Publications

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January 2020 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Freelancer, Ltd.

By: Christopher Stanton, Karim R. Lakhani, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Jin Hyun Paik and Nina Cohodes

Over the course of the 2010s, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies and the rise of online freelancing platforms seemed to portend a radical transformation of labor markets into on-demand, flexible talent pools. Even though several Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Platforms; Digital Labor; Labor; Human Resources; Management; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Industry; Australia; United States; Philippines

Web

Employment | Harvard Business School

University offerings can be found here. Compensation & Salary Grades Harvard offers competitive salaries that are designed to attract, retain, and reward the performance of talented employees. Frequently Asked Questions More Frequently... View Details

05 Sep 2023
Book

Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full Potential

necessarily means experiencing failures along the way, Edmondson says. Taking this approach may be especially important now, as employers struggle to retain talent and boost employee morale in workplaces that were completely reshaped by... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

23 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Keep Employees Productive: Support Caregivers

by Willis Towers Watson found that 40 percent of employees desire family-related assistance, with preference for expanded family leave, bereavement leave or assistance, and additional maternity leave. Companies can attract and retain View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

February 2023
Article

Climate Solutions Investments

By: Alex Cheema-Fox, George Serafeim and Hui (Stacie) Wang

An increasing number of companies are providing products and services that help reduce carbon emissions in the economy. We develop a methodology to identify those companies and create a sample of publicly listed climate solutions companies allowing us to study their... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Climate Finance; Climate Impact; Climate Risk; Environment; Sustainability; Carbon Emissions; Electric Vehicles; Energy; Renewables; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Emerging Markets; Investment Portfolio

SSRN

December 2022
Supplement

Freelancer, Ltd. Case Supplement

By: Christopher Stanton, Karim R. Lakhani, Jin Hyun Paik and Nina Cohodes

Over the course of the 2010s, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies and the rise of online freelancing platforms seemed to portend a radical transformation of labor markets into on-demand, flexible talent pools. Even though several Fortune 500 companies,... View Details

Keywords: Labor Markets; Freelancers; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Globalized Firms and Management; Human Capital; Employment; Digital Platforms; Global Range; Adoption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Employment Industry; Information Industry; Australia; United States; Philippines

January 2018
Case

Peak Games: Hiring Priorities in Times of Rapid Growth (A)

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

Sidar Şahin, founder and CEO of Peak Games, a Turkey-based global mobile gaming company, must decide on the final list of candidates for the critical global marketing director position the company has been trying to fill for over a year. Since its founding in 2010,... View Details

Keywords: Recruiting; Staffing; Emergent Countries; Entrepreneurial Management; Private Sector; Business Strategy; Decision; Growth Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Turkey

01 Aug 2023
What Do You Think?

As Leaders, Why Do We Continue to Reward A, While Hoping for B?

their own experiences, and the reward systems don’t support the required change.” Competition for diverse talent is intense, contributing to low retention, according to Gene Genius, who commented, “The reason companies don’t do a good job... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

June 2018
Teaching Note

Zurich Insurance

By: Boris Groysberg, David Lane and Joni Coughlin

This teaching note addresses six cases in the Zurich Insurance series, the overview case (HBS No. 417-035) and five cases focused on particular change efforts (HBS Nos. 417-036 through 417-040).
Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after... View Details

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

October 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

ghSMART & Co: Building and Scaling a Time Smart Firm

By: Ashley Whillans and Sara Coronel Rodriguez

"For ghSMART, freedom is the first principle from which all good things flow”—Geoff Smart, Chairman and Founder, ghSMART. ghSMART was a leadership advisory firm that was grounded in the principle of freedom. Talented Consultants and Partners could work remotely from... View Details

Keywords: Time; Consulting Firms; Time Management; Talent and Talent Management; Employee Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Sharing; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Partners and Partnerships; Expansion; Reputation

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

analyzes the fiscal impact of this loss of talent for a developing country by examining human capital flows from India to the U.S. The escalation of the emigration of highly skilled professionals from India to the U.S is examined by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Globalization of Human Capital

By: Nitin Nohria

One of the most significant dimensions of the current wave of globalization is the globalization of human capital. Whether it is low cost, skilled manufacturing workers in China, software and customer service professionals in India, or highly skilled employees in... View Details

September 2023
Article

Customer Churn and Intangible Capital

By: Scott R. Baker, Brian Baugh and Marco Sammon

Intangible capital is a crucial and growing piece of firms’ capital structure, but many of its distinct components are difficult to measure. We develop and make available several new firm-level metrics regarding a key component of intangible capital – firms’ customer... View Details

Keywords: Customer Base; Transaction Data; Customer Churn; Intangible Capital; Capital Structure; Measurement and Metrics; Customers

SSRN

2023
Working Paper

Remote Work across Jobs, Companies, and Space

By: Stephen Hansen, Peter John Lambert, Nick Bloom, Steven J. Davis, Raffaella Sadun and Bledi Taska

The pandemic catalyzed an enduring shift to remote work. To measure and characterize this shift, we examine more than 250 million job vacancy postings across five English-speaking countries. Our measurements rely on a state-of-the-art language-processing framework... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Hybrid Work; Work From Home (WFH); Pandemic; Labor Market; Job Search; Job Design and Levels; Trends

2021
Working Paper

Getting Schooled: The Role of Universities in Attracting Immigrant Entrepreneurs

By: Natee Amornsiripanitch, Paul A. Gompers, George Hu and Kaushik Vasudevan

Immigrant founders of venture capital-backed companies have been critical to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We document the channels through which immigrant founders find their way to the United States and how those channels have changed over time. Immigrants have been... View Details

Keywords: Immigrants; Entrepreneurial Ecosystem; Higher Education; Immigration; Entrepreneurship

Find at Harvard

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2011
Book

Success with Science: The Winners' Guide to High School Research

By: Shiv Gaglani, Maria Elena De Obaldia, Scott Duke Kominers, Dayan Li and Carol Y. Suh

Do you want to develop useful skills, gain admission to top colleges, win scholarship money, excel at science competitions, and explore career options all while having fun? By reading this book and using the advice within it, you will learn how to formulate a research... View Details

Keywords: Science; Research