Publications

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November 15, 2021
Article

What Do Black Executives Really Want?

By: Frank Cooper III and Ranjay Gulati

Recruiting and retaining Black talent is a priority for many organizations. Most are committed to and investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And yet, according to interviews and focus groups with Black executives working in a variety of blue-chip... View Details

Keywords: Black Executives; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Race; Organizational Culture; Change Management

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06 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 6

to leave sued firms. Overall, shareholders use litigation along with director elections and director retention to hold some independent directors more accountable than others when firms experience financial fraud. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

06 May 2002
What Do You Think?

What’s Driving the “New Marketing?”

value. This work focuses on gaining the "permission" of customers to sell to them, customer retention and loyalty, the capture of lifetime value, and marketing expenditures as investments. Everything happens faster. And, among... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Nov 2002
What Do You Think?

What’s Best for the Corporate Brain?

to be transferred into the corporate brain," a formidable task in many organizations. Those stressing the importance of memory placed the greatest value on the retention of talent in the organization. As C. J. Cullinane put it,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 16, 2010

that acquisitions can build competitive advantage partially through retention of valuable human capital of the target firm. However, making commitments to retain and motivate successful top managers is a challenge when contracts are not... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2007 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Don Jenkins: Resigning from the Firm

By: Boris Groysberg, Geoff Eckman Marietta and Steven Manchel

Don Jenkins, a star event planner at a large firm, resigns to take a position at a boutique firm. However, Don may have made some mistakes when departing that could be trouble later on down the road. The case can be used to teach the business and legal aspects of... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Resignation and Termination; Retention; Law; Service Industry

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December 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Managing Talent at Bertelsmann AG (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, Nitin Nohria, Mark Maletz and Kerry Herman

Bertelsmann's EVP HR Immanuel Hermreck and his team were focused on four key HR issues. Three of these were somewhat discreet: improving Bertelsmann's employer brand; managing Bertelsmann talent across the firm's decentralized businesses; and ensuring early... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Leadership Development; Strategic Planning; Competitive Advantage; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Germany

January 2023
Teaching Note

Duolingo: Teaching Languages to the Masses

By: Youngme Moon

Teaching Note for HBS Case 323-016. At the time the case is written, Duolingo is the most popular language learning service in the world. The company has more than 40 million monthly active users, and the company’s total annual revenue has reached $250 million a year.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Acquisition; Retention; Innovation and Invention

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

How Your Employees and Customers Drive a New Value Profit Chain

recognition, and involvement of top management in the hiring and retention decisions regarding large numbers of managers. Many organizations don't know the profitability of their existing customers. Many treat all customers basically the... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

November 21, 2022
Article

Now You See Me, Now I'm Gone

By: Boris Groysberg, Derek Haas and Eric Lin

As undervalued performers become more visible, they also gain more options to leave their employers. View Details

Keywords: Retention; Technology Adoption; Human Capital; Employees; Personal Development and Career

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October 1998
Case

"Pathways to Independence": Welfare-to-Work at Marriott International

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

In 1991 Marriott International established a program called Pathways to Independence to recruit and train people from the welfare rolls. The program graduated over 1,000 people in eight years and retained about 20% more of its participants than regular hires. Now the... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Retention; Training; Expansion; Quality; Poverty; Programs

August 1999 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Brita Products Company, The

By: John A. Deighton

Clorox's Brita skillfully exploits a tide of water safety concerns, growing a home water (filtration) business from inception to a 15% U.S. household penetration in ten years. The dilemma in the case arises as the period of increasing returns seems to be drawing to a... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Acquisition; Retention; Safety; Natural Environment; Emerging Markets; Investment Return; Equity; Demand and Consumers; United States

October 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Lanco Medical Group: Fostering Happiness for Growth

By: Susanna Gallani, Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago and Katherine Sonnefeldt

This case describes how Lanco Medical Group, a fast-growing pharmaceutical distributor serving Latin America, approached the design of their employee benefits and incentives program. After learning about gaps between what leadership believed motivated employees and... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Growth Management; Motivation and Incentives; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Latin America

February 2019
Teaching Note

Talent@Tencent

By: Tarun Khanna

Late in 2016, two senior human resources (HR) executives at Tencent Holdings (Tencent), China’s leading Internet services firm, are assessing the effectiveness of the company’s talent management practices in responding to Tencent’s sustained hypergrowth. Over the... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Employees; Retention; Entrepreneurship; Employee Relationship Management; Web Services Industry; China

July 2013
Supplement

Interview with Bill Allen and Maria Pejter: A.P. Møller - Maersk Group

By: Boris Groysberg

In 2012, Bill Allen and Maria Pejter, of Maersk Group's Human Resources Department, sat down to consider some key aspects of Maersk's talent management strategy. In this video, Allen and Pejter discuss in some greater detail some of the challenges they faced as... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Development; Human Resource Management; Talent Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Corporate Culture; Hiring; Employee Training; Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Retention; Diversity; Denmark

21 May 2007
Research & Ideas

Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect

aren't very helpful. Indeed, popular metrics such as customer satisfaction, acquisition, and retention have turned out to be very poor indicators of customers' true perceptions or the success of marketing activities. Often, they're... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 30, 2022
Article

To Retain Employees, Support Their Passions Outside Work

By: Lauren C Howe, Jon M. Jachimowicz and Jochen I. Menges

With more and more people quitting, leaders need to find new ways to boost retention. One under-recognized way to keep employees on board is to give them the flexibility and resources they need to pursue their out-of-work passions. Drawing on their research, the... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Employees; Retention; Interests; Work-Life Balance; Human Resources; Strategy

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March 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Supplement

Lisa Sherman (B)

By: Bill George and Jens Audenaert

The case of Lisa Sherman (B) describes a highly successful executive at Verizon, who decides to leave the company because of the negative views of gays and lesbians expressed at a diversity training workshop, and her final meeting with Verizon CEO Ray Smith to describe... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Personal Development and Career; Retention; Resignation and Termination; Diversity; Government and Politics