Publications

2016
Article

Creating an Execution Premium: Human Capital Practices of Successful Organizations

By: David P. Norton, Robert S. Kaplan and Cassandra Frangos

February 2018
Teaching Note

Advika Consulting Services: Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Human Capital

By: Alison Wood Brooks, Francesca Gino, Julia J. Lee, Bradley R. Staats, Andrew Wasynczuk and John Beshears

Teaching Note for HBS No. 916-033. View Details

Keywords: Consulting Firms

2020
Working Paper

Should Firms Move Talent from the Geographic Periphery to Hubs? A Strategic Human Capital Perspective

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Victoria Sevcenko and Tarun Khanna

A longstanding literature holds that firms should hire and move talent from the geographic periphery to hubs as a means to create value from human capital. They do so, however, at the risk of losing the worker to rivals located in the same geographic hub,... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Residency; Technology Industry; India

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February 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Background Note

Business and Human Rights

By: Lynn S. Paine and Lara Adamsons

This note addresses some of the most frequently asked questions about the relation between human rights and business. Topics include the definition of human rights, the business leader's role regarding human rights, and legal liability of companies and executives for... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Human Capital; Legal Liability; Rights; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

Educators

June 2023
Article

Do Job Seekers Value Diversity Information? Evidence from a Field Experiment and Human Capital Disclosures

By: Jung Ho Choi, Joseph Pacelli, Kristina M. Rennekamp and Sorabh Tomar

We examine how information about the diversity of a potential employer's workforce affects individuals’ job-seeking behavior. We embed a field experiment in job recommendation emails from a leading career advice agency in the U.S. The experimental treatment involves... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Job Search; Employees; Corporate Disclosure

July 2000
Article

Competition and Human Capital Accumulation: A Theory of Interregional Specialization and Trade

By: Julio J. Rotemberg and G. Saloner

Keywords: Competition; Human Capital; Theory; Geography; Trade

August 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Background Note

Managing Organizational Human Capital: Research Resources

By: Boris Groysberg and Ann Cullen

This technical note provides a list of library resources for researching various aspects of managing human capital within organizations. View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Human Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Research

16 Nov 2011
News

Are Humans Cost-Effective?

to unscramble “Scrambled State Capitals,” a presumably brute-force analytical exercise that should play to Watson’s strengths. Indeed, in a similar category, “The Northernmost Capital City,” Watson ran the table, answering all five... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

Research Summary

Wage Policies and Incentives to Invest in Firm-Specific Human Capital (joint with George Baker and Nancy Dean Beaulieu)

The accumulation of firm-specific knowledge improves firm productivity and employee reten-tion, by creating a wedge between what the employee is worth inside and outside the firm. How does the firm create incentives for investment in firm-specific human capital when... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Should Human Capital Development Programs Be Voluntary or Mandatory? Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert and Christopher Stanton

In a field experiment, we find large differences in productivity treatment effects between voluntary and mandatory workplace mentorship programs. A significant portion of this difference is due to the best employees opting into the program when it is voluntary and... View Details

Keywords: Mentoring; Mentorship Programs; Randomized Controlled Trial; Employees; Relationships; Programs; Performance

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21 Jul 2009
Research Event

Business Summit: Managing Human Capital—Global Trends and Challenges

ways, the human capital needed for globalization is lacking. Progress is required in important areas such as elevating more women to leadership positions and having talent strategies that incorporate... View Details

Keywords: Re: David A. Thomas

06 Dec 2013
News

Prescription: Leverage Human Nature

June 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Platinum Capital

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

How should a venture capital firm divide compensation and decision rights between its founders and its next-generation partners? Platinum Capital faced this decision in July 2020. Platinum’s younger partners had just requested a piece of the firm’s highly lucrative... View Details

Keywords: Decision Rights; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Compensation and Benefits; Governance; Retention; Negotiation; Partners and Partnerships

Educators

03 Apr 2017
What Do You Think?

How About Investing in Human Infrastructure?

and clearly should be implemented. But it won’t while the merits of human capital investment are substantial, the political realities of our grotesquely divided nation today would appear to me to be a hurdle... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Construction

26 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Experimental Evidence on Complementarities Between Human Capital and Machine Learning

Keywords: by Prithwiraj Choudhury, Evan Starr, and Rajshree Agarwal; Information Technology

January 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Module Note

Managers and Market Capitalism

By: Rebecca Henderson and Karthik Ramanna

The last thirty years have seen the widespread embrace of market capitalism as not only a highly efficient form of economic organization but also as one that best meets the diversity of human preferences. In large, complex societies, an increasing body of theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Management

February 2004
Case

Succession Capital Corporation

In 2003, a small buyout company in Canada was deciding which company to purchase next. This case explores the challenges facing a young entrepreneur in the process of selecting a new acquisition when financial and human resources are constrained. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Canada

September 2021
Case

Brown Capital Management

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Sarah Mehta

Set in July 2021, this case looks at several growth strategies under consideration at Brown Capital, the second-oldest Black-owned asset management firm in the U.S. Since its 1983 founding, Baltimore-based Brown Capital has specialized in small company growth... View Details

Educators