Recent Posts

The Dictator Game: Justifying Selfishness in Negotiation

By on / Teaching Negotiation

In a recent study of selfishness in negotiation, Fei Song of York University and C. Brian Cadsby and Tristan Morris of the University of Guelph had participants play the “dictator game,” adapted from experimental economics literature. In this game, Party A is given a sum of money to allocate between himself and Party B. Because … Read More

Power Failure

By on / Business Negotiations

In 1992 as part of efforts to privatize its energy sector, the Indian government chose energy-trading firm Enron, in conjunction with General Electric and the Bechtel Corporation, to build the world’s largest electricity-generating plant in Maharashtra, one of the poorest states in India. Possessing significant financial, intellectual, and reputational capital, Enron had to have been … Read Power Failure

Negotiations by Other Means: Track II, Unilateral Action, Robust Third Party Role and Islands of Coordination in the New Middle East

By on / Events, International Negotiation, Middle East Negotiation Initiatives

As direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations appear to have ground to an indefinite halt, attention has shifted to other, less conventional methods for achieving mutually desirable outcomes for the two peoples. Tonight’s panelists will discuss the potential of alternatives including Track II diplomacy, isolated areas of coordination, a pro-active role of the third party and even … Read More

Grant Strother (HLS 2012) Wins Conflict Prevention and Resolution Award for Best Original Student Article

By on / Conflict Resolution

Recent Harvard Law School Graduate Grant Strother ’12 was selected to receive The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) Outstanding Original Student Article Award for his paper, “Resolving Cultural Property Disputes in the Shadow of the Law.” This award recognizes a student article or paper that is focused on events or issues in … Read More

When impasse looms, bring them back from the brink

By on / Business Negotiations

On November 20 of last year, Hostess Brands announced that it had failed to reach agreement with its second-biggest union and, as a result, was permanently shutting down its operations.

The news was met with dismay by baby boomers and others who had grown up with the 80-year-old company’s shelf-stable confections. But consumers had been passing … Read More

From negotiation to auction: The rise of real-time bidding

By on / Dealmaking

Because of a technological innovation called real-time bidding, or RTB, more and more online-advertising transactions are being completed through auctions rather than negotiations. The transformation could foreshadow similar changes in other realms, as negotiations gain the potential to become more automated.

How RTB works
In the dark ages of the Internet, websites would negotiate individually with potential … Read More

Harvard Negotiation Law Review Symposium Will Honor Roger Fisher

By on / Dispute Resolution, Negotiation Skills

The Harvard Negotiation Law Review’s 2013 Symposium, entitled, “Ideas and Impact: Roger Fisher’s Legacy,” will be held on Saturday, March 2, 2013 at the Harvard Law School in Austin North from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.   The full-day event will explore the contributions of the late Roger Fisher, co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and … Read More