Publications

12 Feb 2016
Op-Ed

The Real Jobs Tragedy in the US: We've Lost the Skills

America’s jobs market changed substantially. Harvard Business School research shows that between 1990 and 2014, America’s ability to generate “traded” jobs—that is, jobs in industries exposed to international competition—stalled sharply.... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Fuller and Matt Sigelman; Manufacturing; Electronics

29 May 2006
Research & Ideas

Why CEOs Are Not Plug-and-Play

manager's skills. When the telecommunications industry was deregulated and challenged by new entrants, for instance, few former Bell Systems managers were able to successfully transition to the fast-moving, entrepreneurial,... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean & Nitin Nohria; Employment

January 2008
Article

Nonemployment Stigma as Rational Herding: A Field Experiment

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Long spells of unemployment are known to reduce the likelihood of re-employment, but it is difficult to discern the reasons for this observation. Using an experimental method that controls for search intensity and possible discouragement of job applicants, I document... View Details

Keywords: Job Search; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employment; Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Creativity; Human Needs; Job Interviews; Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Managerial Roles; Judgments; Employment Industry

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17 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Man vs. Machine: Which Makes Better Hires?

who has studied how companies make organizational decisions in industries such as health care and education. “They are figuring out how to use the information of managers and combine it with this new technology.” Testing the testers To... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Employment

01 Feb 2017
What Do You Think?

Is the Next Jobs Crisis Just Ahead?

for beginning teachers So, is there any hope?” Roy Damary summed up his thoughts this way: “And we all thought that the service industry was the salvation of countries facing industrial decline!” Although... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

26 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

The Power of the Noncompete Clause

made me sign. This experience got me thinking that my employment opportunities had been geographically circumscribed by differences in the enforcement of noncompetes between states—that with my highly specialized skills, the only way I... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2024
Teaching Note

Beamery: Using Skills and AI to Modernize HR

By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane, Susan Pinckney and Alexis Lefort

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 424-004. Unicorn human relationships startup Beamery evaluates it growth versus depth strategy as its strategic partners and customers could become future competitors in a quickly changing AI based human resources and talent management... View Details

2008
Case

Leading Professional Service Firms (LPSF) (Executive Education)

By: Julie Battilana

Keywords: Leadership; Employment Industry

October 2024
Case

Reed Group and Succession in a Family Business: An Impossible Job to Fill?

By: Lauren H. Cohen and Tonia Labruyere

James Reed had taken over Reed Group, the recruitment and career services company his father had founded and built, in 1994. He was now reflecting on succession planning and other challenges that lay ahead: with no obvious choice among his family members, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Charity; Succession Planning; Family Business; Values and Beliefs; Management Succession; Mission and Purpose; Family Ownership; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Family and Family Relationships; Recruitment; AI and Machine Learning; Employment Industry; United Kingdom; London

August 2011
Teaching Note

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Erin McFee

Teaching Note for 408-066. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Information Technology; Opportunities; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Risk and Uncertainty; Employment Industry

September 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Scotty Smiley

By: Scott A. Snook and Doug Crandall

U.S. Army Lieutenant Scotty Smiley faces the biggest challenge of his young life. What will he do after learning that the wounds he received from a car bomb in Iraq have left him permanently blinded? On April 6, 2005, Lieutenant Scotty Smiley was grievously wounded by... View Details

Keywords: Government Administration; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics; Customization and Personalization; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Performance Capacity; Planning; Employment Industry; United States; Iraq

October 2009
Article

Pioneering Entrepreneur Yoshiko Shinohara on Turning Temporary Work into Big Business in Japan

By: Anthony J. Mayo and Mayuka Yamazaki

Tempstaff's founder, a pioneering Japanese entrepreneur, wondered whether she would go to jail for launching her business. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Gender; Business Startups; Employment Industry; Japan

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April 2008 (Revised March 2015)
Case

TheLadders (A)

By: Peter A. Coles, Benjamin Edelman, Brian J. Hall and Nicole Bennett

Despite strong appeal among job seekers and outside recruiters, TheLadders' corporate job listings seem to lag. Could raising prices help solve the problem? TheLadders considers this strategic paradox. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Price; Recruitment; Job Search; Marketing Strategy; Employment Industry

September 2022
Case

HPP: Tapping the Netherlands’ Potential

By: Brian Trelstad and Idelès Kaandorp

Stichting Het Potentieel Pakken (HPP) was launched to solve a systemic problem in the Dutch Labor Market: gender inequity that was leading to a large number of women to work part-time in fields that were in desperately short supply of labor, like health care, child... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Grants; Scaling And Growth; Nonprofit Organizations; Opportunities; Gender; Income; Employment; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Employment Industry; Employment Industry; Employment Industry; Europe; Netherlands

January 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Yoshiko Shinohara and Tempstaff

By: Anthony Mayo, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

The case presents a biographical portrait of Yoshiko Shinohara who founded Tempstaff in 1973, one of the largest temporary staffing agencies in Japan. In addition to chronicling Shinohara's entrepreneurial activities, the case provides contextual background about the... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Employment Industry; Japan

February 2003 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Yahoo!: Becoming a Competitor in the Career Listings Space (A)

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Nicole Nasser

In late 2001, Yahoo!'s new executive leadership team faces a decision. With online advertising revenues significantly off, the company has decided to explore new strategic businesses, including online recruiting. The team must decide whether to make a bid for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Recruitment; Management Teams; Negotiation Deal; Employment Industry

November 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Monster.com: Success Beyond the Bubble

In 2001, Monster.com was an Internet site that, among other things, connected individuals seeking jobs with organizations wanting to hire. Its substitutes included help wanted classified advertising in newspapers. Monster was one of the few Internet companies that had... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry