article explores the relevance, importance, and reliability of using intuition in the decision-making process. The article also suggests ways to enhance your intuition by techniques such as building expertise, removing distractions, keeping a journal or diary, and discussing options with an unbiased adviser or friend. HBS Number: U9706A Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision making; Management styles; Managerial behavior; Managerial skills Academic Discipline: Negotiations    Your Place or Mine? Deciding Where to Negotiate   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Salacuse, Jeswald W. Publication Date: 04/01/2005 Product Type: Negotiation Article Product Description: Everyone knows the three rules of real estate: Location! Location! Location! When it comes to making deals, choosing the right place to negotiate can be just as important. The location you select can dramatically affect the ensuing process and, ultimately, the end result. In deal making, the answer to the question ``Your place or mine?'' is never automatic. It requires careful study of the negotiation ahead of you. Negotiating partners located in the same city must decide whose office is most appropriate for their talks. The question of where to meet becomes even more critical for negotiators headquartered in different regions or nations because of the significant travel costs involved. When deciding on a site, you and your counterpart face four basic options: your place, his place, some other place (neutral territory), or no place at all (telephones or computers). This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of each option. HBS Number: N0504C Subjects: Decision analysis; Decision making; Location of industry; Negotiations Academic Discipline: Negotiations

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