Publications

September 1999 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Deloitte & Touche (B): Changing the Workplace

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Deloitte & Touche women's initiative changed the workplace culture at the firm, solved retention problems, and brought external benefits. Now a new CEO must decide how to take this a step further as competition for talent was even stronger, young people had different... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Organizational Culture; Accounting; Gender; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Loss; Change Management; Jobs and Positions; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Industry; United States

Program

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports

Summary Nowhere has the impact of digital technology been felt more keenly than in the entertainment world, where it has dramatically changed how products are developed and managed—and how View Details

Keywords: Media & Entertainment; Media & Entertainment

January 2023
Article

Firm-Induced Migration Paths and Strategic Human-Capital Outcomes

By: Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Victoria Sevcenko

Firm-induced migration typically entails firms relocating workers to fill value-creating positions at destination locations. But such relocated workers are often exposed to external employment opportunities at their destinations, possibly triggering turnover. We... View Details

Keywords: Worker Relocation; Turnover; Firm-induced Migration; Smaller Towns; Employee Mobility; Geographic Mobility; Migration; Clusters; Employees; Geographic Location; Performance; Opportunities; Retention; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management

2006
Working Paper

Defining the Attributes and Processes that Enhance the Effectiveness of Workforce Diversity Initiatives in Knowledge Intensive Firms

By: Modupe Akinola and David A. Thomas

Workforce diversity continues to be a key focus for organizations, driven by globalization of the U.S. economy and the desire for organizations to more accurately reflect the demographic diversity of the US population. Yet, most research on diversity in organizations... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Globalization; Employees; Retention; Knowledge Sharing; Research; United States

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October 2020 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Pete Carroll: Building a Winning Organization through Purpose, Caring, and Inclusion

By: Ranjay Gulati, Matthew Breitfelder and Monte Burke

Competing at the highest levels of the National Football League (NFL) requires tremendous skill, dedication and persistence. The most successful coaches in the NFL know how to draw out a higher level of performance and consistency from their players. This is typically... View Details

Keywords: National Football League; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Relationships; Performance; Success; Sports; Sports Industry

July 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Case

AT&T, Retraining, and the Workforce of Tomorrow

By: William R. Kerr, Joseph B. Fuller and Carl Kreitzberg

By the late 2000s, rapid changes in the telecommunications industry forced AT&T’s management team to take on a task that CEO Randall Stephenson called the “biggest logistical challenge” they had ever seen: retraining 100,000 workers by 2020. In 2012, internal company... View Details

September 2017
Article

Winning the War for Talent: Modern Motivational Methods for Attracting and Retaining Employees

By: Anais Thibault-Landry, Allan Schweyer and Ashley V. Whillans

Given the struggle that many organizations face hiring and retaining talent in today's tight labor market, it is critical to understand how to effectively reward employees. To address this question, we review relevant evidence that explains the importance of workplace... View Details

Keywords: Rewards; Total Reward Strategies; Incentives; Recognition; Motivation; Psychological Needs; Employees; Retention; Motivation and Incentives; Working Conditions

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2008
Book

Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours

By: Tarun Khanna

China and India are home to one-third of the world's population. And they're undergoing social and economic revolutions that are capturing the best minds--and money--of Western business. In "Billions of Entrepreneurs," Tarun Khanna examines the entrepreneurial forces... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Development Economics; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; China; India

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Teaching Interest

Launching New Ventures—Jump-Starting Innovation for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners (Executive Education)

By: William R. Kerr

Starting up a new venture amid rapid change is fraught with challenges. Whether you are starting a new business, launching a new business line, or building an entrepreneurial culture within a small-to-midsize company, this program provides a new perspective and core... View Details

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Burunda Prince at The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill, Eric Mankin and Emily Tedards

After a successful inaugural year, Burunda Prince, the Managing Director of Comcast’s startup business accelerator The Farm, was getting ready for an eventful 2019. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business... View Details

September 2016 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Dwyane Wade

By: Anita Elberse and Jennifer Schoppe

In July 2016, while on his annual China tour to help promote the sportswear brand Li-Ning, basketball superstar Dwyane Wade and his long-time business manager, Lisa Joseph-Metelus, face a decision regarding one of his other business partnerships—that with the American... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Fashion; Superstar; Celebrity Endorsement; Innovation; Creative Industries; Talent; General Management; Sports; Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Management; Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Sports Industry; China

Research Summary

Technology and Knowledge Transfer in the Evolution of China’s Machine Industry

This work-in-progress provides a historical perspective on the role of foreign companies as providers of machinery equipment and facilitators of technology transfer in China from the last decade of the 19^th century to the early 1950s. The project focuses on... View Details

September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model

By: Feng Zhu

Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Transportation; Business Startups; Business Model; Transportation Industry; Boston

01 Dec 2018
News

Competencies and Credentials

employees.” —Kieron Stopforth (MBA 2019) Managing the Future of Work Project Companies need to move beyond the old models of workforce development and human resources—those days have passed. The project... View Details

09 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 9, 2018

2018 Redwood City, Stanford Business Books The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society By: Kerr, William R. Abstract—The global race for talent is on, with countries and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Program

Leading and Building a Culture of Innovation

take risks, experiment, and learn from failures Unleash the diverse talent in your organization to create "collective genius" Manage your network of relationships with colleagues, employees, View Details

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

on employee engagement data, Bastian could see that while talent retention was high at Delta, too many frontline employees felt stuck and unable to gain opportunities to... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

25 Mar 2020
Blog Post

Black New Venture Competition and Black Tech Master Series Recap

advancing the discussion of diversity in tech and entrepreneurship as well as connecting talent to opportunity in these sectors. We’ve heard countless stories of attendees and... View Details

September 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Zurich Insurance: Recruitment

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on manager development, diversity and inclusion, job model and data analytics, recruitment, and talent pipeline. The case “Zurich Insurance: Fostering Key People... View Details

Keywords: Managing Change; Leadership; Organization Change And Adaptation; Organizational Behavior; Recruiting; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leading Change; Leadership Development; Human Capital; Human Resources; Insurance; Recruitment; Insurance Industry