When transferring property, sellers sometimes insist on real estate rights of first refusal – the chance to be first in line to repurchase the property if their buyer later decides to sell.
… Read More 
hardball tactics
The following items are tagged hardball tactics
Daily
Product
Negotiation Genius
Deepak Malhotra & Max Bazerman
Clear and methodical advice for preparing for and executing any negotiation, drawing on decades of behavioral research and the experience of thousands of business clients – Co-winner of the 2008 CPR Award for Excellence in ADR (Outstanding Book Category)
… Read More
Daily
The Importance of Power in Negotiations: Taylor Swift Shakes it Off
In negotiation, our success often hinges on our bargaining power—which in turn can depend on forces beyond our control. That truism was highlighted in two recent disputes arising from business negotiations over the pricing of copyrighted material in the digital era, one from the music world, the other from publishing.
… Read More
Daily
10 Hard-Bargaining Tactics to Watch Out for in a Negotiation
Don’t be caught unprepared by hard bargainers, warn Robert Mnookin, Scott Peppet, and Andrew Tulumello in their book Beyond Winning.
… Read More
Daily
Case Studies: Examples of Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict by meeting at least some of each side’s needs and addressing their interests. Conflict resolution sometimes requires both a power-based and an interest-based approach, such as the simultaneous pursuit of litigation (the use of legal power) and negotiation (attempts to reconcile each party’s … Read More
Daily
Teach Coalition Management in Multiparty Negotiations
Multiparty negotiations can be difficult to manage if you are unprepared for the formation of coalitions. Two-party and multiparty negotiations share some important similarities: the goal of discovering the zone of possible agreement, for example. However, there are some key differences that set them apart. As soon as the number of parties increases past two, … Read More
Daily
How Hardball Negotiation Tactics Can Backfire
In negotiations and disputes, punishment and threats often seem like the only way to win concessions. But business negotiators would do well to remember how Time Warner’s gambit unfolded.
… Read More
Daily
Negotiation Skills: Building Trust in Negotiations
Trust may develop naturally over time, but negotiators rarely have the luxury of letting nature take its course. Thus it sometimes seems easiest to play it safe with cautious deals involving few tradeoffs, few concessions, and little information sharing between parties.
… Read More
Daily
How a Bad BATNA Keeps Medicare Drug Prices High
It’s Negotiation 101: to get what you want, you need to be able to make a credible threat to walk away from a subpar deal. And for your threat to be credible, you can’t walk in with a bad BATNA, you have to have a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. In … Read More
Daily
When Dealmaking Breaks Down, Take the High Road
When a negotiation reaches an impasse, it can be tempting to use threats and punishment to try to coerce the other side into conceding. That happened in a dispute between Amazon and Hachette, one of the largest New York publishers, as reported in the New York Times.
… Read More
Daily
Interest-Based Negotiation: In Mediation, Focus on Your Goals
How can you get through to people who seem uninterested in finding common ground? How can you deal with seemingly irrational negotiators who use insults, threats, and other hardball tactics to try to get their way?
… Read More
Daily
What’s Keeping You from Closing the Deal?
When talks stall, it’s tempting to jump to conclusions: “It’s purely a price gap.” “They’re being unreasonable.” “We’re not communicating well.” “We’re in a weak position.”
… Read More
Daily
10 Negotiation Failures
Here’s a list of some of the most notable negotiation flops – from deals that were over before they started, to those that were botched at the table, to those that proved disastrous well after the ink had dried.
… Read More
Daily
With Patient Approach, FBI Steered Oregon Occupiers Toward Their BATNA
The 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon ended on February 11 when the last occupiers surrendered. Federal authorities in six states also arrested seven others accused of being involved in the occupation, according to the Associated Press. The standoff had begun when Ammon Bundy and his followers took over the … Read More
Daily
In Business Negotiations for Super Bowl I Tape, NFL Stops the Clock
The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35 to 10 in Super Bowl I. But that’s not the end of the story. In business negotiations, and particularly sales negotiation, enthusiasm is required when trying to convince our counterparts that we have what they need. But that enthusiasm isn’t always infectious. The tale of … Read More
Daily
In Negotiations with Ben Affleck, No Appealing BATNA
In negotiation, your best source of power is typically your best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA. Having a strong outside alternative enables you to walk away from a deal that doesn’t meet your needs or that would compromise your vision or ethics.
But when you are dealing with a negotiating partner who seems irreplaceable, … Read More
Daily
Conflict Management Techniques: Should You Take Your Dispute Public?
To turn up the heat on opponents, negotiators sometimes advertise their grievances.
Here’s negotiation skills advice on when it’s a good idea to be vocal—and when to keep talks private.
The decision seemed nonsensical.
Early on the morning of March 7, 2010, with the Academy Awards telecast just hours away, the Walt Disney Company pulled the signal on … Read More
Daily
How to Deal When the Going Gets Tough
Most business negotiators understand that by working collaboratively with their counterparts while also advocating strongly on their own behalf, they can build agreements and longterm
relationships that benefit both sides.
During times of economic hardship, however, many negotiators abandon their commitment to cooperation and mutual gains.
