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• Chapter | Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20 | 2020

  The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy

  William R. Kerr

  Talent is the most precious resource for today’s knowledge-based economy, and a significant share of the U.S. skilled workforce in technology fields is foreign born. The United States has long held a leading position in attracting global talent, but the gap to other countries is shrinking. Immigration policies like the H-1B visa program shape the admissions of foreign workers to the country and grant a particularly strong gatekeeping role to sponsoring firms and universities. This chapter explores the data around global talent flows and some of the economic implications of an employer-driven immigration approach.

  Keywords: global talent flows; Talent and Talent Management; Global Range; Immigration; Policy; Economy;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R. "The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy." Chap. 1 in Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20, edited by Josh Lerner and Scott Stern, 1–37. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised December 2019)

  Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

  William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

  In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000 person global workforce, had raised concerns of mistreatment, citing instances of pay inequity, social exclusion, and physical endangerment. “Flexible” workers, such as TVCs, were often seen as a key cog for Silicon Valley’s IT companies: they made workforces scalable, they helped firms get access to specialized knowledge for temporary projects, and they boosted innovation by creating “knowledge spillovers” between firms. But, at the same time, many onlookers worried that flexible work arrangements were aggravating social inequality and making more jobs precarious. Google employees, major media outlets, and politicians demanded that the company change its policies on TVCs. One suggestion was that Google convert all of its TVCs to full-time status by early 2020. As tensions reportedly escalated between Google’s workforce and its management team, some began to wonder if Google was still an employer of choice.

  Keywords: workforce; independent contractors; talent management; Silicon Valley; google; employee attitude; Employee compensation; employee engagement; future of work; innovation; innovation and strategy; inequality; talent acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Employees; Attitudes; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Equality and Inequality; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R., and Carl Kreitzberg. "Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?" Harvard Business School Case 820-048, September 2019. (Revised December 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018 (Revised December 2019)

  Modern Automation (A): Artificial Intelligence

  William R. Kerr, James Palano, William R. Kerr and James Palano

  This primer is meant to be a field guide to the late 2010s' surge in business use of "Artificial Intelligence" (AI), or enterprise software based in machine learning. First, it provides an overview of the key trends - digitization, connectivity, the continuation of Moore's law, and advancements in machine learning algorithms - which led to the inflection point in adoption of AI. Then, the primer describes the range of use cases of state-of-the-art enterprise AI organized in a taxonomy designed to build generalized understanding of the types of work to which AI can be applied. This knowledge is useful not only to managers looking to best leverage the technology but to those working to manage resulting organizational change and prepare the workforce for transitions into complementary tasks. Finally, key issues and implications of AI adoption are also discussed.

  Keywords: artificial intelligence; digitization; connectivity; Computing; future of work; automation; Technology; Technology Adoption; Employment; Management; Information Technology;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R., and James Palano. "Modern Automation (A): Artificial Intelligence." Harvard Business School Case 819-084, December 2018. (Revised December 2019.)  View Details

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