Past studies on the benefits clearly high, or "star" workers. Programmers Star computer, for example, are more productive than average ones in a ratio of eight to one. But reaping the benefits of this talent is not so simple. Let's say you hire a number of stars. How can you ensure that they will be able to repeat its success in a new environment - in short, how portable are they? In the past, portability is seen as an attribute of individual, group or organization, but may also be seen as an attribute of the position. In particular, certain types of jobs require different levels of company-specific human capital, resulting in some workers are less portable than others. Therefore, organizations should not think of talent management as a simple "build vs. buy" dichotomy. Most likely, there are some items that they can buy, and others for which they have to build. For investment banks, for example, retail brokers (who works with individual clients) work mostly on their own. Unlike institutional sellers (who sell large institutional investors, such as Putnam, Vanguard and Fidelity), is likely to carry out their work in a team. Thus, retail brokers are more portable and can easily be hired from the outside. Institutional traders, however, must be designed from the inside, and efforts should be made to preserve them. Understanding these differences is crucial for companies trying to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage that arise from human capital. A study that investigated the application of the theory of human capital talent mobility should help companies recognize that the entire class of factors - specific roles in the organization - largely determines the performance portability. With this knowledge, managers can gain a deeper understanding of the pros and cons of hiring some staff star. "Hide
by Boris Groysberg, Lex Sant, Robin Abrahams Source: MIT Sloan Management Review 8 pages. Publication Date: 01 Oct 2008. Prod. #: SMR292-PDF-ENG
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