What Law Firm Spinouts Can Mean for Strategic Human Capital Research

Abstract

Raffiee, Ganco, and Campbell's intriguing study of the likelihood of success of law firm “spinouts” suggests some important inferences for our understanding of the effects of strategic human capital. The types of human capital that are most relevant to a firm may depend greatly on the type of work that the firm performs. Moreover, the processes that drive firm performance should be distinguished from those that influence firm survival. This study also touches on some broader, as yet unresolved issues about how to empirically operationalize strategic human capital arguments, particularly the central paradox that the human capital with the most potential for strategically differentiating a firm is likely to be quite hard to measure across a population of firms.

Citation

Chadwick, C. (2020), "What Law Firm Spinouts Can Mean for Strategic Human Capital Research", Tzabbar, D. and Cirillo, B. (Ed.) Employee Inter- and Intra-Firm Mobility (Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 411-414. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-332220200000041027