Faculty & Research
Guhan Subramanian

Guhan Subramanian

H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law
Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business

H. Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law
Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business

Guhan Subramanian is the Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and the Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School. He is the first person in the history of Harvard University to hold tenured appointments at both HLS and HBS. At HLS he teaches courses in negotiations and corporate law. At HBS he teaches in several executive education programs, such as Strategic Negotiations, Making Corporate Boards More Effective, and the Advanced Management Program. He is the faculty chair for the JD/MBA program at Harvard University, the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation, and the Mergers & Acquisitions executive education course at HBS. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty he spent three years at McKinsey & Company.
Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
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Guhan Subramanian
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Featured Work Publications Teaching

Guhan Subramanian is the Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and the Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School. He is the first person in the history of Harvard University to hold tenured appointments at both HLS and HBS. At HLS he teaches courses in negotiations and corporate law. At HBS he teaches in several executive education programs, such as Strategic Negotiations, Making Corporate Boards More Effective, and the Advanced Management Program. He is the faculty chair for the JD/MBA program at Harvard University, the Harvard Program on Negotiation, and the Mergers & Acquisitions executive education course at HBS. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty he spent three years at McKinsey & Company.

Professor Subramanian's research explores topics in corporate law, corporate governance, and negotiations. He has published articles in the Stanford Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and the Harvard Law Review, among other places. Twelve of his articles have been selected as being among the “top ten” articles published in corporate and securities law in their respective years, among the 400+ articles that are published each year, by scholars in the field. The two-volume treatise Law & Economics of Mergers & Acquisitions, which includes 33 “seminal” articles from the field over the past 45 years, contains four of his articles, more than from any other scholar. His article “Corporate Governance 2.0” was selected as a McKinsey Award finalist, for best article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2015. His book Dealmaking (W. W. Norton 2011) synthesizes the findings from his research and teaching from the past two decades. It has been translated into Chinese (Mandarin), German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. He is also a co-author of Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization (Aspen 4th ed. 2012), a leading textbook in the field of corporate law.

Professor Subramanian has been involved in major public-company deals such as Cox Enterprises’ $9 billion freeze-out of the minority shareholders in Cox Communications, Exelon’s $8 billion hostile takeover bid for NRG, and the $26 billion management buyout of Dell, Inc. He also advises individuals, boards of directors, and management teams on issues of dealmaking and corporate governance. Over his nearly two decades on the Harvard faculty Professor Subramanian has been involved as an advisor or expert witness in deals or situations worth over $150 billion in total value. He is the lead independent director of LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ: LKQ), a Fortune 500 company in the automotive sector.

Professor Subramanian holds degrees in Law, Economics, and Business from Harvard University. 

Featured Work
Dealmaking
The New Strategy of Negotiauctions
Informed by meticulous research, field experience, and classroom-tested strategies, Dealmaking offers essential insights for anyone involved in buying or selling everything from cars to corporations. Leading business scholar Guhan Subramanian provides a lively tour of both negotiation and auction theory, then takes an in-depth look at his own hybrid theory, outlining three specific strategies readers can use in complex dealmaking situations. Along the way, he examines case studies as diverse as buying a house, haggling over the rights to a TV show, and participating in the auction of a multimillion-dollar company. Based on broad research and detailed case studies, Dealmaking brings together negotiation and auction strategies for the first time, providing the jargon-free, empirically sound advice professionals need to close the deal.
Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization
Fourth Edition
This text offers a unique real-world perspective on laws related to business organization. Logical and flexible chapters can be taught in any order to accommodate alternative teaching approaches. Chapters One through Four cover the fundamentals of organizational law in a business setting. Chapters Five through Thirteen address the legal regulation of a variety of actions, decisions, and transactions that involve or concern the modern public corporation. Introductions and transitional text, clearly and concisely written, provide context and perspective. Rich commentary in the form of explanatory notes facilitates teaching and understanding. The Fourth Edition is completely updated throughout.
Setting the Stage for Productive Negotiations
Understanding how to arrange the meeting space is a key aspect of preparing for negotiation. In this video, Professor Guhan Subramanian discusses a real world example of how seating arrangements can influence a negotiator's success. The discussion was held in his negotiation training workshop "Setting the Stage for Productive Negotiations" in the Program on Negotiation for Senior Executives.

Negotiauction e sua aplicacão prática

O termo foi criado pelo professor de Harvard, Guhan Subramanian, e se refere a estratégias para negociar em ambientes altamente competitivos. Mas a técnica também pode ser aplicada em negociações de todos os dias, que todos precisam fazer no ambiente de trabalho e até na vida particular. A reportagem é de Patricia Buneker.

Books
Journal Articles
Cases and Teaching Materials
Other Publications and Materials
  • Bebchuk, Lucian Arye, John C. Coates IV, and Guhan Subramanian. "The Effect of Takeover Defenses: Discussion Paper, Harvard Law School Olin Center for Law, Economics & Business." August 2006. View Details
Teaching
Strategic Negotiations: Dealmaking for the Long Term
To craft a complex deal with major implications for your organization's future, you need more than just persuasive tactics at the negotiating table. You need to bring together the right players, tackle the right issues, and develop the right process. By examining different types of deals in a broad framework, Strategic Negotiations: Dealmaking for the Long Term will help you master negotiation techniques that yield maximum value.
Related Link: Course web site
Making Corporate Boards More Effective
While your corporate board may have broadly defined legal duties, its role in evaluating management, providing strategic oversight, and dealing with the complexity of today's regulatory environment has never been more tested—or more critically dependent on effective leadership. Whether the issue is financial resilience, corporate strategy, executive compensation, or regulatory compliance, this program is designed to help you promote sound governance. You will learn what it takes to design an optimal board structure, lead the organization through periods of adversity and opportunity, and harness the considerable talents of your board members to create a cohesive and forward-thinking unit.
Related Link: Course web site
Changing the Game: Negotiation and Competitive Decision Making
High-stakes business negotiations challenge your wits, your confidence, and your capacity for clear reasoning under intense pressure. Changing the Game leverages the latest research to your advantage, helping you prepare for complex negotiations, anticipate and overcome obstacles, and think on your feet when decisions must be made in a flash.
Related Link: Course web site
Advanced Management Program: Transforming Proven Leaders into Global Executives
As the world economy continues to evolve, so do the requirements for global leadership. The Advanced Management Program (AMP) is a powerful, transformational, and personalized learning experience that explores the best management practices and latest strategies for sustaining a strategic advantage over the long term. You will emerge from AMP a visionary leader—equipped with the business expertise and global perspective to take your career and your organization to the next level of success.
Related Link: Course web site
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