Instead, they fall back on competitive tactics, threatening the other … Read More
Daily
Top Business Negotiations of 2013: Time Warner versus CBS
On October 31, 2013, Time Warner Cable reported a huge quarterly loss of television subscribers, the largest in its history: 306,000 of its 11.7 million subscribers had dropped the company, the New York Times reports. The bad news has been attributed largely to an impasse with television network CBS over fees, which led to Time … Read More
Daily
Top Business Negotiations of 2013: Simon & Schuster versus Barnes & Noble
When months of negotiations with publishing house Simon & Schuster reached a standoff in January 2013, Barnes & Noble attempted to gain leverage by significantly reducing its orders of Simon & Schuster titles and engaging in other hardball tactics, such as refusing to book the publisher’s authors for in-store readings.
… Read More
Daily
When You’re on Stage
Adapted from “How to Deal When the Going Gets Tough,” first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Negotiators tend to feel pressured when they’re performing in front of an audience, according to Harvard Business School professor Deepak Malhotra. If your boss is watching your every move, if you are bargaining as part of a team, or if … Read More
Daily
Should you be nasty or nice?
Adapted from “Honey or Vinegar?”, first published in the Negotiation newsletter.
Who brings out the best in us: someone nice or someone nasty? According to a recent study by Gerben A. van Kleef and colleagues of the University of Amsterdam, we may be more generous toward angry people than toward happy people.
In the first two … Read More
Daily
Tough Tactics: Do ‘Death Threats’ Really Work?
What would you do if someone threatened you? Strike back? Run away? Beg for mercy? Try to negotiate?
Last April, The New York Times in effect held a gun to the heads of Boston Globe employees – twice. The confrontation, say experts at the Harvard Program on Negotiation, offers valuable lessons in handling high-risk, high-stakes situations.
Background: … Read More
Daily
Boost your negotiations skills and confidence
The following book, Negotiation Genius, was co-winner of the 2008 CPR Award for Excellence in ADR (Outstanding Book Category). It provides clear and methodical advice for preparing for and executing any negotiation, drawing on decades of behavioral research and the experience of thousands of business clients.
Whether you’ve “seen it all” or are just … Read More
Fall Programs
Summer Programs
Contact us: Call 1-800-391-8629 (outside the US: +1-301-528-2676) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET any business day or email hni@law.harvard.edu
Articles & Insights
BATNA
- Business Negotiations
- Negotiation Examples in Real Life – Buying a Home and Dealing with Difficult People
- Contract Negotiations and Business Communication: How to Write an Iron-Clad Contract
- Advice for Bargaining Abroad: Tips on How To Overcome Cultural Barriers
- Negotiation Tactics, BATNA and Examples for Creating Value in Business Negotiations
- What is the Right of First Refusal?
- Conflict Resolution
- Crisis Negotiations
- Police Negotiation Techniques from the NYPD Crisis Negotiations Team
- In This Greece Crisis Negotiation, Tough Conditions May Have Affected the Deal
- Crisis Negotiations: After the West Coast Ports Conflict, Damage Remained
- What is Crisis Management in Negotiation?
- Famous Negotiations Cases – NBA and the Power of Deadlines at the Bargaining Table
- Dealing with Difficult People
- Ethics in Negotiations: How to Deal with Deception at the Bargaining Table
- Dealing with Difficult People and Negotiation: When Should You Give Up the Fight?
- Negotiation Strategies: Bernie Sanders’ Pragmatic Approach to Negotiating in the Senate
- How to Renegotiate a Bad Deal
- When Dealing with Difficult People, Try a Complementary Approach
- Dealmaking
- Dispute Resolution
- International Negotiation
- The Importance of Relationship Building in China
- Famous Negotiators: Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin
- Best Negotiators in History: Nelson Mandela and His Negotiation Style
- The Negotiation Process in China
- How to Overcome Cultural Barriers in Communication – Cultural Approximations of Time and the Impact on Negotiations
- Leadership Skills
- Pope Francis and the Benefits of Servant Leadership in Negotiations
- Leadership Styles in Negotiation: The Case of Ebay and Paypal
- Impact of Leadership Styles on Strategic Decisions: Taylor Swift and Apple Music at the Negotiation Table
- Negotiation Skills and Bargaining Techniques from Female Executives
- Bargaining at a Fever Pitch
- Mediation
- Dispute Resolution: The Advantages of a Neutral Third-Party Mediator
- What Makes a Good Mediator?
- Techniques for Leading Multiparty Negotiations: Structuring the Bargaining Process
- How Mediation Works When Both Parties Agree They Need Help Resolving the Dispute
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Training: Mediation Curriculum
- Negotiation Skills
- Negotiation Training
- Salary Negotiations
- Teaching Negotiation
- Win-Win Negotiations
- Win-Win Negotiation Strategies for Rebuilding a Relationship
- 5 Win-Win Negotiation Strategies
- Negotiation Examples: Negotiating for a Win Win Coalition at the Bargaining Table
- How to Use Tradeoffs to Create Value in Your Negotiations
- For NFL Players, a Win-Win Negotiation Contract Only in Retrospect?